The West 411

Andover Food Service Department is hosting their third annual Iron Chef Competition happening on Wednesday, May 6th (half-day) from 2:30-5pm for our middle school students. Please see the Iron Chef Announcement and Application.

Applications are due back by April 15th. Please submit applications to taylor.pirog@andoverma.us or in person to your cafeteria.

As always, it will feature some fun prizes, and delicious creations!

On Thursday April 16th, all 8th grade students will go to the auditorium to learn about genocide as a concept, along with historical events centered around the Holocaust. Our 8th grade students will hear from Auschwitz Holocaust survivor, Werner Salinger. This is facilitated by the Lappin Foundation and its executive director, Deb Coltin.

For more information, see the letter linked below.

Coin Battles (formerly Penny Wars) will be happening at West Middle School next week (April 13-17)! Coin Battles is a friendly competition among homerooms that the students look forward to every year!

Each day, students will bring in whatever coins and bills they can round up at home. Every morning for five consecutive days, homeroom teachers will stand in their doorways, holding a bag labeled with their homeroom. Students will have five minutes to go from classroom to classroom depositing coins/bills into the bags. They will increase their homeroom point balance by adding pennies and bills (positive points) and sabotage other homerooms with silver coins (negative points). When time is up, the bags will be collected, their contents will be counted, and results will be posted each day!

Prizes will be awarded throughout the week. The homeroom with the most points at the end of the week will receive a pizza party (and the Biggest Losers will get ring pops)! Check out the daily competitions and prizes below to strategize now!

Daily Competitions and Prizes:

• Monday - Highest point value wins Flower Leis
• Tuesday – Quarters will be positive – today only - most quarters wins colorful sunglasses
• Wednesday - Most one-dollar bills wins beach ball stress balls
• Thursday - Most PayPal/Venmo donations wins beach twist straws
• Friday – Any donation over a dollar will be doubled! The homeroom with the highest individual donations wins flip flop sticky notepads!

Notes:

• PayPal/Venmo donations will be accepted through the Give Butter – remember to include your child’s homeroom teacher in the comments!

https://givebutter.com/coinbattles

• We are no longer offering bonus points for rolled coins
• All funds collected will go toward supporting student and teacher activities programs, and supplies!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

Want to see Coin Battles in action? Contact Heather Nash at heather.ann.nash@hotmail.com if you can spare a few morning hours to help collect coins at the school and/or count them at Andover DCU any day April 13-17!

You will need to have an active CORI on file (which is easy to do).

Andover Public Schools is pleased to announce we will continue to offer acceleration opportunities for students in Mathematics this summer. We realize that all students develop their mathematical abilities at different rates, so offering a variety of entry points remains important to us. We have outlined the summer mathematics programs that would enable your child to participate should they qualify. We will be offering two in-person summer courses at the high school: Algebra 1 and Geometry. Please note that if your student is currently in the Accelerated Math Program (AMP) they are learning both the Grade 8 and Algebra 1 math content.

For more information, click the button below.

We will be offering an Accelerated Math Program (AMP) Summer Enrichment Program for students who will be entering Grade 8 in 2026. The course will be open to students who wish to be placed in the Accelerated Math Pathway for Grade 8. Consideration will be given to students based on their grades and teacher recommendation.

For more information, click the button below.

PLEASE NOTE: AMP Summer Math is not intended for students who are currently in the AMP for Grade 7.

📌 ELA: April 7th & 9th — All grades ✅

📌 Civics: April 28th — 8th grade only

📌 Math: May 7th & 8th — All grades

📌Science: May 14th & 15th — 8th grade only

4/16 - Holocaust Speaker (8th grade)

4/20-4/24 - April Vacation

4/29 - Term 3 Progress Reports

5/1 - AHS Step Up Day

5/1 - Red Sox Family Night

5/6 - Early Release Day

5/22 - Talent Show

6/17 - Last Day of School (🤞)