April 6th email to ACS staff

   At 1:38 this afternoon, 100 years ago, the United States entered the World War I. It seems both a long time ago, and not very long ago at all, yes?

    As part of this centennial, the MS/HS Library will be hosting WWI artifacts from the collection of the Afton Historical Society from April 17-21. This loan from the historical society marks an important precedent for the Society and for our school.

    The holdings of the society at the Afton Museum are rich local teaching resources for technology, physical science, culture, media, communication, history, agriculture, and problem-solving. That the society is willing to loan many of these items, and that this library will gladly curate exhibits, opens a trove primary source documents and artifacts that not only “connect” our community to your instruction, but that also afford a “museum visit” on your own terms: extended-multiple visits, your selection of artifacts, and a level of interaction & participation that enhances engagement.

    I encourage you to consider a visit to the museum (perhaps an in-service day field trip together?) and to the MS/HS Library to open yourself to possibilities of their collection in supporting your units of instruction. Not only do your students stand to benefit, but the Society stands to benefit from this collaboration; with opportunities for students to enhance their mission through digitizing artifacts, creating multi-media displays, and providing context for items through student research projects.

    I hope we will acknowledge this helping hand that has so graciously been extended to our students by working together to bring a calendar of exhibits to our school in the next academic year.

Thank you,

Dan