News
News
At Springmont, we’re proud of our school and like to share the accomplishments of our students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Here you’ll find information about Springmont, including recent school news, articles about our curriculum, and other interesting items. For additional press or media information, please contact Julie Strickland jstrickland@springmont.com or 404.252.3910.
Archives - March 2021
We Are Not Complicit
March 22, 2021
The horrific killing of eight people, six of them Asian-American women, in metro Atlanta last week has left me and many of those in our school community heartbroken and outraged. These acts of violence and aggression are always shocking, no matter how often they take place.
Springmont condemns the ongoing gender-based and anti-Asian violence in our country and is fully committed to living our Statement of Diversity and Inclusivity each day. We hold ourselves accountable through our words and actions, and we teach our students to honor and respect one another, regardless of identity and background. As we mourn the loss of lives, we renew our commitment to educating children with anti-bias, anti-racist practices and encourage everyone in our community to consider diverse perspectives and to develop a proper regard for all people.
At Springmont, diversity is embraced and woven into the fabric of our school community. We look forward to the day when every member of our nation’s society can go to bed with their humanity fully intact.
Mark Your Calendars: The Virtual Premiere of the Middle School's Shakespeare Show is April 3!
March 22, 2021
Despite restrictions necessitated by the pandemic, Springmont’s Middle School students are enthusiastically and energetically forging ahead with their annual Shakespeare performance! Make sure to mark your calendars for Saturday, April 3, at 4 p.m. All families will receive a link to the video premiere! Guided by Middle School Language Arts Teacher Gretchen Stamps and Art Teacher Theresa Dean, students have transformed a corner of the Liberal Arts classroom into a black box theater. While this is hugely different from preparing for a live performance, students have learned about filming, lighting, sound, costumes and set design, not to mention Shakespeare! Gretchen shared that, “Despite the challenges, students have continued to have fun and roll with punches while getting it done!”
Staying the Course: Avoiding the Fourth Wave
March 22, 2021
As Europe braces for another wave of COVID cases propelled by the variants, Springmont will remain steadfastly compliant with the health & safety procedures and protocols that have made our community enormously successful in limiting the spread of the virus. We need and appreciate YOUR continued help! Our success is no accident - thank you for your cooperation, patience and caution! As of today, here is what you need to know:
- Many of our teachers and staff are in the process of being vaccinated, and we encourage everyone to get vaccinated as soon as you are eligible.
- We are aware that on Friday the CDC updated their physical distancing guidelines for students in classrooms, allowing masked students to be closer than 6' apart. Please know that Springmont's policies have been and are still in alignment with this new recommendation.
- The CDC is still advising against travel, even for vaccinated individuals. Because children are not eligible for vaccination and scientists are concerned that vaccinated individuals may still be able to transmit the virus to others, Springmont has not changed our safe travel regimen. While we respect families' decisions to travel, we do ask that everyone follow all of Springmont's quarantining/testing policies carefully. These have been developed with the health & safety of the entire community in mind.
- Springmont's conservative approach to all things COVID has allowed us, with just a few short exceptions, to keep students learning on campus. As always, we will stay abreast of the latest scientific information and medical advice, but at this time, there are no plans for changes to our procedures and protocols before the end of the school year.
- Click here for our COVID-19 Handbook and Community Agreement.
- Have questions or comments? Email feedback@springmont.com
"Bird's Eye View" Videos
March 15, 2021
Each semester before Parent/Teacher Conferences, Springmont typically offers parents opportunities to observe in their child(ren)'s classroom(s). Due to the pandemic, we still cannot have parents visit classrooms in person, and feedback revealed that the live Zoom sessions offered before our Fall Conferences were inconvenient for some parents. In preparation for our upcoming Spring Conferences, Toddler/Primary Division Head Cara Friedline and Associate Head for Elementary & Middle Learning Nikki Torres have created "Bird’s Eye View” videos of each Toddler, Primary and Elementary class at work. These short videos are unedited glimpses of a typical morning work cycle. While Cara and Nikki tried to choose days when all children were in attendance, it is possible some children were absent or in the Media Center during filming. Parents should be on the lookout for emails containing links to their child(ren)'s class "Bird's Eye View" tomorrow. We hope you enjoy viewing the buzz of classrooms in action!
Grandparents & Special Friends Day is Coming Up in May!
March 15, 2021
We are excited to be planning a Virtual Grandparents & Special Friends Day for May! Because grandparents and special friends will be contacted via email, we want to make sure we have the most up-to-date contact information for those important people! If you believe Springmont has the correct contact information for grandparents and friends who would like to participate, there is nothing you need to do. If you would like to update or add grandparent or special friend email addresses, please email Lauren Stevenson with the individual’s name, relationship (grandparent, aunt, friend), and email address.
Middle School Students Earn 3rd Place in STEM Competition!
March 08, 2021
We are excited to announce that one of Springmont Middle School’s teams placed 3rd in the Georgia Regional Future City competition. Like all their classmates, Team Nebula (Marina, Ellia, Mustafa and Mason) ended up presenting their projects to the judges from home rather than the classroom on February 16, the day school was closed for inclement weather! The 2020-21 Future City theme was Living on the Moon and required teams to design safe and healthy, futuristic lunar cities. Competition deliverables included a project plan, a 1500-word essay, a scale model built from recycled materials, a presentation video, and a virtual Q&A session with judges. Congrats, Team Nebula!
On the Farm: Winter
March 08, 2021
Winter is hard! It’s hard on people, hard on our gardens and hard on our animals. Our dogs and cats can’t go outside for as long, or perhaps as often, as they can in other seasons, and like us, start to get cabin fever. Students and parents often ask about our school animals. How do they get through winter?
Our farm animals are, without a doubt, babied more than most farm animals! I spend much of fall and winter watching the weather and shoring up our feed supplies. Hay and chicken feed are the two things we stock up on most because the animals quite literally consume double the amount of food they do in the spring and summer. It makes complete sense. There are no insects or seeds readily available for our free-ranging birds and there is nothing growing in the paddock for the mammals so they all rely on us to supply their food.
We take extra care in the winter to make sure barns, coops and hutches are kept dry and have adequate ventilation. Just like us, animals are susceptible to respiratory issues if exposed to dampness for extended periods. Keeping a window open and fresh bedding down reduces the chances of animals getting sick.
I admit I probably go overboard on their bedding. As soon as the nights start dropping into the 30s, our four-legged friends get several inches of wheat straw to snuggle into in their barn. Straw is hollow and traps warm air in its stems. It also traps moisture which means it needs to be replaced regularly to avoid a build-up of mold. In the summer, they sleep on pine straw which is cooler (it doesn’t trap air) and repels insects.
Oscar and Emmy, our rabbits, also get their nesting box and bottom level of their hutch filled with straw to insulate their little space. For them, if the temperatures dip below 25°, they go inside in a large dog crate for the night.
Chickens and turkeys are tough! They need very little extra in terms of winter care. They get a little extra corn in their feed which apparently generates internal heat as it is digested. The lower half of the coop is wrapped in plastic to create a wind barrier that prevents drafts inside of the roost. A single chicken generates 10 watts of heat so our 15 chickens will generate 150w in that little space. They huddle together and keep each other nice and toasty!
So, while most farm animals can take good care of themselves in the winter weather, ours get just a little extra Springmont TLC!
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