News

Primary and Toddler students have been practicing stamping techniques in class this month, and they have created some beautiful blooms for our cherry blossom tree, now on display in the Front Office! Materials such as sponges and cotton balls were used to create the beautiful floral patterns. As the children continue to explore different stamping materials, the tree will gain more and more flowers. Make sure to stop by periodically to see it grow throughout the month of April!

Earth Day 2023 is Saturday, April 22, and once again, the theme is Invest in our Planet! Because of our Spring Holiday on Friday, April 21, Springmont will join this international effort on Thursday, April 20.
 

Led by Outdoor Science Education Teacher Michelle Wolfersberger, Springmont will invest in our little part of the planet by conducting a campus clean-up and school blackout!  
 

Each class has been assigned an age-appropriate section of campus and will be supplied with compostable trash bags for trash. In addition, students will gather recyclables and items suitable for composting. Classes are encouraged to sweep, return tools and other items to their proper places, and generally spruce up their designated areas, which include class gardens, playgrounds and other play spaces, and for the oldest students, the creek area and the berm at the front of campus.
 

The blackout is a new initiative!  Classes have been asked to either go without lights for the day or turn off some classroom lights. Assisted by Director of Facilities & Technology Kelcy Gatson, who will coordinate with Georgia Power, Middle School students will assess and report how much electricity we save during the course of the day compared to a typical school day. Did you know we can reduce our electricity consumption meaningfully by simply turning off a lamp, a few lights, or a computer or other electronic item?
 

Earth Day is a great time to lead by example and display our commitment to Stewardship of the Environment, one of our school’s core values! Perhaps your family would like to join us by cleaning up an area in your neighborhood or having an at-home blackout on Thursday, April 20, or Saturday, April 22!  Send a photo or note about your Earth Day initiative to info@springmont.com by Monday, April 24, at 9 am to be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift certificate for the Springmont Spirit Store! (If your photo shows you out in your community wearing Springmont gear, we’ll enter your family’s name twice!)
 

The Yay Lunch team is here to make honoring educators even easier! Here’s how:

• You can use their handy buy-a-teacher lunch feature to automatically upload Yay Lunch credits to a registered Yay Lunch user’s account. 
• And it gets better: Buy a teacher lunch between today and April 30, and you and your teacher will both be automatically entered to win a $75 Yay Lunch gift card! 
• You can also enter to win through this teacher nomination form.

Here’s to making a teacher’s day (and lunch) better! If you have any questions about the buy a teacher lunch feature or the Buy a Teacher Lunch sweepstakes, you can check out the sweepstakes page or reach out to Yay Lunch’s Customer Experience team at info@yaylunch.com.
 

After much thought and careful consideration of several options, PE Teacher Tiffany Orem and your children’s Teachers have adopted an amended plan for Field Day that takes into account our on-campus space constraints as well as the need to provide age-appropriate activities for each level.

Our updated plans for Field Day on Friday, May 19, include the following:

• Primary classes will have Field Day in the morning (9-11 am). ALL Primary students will be dismissed via carpool 11:45-12:00. There will not be class in the afternoon, and All Day care will not be offered.
• Lower & Upper Elementary classes will have Field Day in the afternoon (12:30-2:30 pm) and be dismissed via carpool 3:00-3:15. Extended Day will not be offered.
• The Middle School will participate in an off-campus day of fun!  Parents will be asked to drop off and pick up students at an alternate location. Extended Day will not be offered. Stay tuned for more details!
• Half Day and School Day Toddlers will have class as usual. All Day Toddlers will have class until 3:00 and should be picked up 3:00-3:15. Families can look forward to joining their Toddler’s class for age-appropriate activities held in conjunction with their individual class picnics in May. Look for more information from your child’s Teacher as the dates approach. 
• Campus will close at 3:15 p.m. on May 19.
   

PE Teacher Tiffany Orem, Primary Parent Chair Jaycina Almond, and Elementary Parent Chair Wendy Sandvi will need lots of helping hands on May 19 (and also for set-up on May 18)!  Volunteering is what makes this event possible and is a great way to be part of your child’s exciting day!

• Step 1: Click here to view and select your preferred volunteer opportunity for Primary and Elementary Field Day!  
• Step 2: Mark your calendar! Tiffany will host a Zoom for all volunteers on May 9 at 7 :00 p.m. 
• Step 3: Reach out and encourage another Springmont parent to join the fun!
  
  Questions? Email Tiffany Orem
   

Each year Springmont Elementary and Middle School students submit entries to the River of Words Environmental Art & Poetry Project contest hosted annually by Project WET (Water Education Today), part of the Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division. In addition to promoting creativity, this competition helps students learn about the watershed in which they live and the importance and value of protecting one of our most precious natural resources. Georgia entries, which totaled more than 1900 this year, were judged by the Georgia Center for the Book and the GA Environmental Protection Division.
We are so proud of all our creative and environmentally conscious student artists and are excited to announce that for the 14th year running, Springmont has winners! 

