Amherst Middle School

It's time for our annual "Poem Mobiles" product reveals!

Our 2nd graders at WBS and SDS join creative forces with sixth-grade art students to employ design thinking on this collaborative project.

Second-grade art classes with Mr. Colantino at WBS and Ms. Forzano at SDS read the book “Poem Mobiles” and were inspired to draw blueprints of a vehicle from the illustrations.

Mrs. Klein’s sixth graders then selected a second grade drawing, using recycled materials to create a 3-dimensional representation of the elementary vehicle. They finalized their piece by using paper-mache and paint.

Students employed Design Thinking to assist in the drawing, planning & the assemblage-making process.

Alumni alert! Pharaoh Gayles, a wildlife educator, five-time alligator wrestling champ and owner of , is part of the cast of Netflix's Outlast: The Jungle.

While he was a student at Amherst Middle School in 2005, Pharaoh painted the tiger mural that still exists in the school's front stairway landing. He graduated from ACHS in 2009 and now is a wildlife educator in Florida. In June 2021 he zoomed with AMS teacher Mrs. Goldman to do an online educational wildlife demo for her students.

The final two episodes of the Outlast: The Jungle show aired June 17.

As our year winds down, we have many annual traditions. Today was the Thank You Breakfast for our First Student bus drivers. Organized each year by our amazing teaching assistant Susan Bundt, who is on bus duty every morning and afternoon, it's her way to say thank you to the drivers that she has come to know through the school year!

End of the Year Sale on Tigers Apparel. through the Amherst Tigers Booster Club. Limited sizes and quanities available. T-shirts, hoodies, hats, blankets. Shop here,

Apparel & Tiger Cards | Amherst Tigers Sports Boosters

We've got Olympic gold and silver medals in the house!

Eighth-grader Sam Petrella swims with the JCC Rays and won gold in the freestyle relay and 25 freestyle and silver in the 25 backstroke and 50 freestyle at the New York State Special Olympics in Utica, NY this past weekend.

We are renewing the call for candidates! Apply before June 8, https://amherstschools.recruitfront.com/JobPosting?JID=83461.
Are you certified in Spanish or French (grades 7-12)?
We have an opening for a Middle School Spanish or French World Languages Teacher that would be based at Amherst Middle School. The anticipated start date is Sept. 1, 2026. Qualifications include NYS Spanish (7-12) or NYS French (7-12) certification and fingerprinting through the NYS Department of Education.

Students from our Middle School Tech Club competed in the annual ECC Tech Wars competition, with 927 registered student competitors from more than 57 schools. Our students continued to make progress in the Robot Drag Race, On-Site Engineering Challenge, Air Skimmer and Bridge Building events. In the Mousetrap Car competition, Zoe Coleman earned 1st place and Emerson Grady earned 3rd! All of our students worked hard to complete their projects in time for competition day.

Kudos to our AMS WEB leaders and their advisors for organizing the Fifth-Grade Welcome Tours for Smallwood Drive and Windermere Boulevard over the past two Fridays. Today it was Windermere's turn to visit.

Fifth-graders from both elementary schools took a field trip to AMS and worked in small groups with a WEB leader to get a glimpse of what sixth grade will be like.

Mr. Patrick O'Donnell, AMS Orchestra Director, accepted the 2026 Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra/Erie County Music Educators Assn. Award for Excellence in Music Education at Kleinhans Music Hall Saturday evening, May 9.

Congratulations Mr. O'Donnell for this wonderful, well-deserved recognition for your dedication, service, and musical contributions to the Amherst community! BRAVO!

Members of the Amherst Central Music Department were present to celebrate with Mr. O'Donnell on this momentous occasion.

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates the contributions and achievements of Western New York’s music educators, administrators, and school music programs. Each year distinguished awards are presented at an evening of celebration at Kleinhans Music Hall. Established in 1994 with the Erie County Music Educators Association, this award recognizes and honors music educators who make possible the progression from the very first note, to the last exquisite tone, as students are nurtured into the musical art.

It's the Smallwood Drive Fifth-Grade Welcome Tour at the middle school. Our AMS WEB leaders worked with small groups to give the fifth-graders their first taste of what sixth grade will be like! Next week we get to see the Windermere Boulevard fifth-graders and do it all again!