FAST Campus Virtual Tour

6th-grade students pictured here are participating in an on-campus field trip.  The Bio-Bus from Georgia State University is presenting a unit on earth/planetary science titled the Star Wars GeoScience Module where they viewed movie clips and discussed the truth, fallacy, and/or possibilities of the fictional planets based on what we know of our own planet and solar system.  

FAST recently completed an upgrade to this classroom to turn it into a more state of the art science lab for our 6th-grade students.    FAST received a $15,000 STEM grant from the Emerson Charitable Trust that enabled this improvement.

Ms. Jain's 6th-grade math class is having a bazaar.   The students created items they loved to make in their spare time to sell and/or buy them with a price tag that has a decimal.  Students were given a set amount of "money" to spend on their classmates' items.  In addition to showcasing their creativity, this exercise teaches many skills including multiplying and dividing decimals, conceptual thinking about a budget, and selling items to generate a profit.

This is a group of prospective families on a tour of the 6th grade hallway.

This is the 8th-grade English/Language Arts and literature classroom for students who are taking 8th and 9th-grade classes.  8th-grade Students taking 9th-grade literature class will receive high school credit if they elect to take it at the end of the year.

This is a group of 7th grade students who are dressed up as characters from The Outsiders, one of the novel studies they did during the year.

Another view of Ms. Iglesias' 5th-grade classroom and her flexible seating options.

This is Mr. Smith's 5th Grade Science classroom.  Our Science curriculum is FOSS Science.  You can see many black FOSS kit boxes along the back wall of the room.

In this picture, you can see some parent and grandparent volunteers who are ready to receive students for a 5th grade event.

This is Ms. Letton's 5th grade English/Language Arts classroom.  Ms. Letton's room also used alternative seating options for her students.

This group of 8th-grade students just met with their Capstones mentor in the conference room.  We use this room for parent meetings, team meetings, occasional staff lounge, and many teacher appreciation lunches.

Innovation Hall is used for many different purposes.  This photo is from our PTO's Bingo Night held in January.  This is a very fun and popular event for families and staff alike!

Innovation Hall is set up for our Kindergarten graduation.

We also hold student assemblies or special programs in Innovation Hall.  Here our kindergartners through second graders are listening to Esther Culver, a fabulous Storyteller from The Wren's Nest, tell the story of Muhammad Ali during a presentation for Black History Month.

This picture showcases the 7th grade Chorus in their first concert of the year.  They performed several songs to the delight of their friends and parents in the audience.

This is Ms. Brown's kindergarten classroom at the beginning of the school year.

This is Ms. Brown's kindergarten class last year.  Her students are surrounding Ms. Brown's full-time paraprofessional.  The average kindergarten class size this year is 23 students per class.  Each class has a full-time paraprofessional, so the ratio was 11.5/1.  Kindergarten through 3rd grade has recess twice daily for about 30 minutes each.  Kindergartners also have snack time, but they do not have nap time.

This group of kindergarten students is celebrating the 100th day of school by dressing up as if they were 100 years old!

Kindergarten classrooms have no more than 24 students per class.  The teacher has a full-time paraprofessional making the student to adult ratio 12:1.  Kindergarten through third grade has recess twice daily for about 30 minutes each.   Kindergartners also have snack time, but they do not have nap time.

Here are more "100 year old" kindergartners along with our "100 year old" principal, Mr. Beiner.

This is the front of Ms. Hollins' 2nd grade classroom.  Some of her students are posing with Ms. Holcombe, the 2nd grade paraprofessional.  Ms. Holcombe is shared between both 2nd grade classrooms.

Here you can see the hallway where our 2nd grade and one first grade classroom are.  Pictured is Ms. Turner, one of our 1st grade teachers, and several of her students who are dressed up as if they were 100 years old.  They are celebrating the 100th day of school!

This is Ms. Turner's 1st-grade classroom.  You can see students doing activities associated with 100 to celebrate the 100th day of school.

1st-grade class size this year was 24 students each.  We have two 1st-grade homerooms that share one paraprofessional.

Ms. Mitchell's 1st-grade classroom is the setting for a presentation by local dental providers.  The students in both 1st-grade classrooms are together in Ms. Mitchell's room for the presentation.   Ms. Mitchell is seated on the right-hand side of the photograph.

1st-grade class size this year was 24 students each.  We have 2 1st-grade homerooms that share one paraprofessional.

This is a great picture of Ms. Robertson's 2nd-grade class focusing hard on their schoolwork.

This is Ms. McGuire's 4th-grade Math classroom.

Ms. Kornegay's homeroom students are working hard on an assignment.   They are using Chromebooks to do their research and create a presentation.

Here you can see the front half of Ms. Kornegay's classroom.  These students are taking advantage of their rainy day indoor recess time by learning how to draw from an online tutorial shown on the classroom's smartboard.

Ms. Reynold's was one of the first teachers at FAST to adopt flexible seating for her students.  Some of the options include stand-up desks and low tables combined with alternate seating.

Note the back wall.  This is a collapsible wall that can open up quickly and easily to combine with Ms. Kornegay's 4th-grade room.  We have combined classrooms in the past for summer pre-planning for the staff or for presentations for an entire grade level.  The surface of the wall also allows for writing on with dry-erase markers.  It's common for teachers and students to use these walls for teaching and working collaboratively.

