Volunteers

Spring Book Fair and AMS Readathon 2016

Posted on by msbuck

AMS Spring Book Fair

Volunteers are needed for the Spring book fair from March 14th-18th between 7:45 AM and 3:15 PM.  Our busiest times of day will be from 8:00-8:30 in the morning and 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM during lunches, but classes will also be visiting throughout the day on Monday-Thursday. The book fair will coincide with this year’s Readathon, which will be held on March 15th, beginning during the school day and extending through the after school activity period and into the evening. Volunteers can sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0b4ca5ac2babfc1-spring1

Our Fall book fair was a huge success, putting over 500 books in students’ hands and raising over $3,000 in Scholastic dollars to support our library program. The Spring book fair promises to be just as successful with some great titles for sale. We were extremely fortunate to have a wonderful group of parents help out with the fall Fair, and we thank you in advance for once again donating your time and energy. Again, click here to sign up to volunteer for the book fair: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0b4ca5ac2babfc1-spring1 or email Ms. Buck, the AMS librarian, at mhbuck@aacps.org for more information.

 

AMS Readathon 2016

On March 15th we will hold our Readathon at Annapolis Middle School. What is a Readathon?, you may ask. It is a reading marathon in which students, parents, teachers, and community members are encouraged to come and read as long as they can! While at the event some serious participants will sit and read the entire time, there will be additional activities for the less-competitive, including Read Alouds, Book “Sales,” and a Reading Café. There will be representatives from community partners such as the Public Library and giveaways of books and more.

One of the highlights is the Read Aloud Room; this will be a great opportunity for all participants to hear selected stories shared by teachers, students, and community members. If you are interested in being a guest reader, please use this link to submit your contact information: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FLW7LCY.  

We are also in need of parent volunteers to help monitor students, serve food, and direct activities.  Interested in volunteering but not eager for the spotlight? Please use this link to submit your contact information: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FL5KKTB.  

Questions or concerns? Please email Ms. Buck, the AMS librarian, at mhbuck@aacps.org or our literacy coach, Ms. Lerro, at jlerro@aacps.org. Thank you for your support of this exciting  celebration of literacy and the joy our school community finds in reading!

 

Thanks for a great book fair! and some updates.

Posted on by msbuck

It’s been a couple of weeks since the end of the book fair, so we have our sales numbers. In spite of a delay in delivery of the fair, we sold almost as many books as last fall. This means we’ve got funds for some new furniture to replace worn-out bean bags and gamer chairs, and to buy some awesome new books! More importantly, it means great new books are in the hands of our students. I’ve been hearing about some of what you’re reading on Edmodo, but feel free to share in the comments here too!

Thanks so much to all the parents and students who volunteered. We keep the library open during the book fair, and that means there is a lot going on. We really couldn’t do it without everyone’s help! Special thanks to Amy, Niajay, Caron, Emma, Paris, Cece, and Mrs. Haynes’ 5th and 6th period students, who stepped in and helped with setup when we got thrown off schedule. We’re also grateful to our wonderful PTSA for all the help promoting and recruiting volunteers for the fair!

I’m also very excited to announce two things. First off, our school Makerspace (what’s that?) is now open and operating. It’s been so much fun to see students experimenting with the moldable plastic, Little Bits, and 3d printing pen! Students can use the Makerspace for school-related or independent projects. We’ve got craft supplies of all kinds – paper, fabric, yarn, cardboard, and duct tape as well as more high-tech stuff like Arduino and Raspberry Pi computers for our budding coders, filming and recording equipment, and lots more cool stuff. Another big thank you to Hadlee, who’s been the driving force behind getting things going!

Finally, you’re going to start hearing from some people other than me on this blog. We have some very talented writers who are going to be volunteering as student bloggers during the rest of the school year. Stay tuned to see what they have to say!

What’s super fun and happens in just 3 weeks?

Posted on by msbuck

If you said “Banned Books Week,” good guess, but this time we’re talking about the Book Fair!  OMG that is right!  Our teacher preview will be on October 2, and the real sales start on October 5th in school – but you can get a head start on your shopping online!  We are looking forward to getting some great new books into students’ hands, and raising funds for the library!

Here’s what you need to know:

  • Online fair – September 27th-October 17th – books you order online will be sent free of charge to your student’s Caring Community.  There’s a HUGE selection on the Scholastic website for kids of all ages!
  • In-school fair – October 5th-9th – class visits will be through Language & Literature.  Don’t worry, all classes will come to the book fair!  Students will have additional opportunities to shop on their own throughout the week.
  • Volunteering – We do need parent volunteers!  Please use our online sign-up form here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0b4ca5ac2babfc1-fall or email mhbuck@aacps.org if you’re interested.  Time slots are flexible.