E.A. Young Academy is a not-for-profit, private academy created to generate transformative changes to meet  the needs  of the K-12, gifted, talented, and high ability scholar.

The Source for Firehawk News and Information
Vol. 5 Issue 5 - October 29, 2016

A Look Ahead
Mark Your Calendar:

Oct 31       Halloween! Wear costumes (see email)!
Nov 3        Spirit Wear Day!
Nov 11      Veterans' Day Assembly
Nov 12      Fall Youngfest
Nov 14      FLARES Meeting
Nov 14      6-8 Performing Arts Performance 6:00 PM
Nov 17      Early Release
Nov 18      Scholar-led Conferences
Nov 21-25 Thanksgiving Break
Nov 24      Running Club Race: CRC Thanksgiving Day Run
Dec 2        FLARES Meeting

To access the General School Calendar, click here. This calendar is downloadable/uploadable to your smart phone, as well.  iCal: http://bit.ly/EAYAOfficialCalendar  
Please VOTE for us to win a MASLOW CNC!

Exciting News! EA Young Academy has been accepted as a potential recipient of a new, open source 4'x8' CNC cutting machine called "The Maslow." It's basically a router designed to let the user cut big, useful things out of wood and more. Our winning a Maslow depends on YOU! The Maslow is in Kickstarter mode right now, expecting to ship in first half of 2017. For every 20 units they sell, they will donate one to a school, and EA Young Academy is one of those potential recipients! Our school is listed on the Voter Form, which can be found at www.MaslowCNC.com/vote Go to the link and PLEASE VOTE! Then, share the Voter Form with everyone! Every Tuesday during the Kickstarter campaign, the Maslow developers will select the educational institutions with the highest number of votes as winners of a free Maslow! The more votes we can garner for our school, the more likely we are to win! Vote Vote Vote!  http://ow.ly/irm9305z1qg
Grades 4-7 Field Investigation



Wednesday, while the 8-11 graders took the PSAT, EA Young Academy Middle Schoolers took a trip to the Dallas Arboretum and Klyde Warren Park! They learned about patterns in nature in the Children's Garden and hunted Pokémon in the Arboretum.
Visual Arts
Julie McGhee, BA MA
We are going to be starting some art pieces that involve empty paper towel rolls (or toilet paper rolls) in a couple of our art classes. I am reaching out to all my art classes to see if you could help by sending them in with your child over the next week or so! Thank you!

Scholars have been busy learning about and creating mixed media pieces. Each age level was challenged with different criteria to incorporate into their pieces. It has been so interesting to see the unique response each scholar has had to the prompt for his/her age level.  


In Ms. Prostek's 4-5 class, scholars used knowledge they have gained in their studies of Native Americans to create a point of view art piece. Each scholar drew a large eye and filled the space with what the Native American from the studied tribe would be seeing during that time.  

Ms. Austin's 2-3 class and I have also teamed up this past week to help scholars craft a world map for their classroom. Step one was to create the ocean! Scholars used distinct brushstrokes in a Vincent van Gogh style to replicate the movement of the ocean!
4/5 Advisory/Science & Social Studies/QUEST
Kerensa Prostek, BS MEd

Our Scholars are working in groups which represent four different tribes of Texas. They are faced with conflicts that require them to problem solve. The most recent one has them solving the problem of passing down cultural traditions to the younger generation of tribe members using song, poem or dance.


We have also decided to undertake a couple of different
news endeavors here at Young Academy! We are experimenting with a newspaper and a newscast! Here are our two teams!
101 Donations Initiative

