January 4, 2023

Happy New Year! I hope you each had a restful and relaxing winter break. We are hard at work welcoming students back to the building, preparing for our quarterly assessments for this marking period, and prepping for schoolwide activities throughout the second half of the year. Below are reminders for the next few weeks. If you have any questions about the information below, please do not hesitate to contact us at school.

Chromebooks

Students must bring their Chromebooks to school each day and carry their Chromebook to all their classes. Chromebooks should be charged at night so that they are ready for instruction the next school day. If your student’s Chromebook is damaged or in need of repair, please ask your student to bring their Chromebook to the main office so that it can be repaired.

Next week, we will conduct a Chromebook inventory through math classes. Please make sure your student brings their Chromebook to school each day.

Quarterly Assessments - 2nd Marking Period

Quarterly assessments will begin in all class next week. I&S classes began their quarterly project this week. These assessments measure student mastery of the grade level standards taught each marking period and are included in student’s final grade for the quarter.

Quarterly assessments are taken on Chromebooks. Please encourage your student to get a good night’s rest, arrive to school on time, and arrive to school with their Chromebook each day so that they are prepared to complete their assessment. Each content area will complete their assessment during a different window over the next several weeks. If you have questions regarding these assessments, please contact your student’s classroom teacher.

Virtual Instructional Days

During the winter months, weather can be unpredictable. During inclement weather days, there is the possibility that students could have a virtual instruction day. To ensure we are adequately prepared for the possibility of virtual instructional days, please make sure your student brings their Chromebook and charger home each night and review the process for logging onto each class’ Brightspace page with your student. Students use Brightspace daily in school to access work and are familiar with logging onto Brightspace through Classlink.

For more information regarding AACPS’s virtual instructional day plans, click here.

This week, students received the AMS Home-School Compact. This document was created collaboratively with teachers, students, and families. As a requirement of our Title I program, we must have a signed Home-School Compact returned from each of our students and families. This document will be sent home three times throughout the school year. Please review the compact with your student and returned the signed copy to your student's Advisory teacher. If you have any questions regarding the compact, please do not hesitate to contact us at school.

AMS is going to the Polar Bear Plunge this year! Support our students in their efforts to raise money for the Special Olympics by making a donation here! Students who raise at least $50 will receive a sweatshirt on plunge day!

If your student would like to participate -- have them reach out to Ms. Walker (grade 6, SGA), Mr. Tougas (grade 7, NJHS) or Ms. Ogundare (School Counselor, NJHS).

We have such an amazing community of supporters! A special Thank you to....

• Everyone who donated to Dragon Dream Shop!!! The students were soooooo excited! We cannot say enough about how much we appreciate the outpouring of support!
• Woods Church for their ongoing support of Backpack Buddies and their support of our families during the holiday season.
• Lisa Keough, Pat Voelkel, Toys for Tots and the ATown Book Club for adopting an AMS family this holiday season
• The First Presbyterian Church of Annapolis for the book donation
• Junior League of Annapolis for weekend supplies for our girls

Activity buses run on Tuesday and Thursday. Please see our full list of after school clubs HERE!

• Our MTSS committee has been busy planning for events to reward students for positive behaviors. Students can use "Dragon Dollars" to purchase items in the "Dragon Den" during school lunches. Please check our Amazon Wish LIst to donate items. (These are suggested items; they do not need to be purchased through Amazon)
• Support the AMS PTSA when shopping at Amazon by naming Annapolis Middle School PTSA as the charity you support. Remember you have to be signed into www.smile.Amazon.com when completing your purchase!

Please see the list of January Happenings. You can also check the Dragon Conexion for the most updated list of happenings at school and in the community. Check your students backpack for the "Save the Date" Flyer attached here!

Students will be celebrating earning their behavior goals for MP 2! We will need parent volunteers for this event. If you are interested in volunteering, contact ABELLER@aacps.org or complete the volunteer form HERE.