RECOGNITIONS

Amana's Arabic Program wins Grant for Curriculum Development 

Teachers win OAR Awards

The Outstanding Achievement Recognition (OAR) award is one way Amana Academy celebrates individuals at our school who embody the stewardship ethic and who make a significant contribution to academic instruction, or student experience & enrichment, or the school's operations. 

Amana is proud of its dedicated educators!  If you see them around campus, make sure to congratulate them on winning the OAR Award. 

Amana Students Ace Math!

 

Amana congratulates rising 8th grade student, Safwan Jaleel on receiving the "Highest Individual Score" award for Math Olympiad for the 2012-2013 school year.  Fellow team member Mason Martin, took second place and the remaining team members all received certificates. Safwan also scored a perfect score on the 2013 7th Grade CRCT Math section. 

 

Also winning an award is rising third grade student Zaira Rashid.  She won the Math Kangaroo competition for 2013 achieving third place winner among all second graders in the state of Georgia!  This is an honor that Zaira has enjoyed for two consecutive years after also having placed third in the 2013 competition. 

 

Way to go Safwan and Zaira! You have made us proud. 

 

"And the Winner for Best Oral Presentation at the 2013 Junior FIRST LEGO League Exhibition is .... The Amana Academy Junior Robotics Team!"

Hearing those words by event organizer, Crystal Payne, created pride in our young students as the finale of a seasons work that began in early October.

The Amana Academy Junior Robotics Team was invited to compete in the annual Junior First Lego League Exhibition in Marietta last spring. They were given the challenge of researching and building a prototype that would help senior citizens improve their quality of life. The team remained poised while explaining their creation to a distinguished panel of judges as constantly flashing cameras went off around them. After multiple presentations, the Amana team was awarded Best Oral Presentation. 

The award validates what we in the Amana community already know; that our students are not only creating great ideas, but that they are also able to communicate their ideas effectively.

After the competition, one of the judges, Alberto Shirmer, an Engineer at Dresser Rand said of the Amana Team, "I was blown away by how well they understood the problem and came up with a simple, elegant solution.  I felt like I was speaking to an adult engineer".

The team consisted of kindergarten through third grade Amana students.  Joe Dean, Sam Glotzbach, and Jake Dean represented the team that day, but this accomplishment was the result of a combined effort from eight Amana students.   Team members Sebastian Bazan,  Ja'Far Alexander, Omar Imam, Yusuf Budeir, and Andrew Kaminski were awarded certificates for their fine work during the season. 

Annual Fund Reaches $35,595 and Funds Teacher TAG Training    

As you know, Amana does not receive funding for facilities capital expenses from Fulton County Schools, which must be covered out of our normal operating budget.  This creates a 17% funding gap which we try to bridge by running a leaner organization, seeking grants, and staging the Annual Fund. 

Last year, generous donations from parents and friends made to the Annual Fund amounted to $35,595 (not including $10,000 we are waiting on from the Verizon Foundation).  Proceeds from the fund will be used for: 

• providing 12 teachers with valuable Talented And Gifted (TAG) instructional training that will benefit Amana students
• purchasing additional furniture for our elementary classrooms such as cubbies and backpack hooks
• securing additional instructional classroom technology. 

Amana Academy thanks everyone who participated in the Annual Fund, and we look forward to another successful fund this coming year!

Annual Fund Chair 

LEARNING SNAPSHOTS

What is a Word Floor?

 

What exactly is a wordfloor?  Well that is what our Special Education Teacher Kathy Milburn learned in a most recent Expeditionary Learning Training event in Springfield, Massachusetts last spring.  The training was for geared to assist teachers further in differentiating the needs of all learners in the EL classroom. The Word Floor pictured is an innovative way to use index card with vocabulary words to create and instant word wall--on the floor!  It will be exciting to see how our students learn this new method of vocabulary exposure and instruction. 

    

Fieldwork  

 

As teachers plan out their learning expeditions for the year, a critical element will be how they incorporate fieldwork and expert visitors.  Last April, second grade students went on a field study to the Amicalola Deer Park. Their guide, Mr. Smith, taught them about different kinds of deer and their natural habitat. Small groups went inside the gate to the deer preserve on a hayride to visit deer close up and learn about their habitat. Then they learned about other animals on the preserve such as llamas, goats, pigs, and donkeys!  They learned about why there is a need for wildlife preserves to protect animals, it's history, and about habitat conservation.

 

  

 

An example of expert visitors coming into the school to support learning expeditions is with second and third grades hosting Cindy Young of Georgia Tech; a volcano expert who talked about how volcanoes relate to the student's previous learning units involving states of matter and the formation of rocks.  As part of a NASA research project, Ms. Young is using satellites to study how volcanic eruptions and ash dispersal affect climate temperatures.   

 

She gave examples from her research to show how the knowledge the students have gained in the classroom increase our understanding of volcanoes on earth and other planets.  After each presentation, the students asked many insightful questions about volcanoes and space exploration.  Ms. Young said "I was really impressed by the depth of questions some of the students were asking." 

 

Another example of fieldwork is when the 8th grade crew visited the 4H Center and Coosa River Science School for an overnight field study! The students had a wonderful time where they participated in activities such as  choice-challenges, rock climbing, and first-hand historical accounts of what life was like in Birmingham 50 years ago! The Crew at the 4H Center and Coosa River Science School were very complimentary of our 8th grader throughout the entire trip.  Our students asked insightful questions and offered comments, modeled positive behavior, and shared a brilliant energy!  We would like to extend a special thanks to our parent volunteers that help make this experience possible.  

