Flagstaff Junior Academy

Great energy and turnout for Bike to School this week! Younger students focused on bike safety and navigating turns and obstacles. Middle schoolers enjoyed an hour-plus ride taking urban trails and the scenic route to South Beaver. Thanks to Ms. Shawna and Ms. Patterson for organizing and to all the staff and parents who came along for the ride!

Much gratitude to local businesses Shake + Shine and Peak Scents for spoiling FJA staff this week! Staff faves: the Lemon Vanilla Smoothie and the Rose Phyto Facial Mist. Also, so much thanks to local faves Four Sisters Floral, Grand Canyon Whitewater, and Flagstaff Athletic Club for their contributions. Other donors include: Target, Natural Grocers, Sprouts, Dunkin Donuts, Walmart, and Safeway. And a most special thank you to our hard-working PTG for coordinating all the healthy meals, treats, and thoughtfulness during Educator Appreciation Week...we felt the love!

Depending upon the day, being an educator can be one of the hardest jobs; it's also hands-down one of the best! Thank you to all of the caring adults who come to FJA each day and share their passion, kindness, and knowledge with our students.

What a day to get outside! Ms. Cole's students and family chaperones spent the day at Griffith's Spring exploring and learning all about macroinvertebrates.

Thanks to NAU for hosting our middle school students at this year's Coconino County Math Contest. It was hard and fun! Thanks to Ms. Goodell, Mr. Cola, and Ms. Carrie for chaperoning!

Read all about it--new edition of the FJA Family Newsletter is available! Click below to learn about upcoming end-of-year events, summer camps, and free virutal academic tutoring this June through August. https://5il.co/2jt1p

Seventh graders are having an amazing experience at Catalina Island Marine Institute this week. The majority of them even woke up at 5:40 a.m. today to take a sunrise hike!

This Earth Day, we'd like to give special thanks to Ms. Tatiana, our NAU-Americorps Environmental Literacy Coordinator. Whether facilitating activities about invasive species for our littles, teaching our upper elementary students about composting, or working with middle schoolers on sustainability principles, she always brings her positive attitude and passion for the environment!

It's not too late to align your tax dollars with what you value by contributing your AZ School Tax Credit to FJA. Support extracurricular clubs, field trips, PBIS, and our mindfulness program by choosing FJA as your School Tax Credit recipient! With this program, you save dollar-for-dollar on state taxes owed up to $200 for single filers and $400 for joint filers. Click here https://5il.co/2enbb to access our tax credit brochure and donate by check. To donate by credit card, click here: https://www.fjacademy.com/o/fjacademy/page/donate

Today is our middle school’s first day at South Beaver! Lots of great energy in the air and gratitude all around to NAU for offering us this beautiful temporary home before we move to our permanent Gemini Campus. This would not have been possible without NAU Space Manager Valerie Barret having the vision and coordinating all the moving parts to make things happen swiftly. On behalf of FJA’s students, staff, and families, many thanks to NAU Facility Services, Fire Life Safety, Police Department, Property Surplus, CPRM (Contracts, Purchasing & Risk Management), Information Technology Services, and the university as a whole.

Today was the end of our Bonito Era. Thanks to FUSD for hosting us all these years. Not surprisingly, our students were exceptional in their attitudes and actions today. We had schoolwide matches of boom ball, student farewell songs, and student odes to the building read-aloud. Some favorites included "Ode to Mr. Irwin's Rickety Desks," "Ode to the Other Side of the Building," "Ode to the Gluestick on the Ceiling," and "Ode to the Lack of Windows (sarcasm)." Feeling thankful and ready for our fresh start!

Elementary and middle school staff came together this past Friday afternoon to continue set-up at South Beaver School. The space is beautiful and we are super appreciative of everyone's support. The final push will be this weekend and then it's "opening day" for students on Tuesday, April 2nd!

Please help us spread the word: This Tuesday is FJA Day at all 3 Fratelli Pizza locations! Dine-in or take-out all day long. Eat Fratelli's Pizza this Tuesday 3/26 and support FJA's field trip program! No need to bring an ad or even mention our school name. Thanks to Fratelli's and you!

Thanks to Dr. Alice and Tynkertopia for hosting our students for what are always the most imaginative and fun-filled field trips! Egg Drop Challenge--those smiles say it all!

Attention Families: Mindfulness First is expanding their FREE Spring 2024 program offerings to ALL adults affiliated with a PreK-12 school community! That means parents and guardians can sign up and participate for workshops at no cost. Not sure how long program spaces will remain open, but registering for a workshop only takes 2 minutes. Go here for more details: https://www.mindfulnessfirst.org/spring-2024-public

Thank you, Johnny Marcus, for sharing "Traveling the Universe" with our fifth graders this semester, and thanks to Creative Flagstaff for funding the project. The classroom lessons were inspiring and the culminating field trip to Lowell was outstanding!

No better way to spend a good part of the school day than at Jay Lively! Thanks to all of our teachers and parent chaperones for supporting our young skaters on recent field trips.

Thanks to Ms. Cole for facilitating wax-wrap workshops with our 3rd and 4th graders! FJA's units of study and curriculum support environmental literacy.

Love this annual tradition! The sixth-grade team taking our fifth graders skiing!

FJA believes in equity and increasing access. We will offer free full-day kindergarten beginning in the 2024-25 school year! Thursday 2/29 is the last day for families to enter our first-round lottery. Spread the word among your friends with soon-to-be kinders! Read more here: https://azdailysun.com/news/local/education/flagstaff-junior-academy-to-offer-free-full-day-kindergarten-next-school-year/article_8a7613fa-c9be-11ee-b5d0-fba7b6c0bba0.html/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=shareArticleButton&utm_campaign=shareArticleButton