To help give our faculty the tools and supplies they need to provide these awesome learning experiences and adventures for our scholars and to help maintain our school environment, we are excited to announce the  101 Donations Initiative!   
What kind of items are we talking about?  EAYA faculty members compiled a list of items needed in the classroom, then we placed those items on a Dalmatian (get it? 101 Donations?) on the bulletin board in the hallway near the restrooms. Each Dalmatian is an item that our Faculty have identified as a need either in their classroom or in the school as a whole. 
How do I know what kind, type, color, quantity, etc. to buy?  On the back of each Dalmatian, we have outlined important information pertaining to that specific item. This includes an item description, desired quantity, vendor, and estimated cost.
What happens after I buy the item?  Once you make the purchase, please bring the item to the front office. We will be tracking the donations in hopes we can reach our goal of 101! When you bring in the item, we will also provide you with a donations receipt.
Note: Please do not give the donations directly to the faculty member that requested the item. Please bring the item to the front office so we can document we received it, provide you with a donation receipt, and then we will distribute the item to the appropriate faculty member. 
Wow, you guys are really clever, how do I participate?  Select and remove a Dalmatian from the 101 Donations board in the main hallway. Be sure to take it with you so we do not get duplicates of the same item.
Community Fundraising Info
AMAZON SMILE:   Be sure to connect EA Young Academy to your Amazon account by going to Smile.Amazon.com.
TOM THUMB: EA Young Academy participates in Tom Thumb's Good Neighbor Program. Our school ID is 13241.
KROGER: EA Young Academy participates in the Kroger Community Rewards Program. Visit this link and apply the school's ID number to your Kroger Plus Card. The school ID is 47813.
Please also continue to collect Box Tops. You can submit them in the office.
SHUTTERFLYWhen you purchase at Shutterfly through the storefront link, the school receives 13% of the sale (which is much higher than the Amazon Smile percentage)! Customers can still use Shutterfly's coupons! Check it out here!
Facebook Updates
Join Our Mailing List
Fall Youngfest is November 12!

The Fall Youngfest committee has been hard at work to make this year's event fun for the whole family. In addition to the chunk offs, there will be a dessert cook off, a "crockpot" cook off and games for all. Pokémon will be featured at this year's event, along with nachos and snow cones.   Please sign up here  to help out or to bring items. Most of the shifts are short so that you can help out and still enjoy the Fall Youngfest. This is a great opportunity for MS and US scholars to earn Purple Cord hours by helping out with all activities except for Pumpkin Chunkin supervision and ticket sales.  If you have questions about specific tasks, please contact Anne Pfluger (flarespresident@gmail.com ) or Rachel Hernandez (Hernandezhouse3@gmail.com ). Thank you in advance for your help in making this event a success!
Firehawk Family Campaign

As you may know, our Firehawk Family Campaign is under way! Our goal is 100% participation, and we track of our giving by teams! The "Teams" are listed here:
Mystic (Blue): 4-5 (Prostek)
Instinct (Yellow): K-3 (Turbeville & Austin)
Valor (Red): 6-8 (Ross, Brown & B. Edins)
Regal (Purple): 9-12 (J. Edins & Rosales)
Honor (Green): Faculty/Staff (K. Lyda)
To hit our 100% participation goal for the school, we need each group to hit 100%! Our first milestone is $15,000! If we reach the $15,000 goal by October 31st, Mr. Lance Lyda will be wrapped up in toilet paper (clean, unused, toilet paper, that is) for the Halloween Assembly. Let's do this, Firehawks! See your email inbox or the info folder that came home with your scholar for more information!
Kindergarten/First Grade
Mimi Turbeville, BA



To go along with their study of life cycles and the animal kingdom in Science, our K/1 scholars spent Wednesday at Green Meadows Petting Farm in Grand Prairie! What a day they had! They were able to spend time learning, touching and helping miniature horses, piglets and a sow, calves, goats, ducks, pig races, a hayride, milking a cow, tortoises, turkeys, llamas and mules. Chickens were the favorite! They ended their day with a lakeside picnic. Thanks to the parents who were able to come along!


K/1 Science
Mimi Turbeville, BA

In Science class this week, we learned about a turtle's life cycle. We stated the stages and illustrated each, as usual. After that, though, we got to see something  un usual! We got to see one of the real stages of the turtle's life cycle! The Lydas happen to have turtles as pets. One of their females laid a bunch of unfertilized eggs (so no baby turtles were inside or in jeopardy), and Mrs. Lyda brought them for us to see! We observed with hand lenses and described to one another the features of the eggs.  How interesting to see this stage up close!  Thank you for sharing them with us, Mrs. Lyda!