 

 

 

 

 

Our Facility Purchase Paves Way for Expansion

Newly renovated Middle School wing will open in October

After a three-year effort to secure a permanent home, last April Amana Academy closed on the 100,000 square foot Alpharetta Square shopping plaza where we have been operating since 2007.  The school was able to secure more than $8.6 million in bonds without the use of any county or school district capital program dollars to acquire the property. With this purchase, Amana Academy has joined the elite handful of chartered public schools capable of building or purchasing their own facilities. 

 

In addition to purchasing the 10.66-acre site, the school is using the proceeds from the bonds to renovate 18,000 square feet of the plaza for new middle school classrooms and STEM labs including a "Club Shop".  Evergreen Construction, whom Fulton County Schools used to build Cambridge High School, was chosen to complete the middle school renovation project - the first phase of renovation.  The middle school renovation is scheduled for completion by October, 2013 - 6 weeks later than anticipated. The delay was driven by having to move Taggart's Driving School to the other retail wing (Satay House side) of the plaza, which required Taggart's getting State Department of Transportation certification for the classroom space - a timeline out of our and Taggart's control.  CLICK HERE to check out pictures of the renovation project.

 

 

Ehab Jaleel, our school's Executive Director and the school's principal explained, "What helped us [secure the property] was that we had solid financial standing, strong academic results, and an ethic of transparency with our authorizers - Fulton County Schools and the Georgia Department of Education. Ninety-five percent of our students live in North Fulton (mostly Alpharetta and Roswell), and they are familiar with our current location. It really works for us, because it allows for our anticipated growth, and because of the school's close proximity to 95-acre Wills Park, downtown Alpharetta, and business partners - who can support our Expeditionary STEM Education initiative."

 

Mr. Ken Zeff, Chief of Fulton County Schools Strategy and Innovation Division, shared Mr. Jaleel's enthusiasm. "Amana Academy now joins two other Fulton County charter schools (KIPP South Fulton Academy and Hapeville Career Academy) who own their own facilities.  These schools have demonstrated exemplary financial management, governance transparency and academic performance over many years, thus earning the trust of the District, the State and financial partners.  We are happy to support their continued service to the students of Fulton County."

 

In December 2012, Amana Academy successfully completed the Georgia Department of Education's site approval process. It then secured approval for the issuance of bonds to fund the project via the Development Authority of Fulton County and the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.  With these approvals in-hand, Amana Academy was able to obtain the bond money needed to purchase the property this April. Amana's Governing Board Treasurer, Calvin Stamps, reacted saying, "It's been a long road; this is a momentous time for our school."

 

The school wishes to recognize Amana Academy's Governance Board, Fulton County Schools, the Georgia Department of Education Facilities Services Department, the City of Alpharetta Administration, the Board of Directors at the Development Authority of Fulton County, the Fulton Board of Commissioners, consultants at NAI Brannen Goddard and JBW Reality, bond attorneys at Peck, Shaffer & Williams LLP, underwriters at Dougherty & Company LLC, Nuveen Investments, financial advisers at Comer Capital, attorneys at Epstein Becker, architects Goode Van Slyke, and Evergreen Construction.  

 

A special shout-out goes to Amana's Facilities Planning Group represented by the following people: Calvin Stamps (lead), Kristina Leidner-Eisenhardt, Maher Budeir, Pam Holloway, Abdul Ghalayini, Andrea Cooper Gatewood, Ehab Jaleel, and Saleem Javaid. Without their talent and steadfast dedication, this milestone in Amana's history would not have been possible.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS / REMINDERS

News from MD, Jr

Our MD, Jr. Club started last January and got busy last Spring learning about many new and interesting things!  In March, Iman Fahmy, a representative from the March of Dimes came in to speak to Amana MD, Jr. Club members on the importance of supporting research programs to help prevent and even treat premature birth, birth defects and other threats to the health of babies.  Then Dr. Athi Naragn, a neonatologist made a presentation of infant complications.  The club even visited a cardiology clinic and toured the facility!  Sounds like Amana may have a lot of future doctors and health professionals in the making!   You can inquire on this year's MD, Jr Club at the Club Expo on August 23rd (12:00 - 1:30 PM)!   For more information on MD, Jr., please visit the MD, Jr. Website 

PIE is still looking for volunteers to serve on the following committees:

• International Festival
• Yearbook
• Family Fun Events
• Grandparents/Special Friends Day
• Field Day
• Teacher Appreciation

 If you are interested, or have questions, please contact Sara Ead at saraeadamanapie@gmail.com or Shaheen Bharde at shaheenbee@gmail.com. 

BEHIND THE SCENES

CONNECT WITH US 

If you ever have any questions or concerns, please contact your child's teacher directly, or any one of our Administrative team members.  If your question was not addressed, then feel free to contact our Governing Board.  Amana's main number is (678) 624-0989 and you may also find email contact information for all of our staff by visiting the Amana Staff Directory.

On behalf of the Governing Board, the Amana faculty and staff, and the school Administration, thank you for entrusting your child's education to us.  With your continued support, we will continue to mold the very best and brightest global leaders!