MVHS Senior Project Roadshow Comes to AE/MS

Drama Club, Poetry Night, SHARE Day coming, too

By Jane Slayton, Principal, AE/MS

Kindergarten Registration and Information Gathering is on Wednesday, April 17. Andover children who will be five years old before June 30, 2013 are eligible for kindergarten.

One of the bigger kindergarten classes that we’ve had in years will be here soon! We are very appreciative about the support received at the annual Andover School District Meeting for full-day kindergarten. This will make a very positive difference for the kindergarten programming, and benefits will be reaped from kindergarten through eighth grade and beyond.

Andover seniors at Merrimack Valley High School have been invited to bring their Senior Projects back to Andover on Friday, April 19, at 8:30 AM. The community is invited to attend the Senior Project presentations.

Last year was the first time we have invited the seniors back to share their projects, and it turned out to be a beneficial experience for the seniors and AE/MS students. It also gave an opportunity for AE/MS staff to reconnect with the seniors, and all enjoyed hearing their accomplishments and future plans. It was decided that we needed to make this an annual occurrence.

Snow is still covering our garden area but should begin to melt quickly in the weeks ahead. Watch for the call for volunteers to help us fill beds as we prepare for a bounty of healthy vegetables to enhance school lunches.

Alice in Wonderland

The Andover Players, our middle school drama club, has spent countless hours after school, on weekends, and vacations preparing for Alice in Wonderland. There will be evening performances on Thursday and Friday, March 28 and 29. You won’t want to miss it!

One of our best evenings at AE/MS is coming up on Thursday, April 11 – Poetry Night! Students in grades one through eight choose poetry that appeals to them, within the guidelines for their grade, and then work on memorizing to prepare for recitations in the classroom.

Our library is well stocked with poetry books, so students have a wide variety of choices. Poetry is included in the curriculum in all grades, and we look forward to this annual opportunity to celebrate it together.

Certainly, a school with the legendary Poet Laureate Donald Hall next door is motivated to read, write, and recite poetry anyway. Who knows? Maybe a future recipient of the National Medal of Arts is sitting in a classroom at AE/MS writing a poem right now.

SHARE Day is Friday, May 17. Please consider offering a workshop or helping out in a general manner to be part of the fun. This is a real community event that involves many Andover residents, Proctor Academy teachers, and AE/MS teachers and students. Give me or Gisela Darling a call for more information. We are always looking for new workshop ideas. Consider joining us for a spirited and productive community day.

Graduations

The dates have been set for June graduations. The kindergarten has their “moving up to first grade” ceremony on Wednesday, June 12, in the evening. Our eighth grade students will graduate on Thursday evening, June 13. Both are always big events in our school community!