New Campus Designs @ Lower School

The SnugPlay Modular Recess Equipment is Back
Thanks to the Parent Group Gala gifts our students can play at their hearts' delight on new blue turf poured this summer under the playground structure and SnugPlay equipment. Students often like to use the large modular equipment to design forts and obstacle courses and for making their endless creative ideas come to life. The new turf will make play safer while also providing a zone boundary during shared recess times.

Fifth Graders Create a New Outdoor Build Space
In case you wondered what we would do with the large Lego-like blocks once we shifted back from last school year's COVID-19 structures, the image above reveals the answer. Thankfully 5A was up for the challenge to design and construct the new outdoor play space. See the additional photo below this section of students at recess in serious build mode. Play is work and work is play at AVS!

Chess Pieces Finally Have A Board
Rather than throw out the old individual rubber Snugplay mats, we've cleaned them up, painted half the mats white, and repurposed them to give the chess pieces a landing pad in the play yard. While all students are welcome, students in the upper grades seem to gravitate most to this section of the recess yard. If you'd like your child to learn chess, encourage them to visit this area during their recess times or sign up for our afterschool chess program that runs throughout the year during BookEnds.

The Library Books Can Breath
After a year of keeping the library books in storage, they are now housed in the back of the community room on the first floor. A special thank you to Paul McNees, Ellen Harms, and Rebecca Sacks for curating the library selection. Thank you again to parent volunteers Nandita Borisov, Betty Michaud, Kate Long, Jami Grich, and Miriam Penna for creating such an organized and enticing display of AVS books. Going forward, fifth-grade volunteer helpers will work to upkeep the library organization and display selection.

Drama Classes Are Now On And Around The Stage
Following last year's school redesign, we've moved drama classes to their natural home on and around the stage. Our new Drama teacher Ms. Sienna is stoked by the openness of the space, the creativity it inspires, and the purposefulness of being located where all the action takes place. Drama performances will take place from 8:45 -9:30 am on Friday, Dec 3 for JK-1 classes and Friday, Dec 10 for grades 2-5 classes. BookEnds Drama Club is also back in the afternoons with the first shows scheduled for 4:15 pm on Wed, Nov 10 for grades 2-5 and on Thurs, Nov 11 for grades JK-1. Locations TBD.

Art & Tinkering Finds The Perfect Home
After several years of moving locations, Ms. Mc Nutt, our Art and Tinkering teacher, is thrilled to settle into the large classroom adjacent to the community meeting room on the first floor.  This area has plenty of space to store all the art materials and tinkering projects. There is a section for sculpting tools and working with clay and a section for woodshop equipment and tools. When the time is ripe, it's also now in a prime location for community members to convene and take part in collective engineering and design projects. Once we move to indoors pickup in the future, the room is an excellent location for BookEnds coordination.