Our Georgia Art State Winner - Category I (PK-Grade 2) - is Caleb McMaster, a 2nd-year Lower Elementary student, who submitted Falling Water, pictured here. 

Our Georgia Poetry State Winner - Category II (Grades 3-5) - is 5th-year Upper Elementary student Brielle Cliett, who submitted the poem below.
 

The River and the Birds

The river flows with the breeze.
Birds nest in the trees.
The water ripples, down it goes.
The birds whistle their lovely tune.
Mama birds chirp, baby birds cry then sing,
Their first lullaby.
Watch them leave, watch them.
Go fly, fly far from home.
Guppies ride the rapid currents.
Leaves blow in the wind
Trees stand still and tall
Birds do it all.
I sit, wait, watch time while the birds
Settle in for the night.
Morning arrives winds pickup.
Leaves fall from the trees
The birds wake up and start to fly.

Thank you to Art Teachers Theresa Dean and Claire Tadeo for inspiring and guiding our students! The Georgia ROW Awards Ceremony will be held on Sunday, April 30, at the DeKalb County Library in Decatur.

“Imagination runs through the places where we live like water. We need both things — a living knowledge of the land and a live imagination of it and our place in it — if we are going to preserve it.” - Robert Hass, Former US Poet Laureate, River of Words Co-founder
 

Earlier this year, Director of Admission Andrea Restifo was recruited to co-chair a AAAIS (Atlanta Area Association of Independent Schools) Equity Subcommittee tasked with developing best practices for equity and access in member-school admissions. The committee, consisting of 7 other area private school representatives, is preparing recommendations for schools to use to create a more equitable admissions, enrollment, and re-enrollment process. 

The team is drawing from their many combined years of experience to determine what barriers might be in the admission process and ascertain what questions might be relevant regarding systems, policies, processes, and attitudes. They will present their findings and recommendations to AAAIS at the spring meeting at the end of April.
 

Spring is definitely here! Longer days and the inevitable sneezing and clouds of yellow pollen that envelop everything signal the start of the new season! Our students, however, have had spring on their minds since the beginning of the calendar year!

In January, Middle School students began learning all about starting seeds - how to read the back of a seed packet, what the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones mean, and how to plant seeds and transplant seedlings. In late January, they started all kinds of spring and summer vegetables, utilizing our indoor greenhouse, which has heat and light to encourage early germination.

As the weather warms, seeds are also started in the bigger outdoor greenhouse, and as of now, the greenhouse is bursting at the seams with seedlings. In addition to the Middle School’s plantings, Livia’s class has multiple trays of basil seedlings that they started a few weeks ago. This basil will be planted in their classroom garden before the end of the school year so it can be harvested for their fall pesto sale. Students quickly learn that gardening is nearly a year-round endeavor!

It’s not too late to start your own seeds! The risk of frost is largely past, so now’s the time to sow seeds directly in your garden or containers. Try some easy options like melons, tomatoes, and cucumbers!

In a few weeks, as part of their Outdoor Science Education curriculum, Middle School students will be gently thinning and transplanting their seedlings into bigger pots, known as pricking out and potting on in gardening terms. The final destination for these plants will be classroom gardens and a Middle School Plant Sale - a date before the end of the school year TBA! This will be an opportunity to support the Middle School microeconomy and start your family’s garden by buying some tomato, cucumber, herb, sunflower, zinnia, pepper, and melon plants.

Happy Spring!
 

All families are encouraged mark their calendars to join the Board of Trustees for an on-campus End-of-Year Picnic and the Annual Meeting of Members on Saturday, April 29, 2023! More details will be made available soon!

Yay Lunch is celebrating with a Yay for Spring promotion, including a gift card giveaway!

• Nominate a friend to win a $50 gift card: Do you know someone who could use the gift of lunch? Enter them into Yay Lunch’s gift card giveaway by filling out this entry form! Entries will be collected the first two weeks in April with winners drawn on April 10 and April 17.
• Take up to $10 off your order: For the first two weeks in April, the more you spend, the more you save! Take $5 off orders of $30 or more with code YAYSAVE5, and $10 off orders of $50 or more with code YAYSAVE10. These codes can be used at checkout by the April 9 and April 16 order deadlines and apply to orders delivered the week of April 10 and April 17.

Here’s to warmer weather, sunnier days + delicious lunches! If you have any questions about these offers, please reach out to Yay Lunch’s Customer Experience team at info@yaylunch.com.