We planted some grass in little pots as an extension of our life cycles unit. We've studied a plant's life cycle and are experts on both apples' and pumpkins' life cycles. I told K/1 that we would plant some seeds in our outdoor flower beds this spring, but these curious scholars want to see something grow NOW! So, we decided to plant some grass. We will watch how these tiny seeds grow into grass with soil, sunlight and daily watering by these responsible scholars!
2/3 Field Investigation


Last week, when the PSAT required quiet and stillness on campus, it was time for the lower school group to go get their wiggles out elsewhere. Some of them headed to SPARK! in Dallas, which is just right for getting bodies and minds engaged! "SPARK! is an indoor wholly immersive, creative environment for children age 7-17. It ignites their creativity through a 360-degree, hands-on learning playground that invites children to explore and interact with the arts and other creative disciplines in extraordinary ways."
Honors Biology
Carol Raymond, BM BMEd MEd

What a jam-packed two weeks! Scholars reviewed the elements of animal, plant, and prokaryotic cells. They added the elements of the fungal cell and focused on the FUNCTION of each of the elements within the cell by creating a metaphor of a cell and explained how each of the items in their metaphor performed a similar function to that of their chosen cell. Scholars presented their cell metaphors to the class AND set up a cell diffusion and osmosis lab using eggs, vinegar and various household liquids.
Algebra II
Carol Raymond, BM BMEd MEd

Scholars jumped into the various forms of quadratic equations and explored how to transfer between each of the formulas. They also discovered which formula was easiest for finding the roots (x intercepts) of a parabola and the vertex. Finally, they investigated with parabolas by performing a simple experiment with motion that created a parabola. They discovered that rolling a coffee can was much more difficult than they expected and much (MUCH) laughter ensued!
AP Research
Carol Raymond, BM BMEd MEd
Scholars are in the final stages of the rough drafts of their literature reviews. They are working hard, making connections with experts in their individual disciplines, and solidifying their methodologies.
Health Promotion
Amy Klein, BS MS; Michael Petruso, AOS CPT; Chris Glenn, BS MBA
This is a gentle reminder about flu season! It is important that scholars and their families get their flu shots. We have even more scholars this year and have a lot of common spaces that are shared, so please get your scholars their flu shots if possible!
Aphelion

Aphelion had a fabulous creation session on Saturday, October 22! Aphelion is the name for the non-profit that some of our scholars created last year. Aphelion supports equitable education globally, and is currently supporting two girls through the Maasai Girls Education Fund. Over the weekend, members added metal stamping to their repertoire, created new pieces, launched their Facebook group with items for sale AND created a Red Bubble account! All sales benefit our  sponsored Maasai students. Join the Facebook group here! View the Redbubble shop here!
Mrs. Lyda's Birthday!

Mrs. Lyda celebrated her 50th birthday here at the school on Wednesday! We were so excited to be able to express our love and admiration for her on her special day!
EAYA Running Club
EAYA's Running Club is open to scholars in grades 4-12. We encourage all our scholars to be active but the physical demands of running club merit the decision to limit participation. Our scholars will have an opportunity to run with their classmates during their HP classes in addition to our new Saturday morning runs. Coach Mike invites all scholars in grades 4-12 to join him at Bear Creek Park each Saturday morning at 8 am. We also need several parent volunteers to join us each week. Please follow the link below to sign up as a running club volunteer. All volunteers will need to be background checked as well. Check your email or ask Aimee for a background check form. EAYA Running Club t-shirts are available for purchase - use the link below to order your shirt. Shirts are $15 each and are made of a dry wick/fit athletic material that will stay dry throughout a run.  Here is the link for v olunteer sign-up and T-shirt ordering .

Running club participants are encouraged to join their fellow Firehawks at a few community fun runs & races. We have several planned in the coming months. Information for each run is listed below. Participants can choose the distance they are comfortable running in each race - each run offers a mile fun run and 5K while others offer even greater distances.

This race offers a $200 prize to the school with the highest number of participants!  Feel free to reach out to Coach Mike directly at with any questions about running club (mpetruso@eayoungacademy.com).
FLARES News
If you are a Firehawk parent and haven't yet joined FLARES, please go to this link to pay your dues, get involved and purchase spirit wear!
You can sign up for reminders from FLARES to be sent directly to your phone by following these directions:
1. If you want to receive notifications on your phone, go to this link. Follow the instructions to sign up for Remind. (You will be prompted to download the free app.)
2. If you don't have a smartphone, or would just prefer to receive a text, you can sign up by texting @hbh83 to 81010. If this doesn't work, try texting @hbh83 to 817-310-8427.
*Your FLARES membership includes an associate parent membership in Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented (TAGT), our state's gifted organization, and a Firehawk directory!

All parent volunteer hours should be recorded on the Track it Forward   website. This information is needed for grant applications that are processed during the year. Please log your hours ! You can also download the Track it Forward app!