Ms. Reynold's room offers many different flexible seating options for her students.  She and they love the choices available, and the students are allowed to choose their seats as certain times throughout the day.  They've learned to take turns and some have even realized the importance of choosing who they sit with so they are not distracted from learning.

The Innovation Lab is a completely adaptable room that we use for many different purposes -such as FAST Governing Board meetings, Principal FAST Chats with the parents, and student classes.

The tables and chairs are on wheels allowing us to quickly and easily adjust the room-set up to accommodate our needs.  The surfaces of the tables allow for writing on with dry-erase markers.  This enables easy sharing of ideas and collaborative work.

FAST has a full-color 3D digital printer and a Glowforge laser cutter in this room.  These are valuable tools used in our Innovation and Genius Hour programs where students can create a design online and with the help of a teacher, print or cut out their design in real life.

This group of 8th-grade students is explaining their Capstones project to one of our Innovation Teachers, Ms. Natea Wallace.  Capstones projects are year-long projects all 8th graders do to show how they've developed and grown through our Innovation and Genius Hour programs.  8th graders work alone or collaboratively on a topic they're passionate about for their entire 8th-grade year, culminating in a presentation to their peers, parents, teachers, mentors, and administrators.  We are proud to see the development of their critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills.

Media Arts is one of 5 elementary school Specials classes that students take once a week throughout the entire school year.  Students learn about traditional paper media but also spend a significant time learning about digital media, Internet safety, and how to be a good digital citizen.  The boys pictured here are proudly displaying their collaborative word poem written during National Poetry Month.

FAST middle school students have the Media Arts special for one 9-week quarter of each year.  Middle school students are also given a choice of their Media Arts special.  Past offerings have included Drama, Journalism, and Internet Studies.

This is Mr. Vandel's 7th and 8th grade Science classroom.  Our advanced 8th-grade students also take the 9th Grade Physical Science class in this room.  They can earn high school credit if they successfully complete the course and score high enough on the End of Grade test given in the spring.

The students pictured here are practicing the skill measurement in order to create a floor plan.

This picture shows the back half of Mr. Vandel's Science classroom.  You can see a glass specimen case as well as a hydroponic system set-up (bright lights) that Mr. Vandal uses to grow herbs, lettuces, and tilapia.

You might also notice the lockers on the far wall.  Middle school classrooms have lockers that students can use and decorate if they choose.

Not pictured are the many critters Mr. Vandel keeps in his room such as a turtle, hedgehog, bearded dragon, and many different types of insects.

Ms. Roth's 7th grade students are about to begin their Social Studies class.  The shiny white wall at the back of the room is a collapsable wall that can easily open to join Ms. Roth's Social Studies room with Mr. Britten's 8th Grade English/Language Arts room.  Students can also work collaboratively at the wall with dry-erase markers.

This is the front of Ms. Roth's classroom.  She teaches 7th and 8th grade Social Studies.

In this picture, the two students who are standing are leading a group discussion as part of our Social-Emtional Learning curriculum (SEL).   FAST uses a six-day rotation where two of every six days are SEL and the other four are for our unique Innovation and Genius Hour programs.

FAST uses the Second Step to promote the social-emotional development of all our students in grades K-8.

Ms. Quraishy's 7th-grade students are performing an act from a scene in Romeo and Juliet.  Students read, write, and perform scenes from the novels they are studying to gain deeper understanding.  Ms. Quraishy teaches English/Language Arts to 7th and 8th-grade students.

Mr. Porter is pictured in the Music Room with the 7th-grade chorus students right before their evening performance.  Middle school students take Music for one nine-week quarter each year.  They can elect to take General Music, Chorus, or Ukulele.

Mr. Porter is teaching Music to 3rd-grade students using xylophones.  The music curriculum FAST uses is Quaver Music.  Elementary school students have Music once a week throughout the entire year.

Ms. Harkins is working with one of her students on Math.  She has also adopted some flexible seating options for her students including a stand up desk (background) and some low tables (foreground).

Ms. Harkins is teaching her 3rd-grade students how to multiply fractions.

FAST opened in 2016 on the property of a former church.  What used to be the main church building is now Innovation Hall.  Here you will find the main office where Principal Beiner, K-4 Assistant Principal Miller, 5-8 Assistant Principal Epstein, and the rest of the admin team have their offices.

Innovation Hall also houses Media, Art, Music, the Innovation Lab, and our open area where we have school assemblies and other important events.  On rainy days PE is also held in the open area of Innovation Hall.  FAST does not have a separate gymnasium.

Student Hall is where the vast majority of our classrooms are.  Grades K-4 have their homeroom on the first floor and grades 5-8 are located on the second floor.

The gray portable classroom you can see on the right side of the picture houses two different classrooms: a multi-purpose classroom that hosts a few different classes in grades 1-5 and a 7th-grade homeroom that is used to teach science and social studies to different grades.  All of our classrooms, including both portables, have a smartboard in them.

Ms. Iglesias teaches 5th grade Math and Science.  You can see some more of her flexible seating options including the black and gray wobble stools and part of a stand up desk in the far right.

Art is a Specials class that elementary school students take once a week throughout the year and middle school students take every day for one 9-week quarter per year.  Students explore and create art in many different forms and using a wide variety of materials.

Ms. LeCraw's 4th-grade students are learning about the primary colors of light and how, when mixed, they create white light.