January 2016 Newsletter - Update (Jan 10)

Arts of the Swordsmen (AOTS) Planning Meeting: On Thursday, January 21, we will have two information and planning meetings about AOTS: at 4:00 and again at 6:00 to allow as many families as possible to come at whichever time best fits their schedule.  We do want to showcase any artistic talents that your son has, but we will also create opportunities for him to participate, such as last year we trained students who never before did a STOMP performance and they put on a fantastic show! Here is a video of that STOMP performance:

Here is a link to a YouTube playlist that has videoclips of each act from last year's AOTS.

The agenda for this meeting on Jan 21 is to share information about the goals of AOTS and get a first estimate of the types of talents our students want to showcase.  We would also want to know if any of our families have any talents on-stage or behind-the-stage that they can share or know of others outside of IA who would be willing to help us. 

We will also need to form an organizing committee whose subtasks will include helping to monitor or lead student rehearsals, organizing volunteers for the night of the performance, and assisting with fundraising such as finding donated items to raffle off and selling ads in the Playbill.  Can you help? 

During the AOTS event, we will also recognize students with high academic achievements (honor roll) and athletic achievements (such as MVPs for each sport). We are planning to have the AOTS in early May and can confirm its date soon after we get final approval from the venue.     

Please take a moment to let us know which of the two AOTS planning meetings you can attend by clicking the SignUpGenius button below or if you can't make the meeting but do have a way to help, then also use the comment section on the SignUp to let us know that.



Much thanks to Travis and Beckie Kiker for leading our young men to boldly express their God-given talents!

Kids Exchange:  This is the last week to donate any items that the IPF will sell at the Kids Exchange.  A good idea is to give your son a bag and tell him to put in it at least two items that are in good condition that he no longer needs: clothing, toys, video games, books, room furnishings.  With a lot of participation, we could collect at least $500!  All clothing we bring to the sale has to be on wire hangers, so if you have any of those at your home, please do donate them to us. 

We will work on tagging the items during the Work Day on Saturday morning, Jan 16.  Please indicate on the SignUpGenius for the Work Day if you can help do that.   

Yearbook Club Planning Meeting:  We are going to start a Yearbook Club so that our young men can develop a yearbook that best shows their experiences as IA students.  For the past two years, it has been a couple of mothers who mostly completed the yearbook and certainly middle-aged women can't do justice to explaining the academic and spiritual experience of our young men! (So say these middle-aged mothers.) 

We need young men who are interested in photography or writing to work together to choose the photos that will go into the yearbook and write descriptions of the IA experiences. We already have a lot of photos from the first semester that need to be sorted.  We will have a planning meeting to start the Yearbook Club during lunch time on Thursday, Jan 14.  Students who are interested in the Yearbook Club should let Mr. Anderson know of their interest.  Please talk to your son about this exciting opportunity.  We are using a yearbook vendor, treering.com, that has training materials for students to develop their yearbooks.  Any parents with project management, photo or scrap booking experience, or who enjoy writing are also invited to help our students.

Spring sports: The Iron Academy Events Calendar (see tab above) has the dates for middle school and JV golf.  The spring sports season begins Feb 15.  Our Athletic Director, Coach Jon Mitchell, can answer any questions about our spring sports.       

Science Lab Photos:  Want a peek at the exciting learning experiences our young men had at Saturday's science lab?  

Here is a folder of photos from the day and a brief video below.  The science lab activities included looking at living and nonliving cell structures in a microscope; rates of diffusion and osmosis by cell size; biodiversity and how species interact with each other, such as how species help and hurt each other; how scientists measure different substances in a lab setting; and rate of osmosis through a semipermeable membrane.