• Outdoor Classroom

    The AMS Outdoor Classroom is a space taken from the imagination of our students. This project began as an idea challenge during 2019-2020 in a 6th grade STEM class where they were to design their ideal outdoor learning space. While the initial project was simply a classroom project, one group took their ideas and began to work through them to develop a proposal that was eventually presented to the ACS board members at an official board meeting. From there, those students worked with the AMS leadership team and ACS board to refine their ideas into a real plan, seek community partners, and break ground on their project that will be completed during the 2023-24 school year. While those original students are now in high school, during their three years at AMS, this was a project of which they continued to be a part.

    Once ground broke on the classroom, additional student clubs were brought on board to help with the construction. The Builders Club installed the garden boxes, and our Gardening Club will over see the growing of various plants in those boxes. Then, our entire student body participated in a fundraiser to purchase brick pavers that will edge the paved concrete section of the classroom space.

    • Ancient Civilization Challenge

      Project Based Learning allows students to see a use for what they are learning, making that learning meaningful! PBLs allow for creativity, collaboration, and problem solving.

      Every PBL starts with  identifying those teaching objectives and skills our students need to learn.  Social Studies needed to review Egyptian and Roman civilizations.  Math was teaching geometry and 3-D shapes.  In Language Arts, students were learning to write non-fiction text.  Science teachers were explaining ecosystems and their viability.  Collaborating in small groups, students chose a civilization,  created a 3-D poster of their chosen civilizations using specific angles, shapes, and size requirements, researched the ecosystem of that civilization, and then created an informational product (brochure, presentation, infographic) to explain what might happen in that ecosystem if a certain organism went missing.