Our students and school community were honored to participate in this year's Memorial Day Parade this past Tuesday, and it was a powerful learning experience for all.  I had a chance to connect with BTMES, BCEMS, and SHS marching bands to hear their thoughts on participating in the ceremony, and we also go to catch up with the SHS J.R.O.T.C. program.

Command Sgt. Major Arianna Little (Junior, SHS) said it best:  "It's so important to honor those that have served our country and to show our patriotism."  Indeed it is, and all of our students respectfully honored our veterans on this perfect day for a parade!  Many thanks to our Band Directors Bobby Booth (SHS), Ally Tarwater (BTMES), and Angela Garcelon (BCEMS) for providing this opportunity for our students to shine on such an important day.  And of course, thank you to SHS J.R.O.T.C. Instructors Sgt. Danny Boone and Lt. Colonel Paul Stafford for leading our efforts in having our students be such an integral part of these events that honor our veterans.  It was a day to be truly proud of our school community!

This week's school showcase highlights a recent Math Night at BCEMS that brought the Barre Town and Barre City elementary communities together last Thursday night. BUUSD Math Coordinator Jen Bisson and Director of Curriculum Karen Fredericks put together a fun night for students and families, and this is just one example of how wonderful it has been to get the community back in our schools this year! Here is Karen's take on the night:

"We had an excellent turn out for our first post COVID Barre Math Night (with a count of 175 attendees). Jen Bisson, Barre UUSD PrK-8 Math Coordinator, organized the event in partnership with All Learners Network. It was such a pleasure to see equal representation of both Barre City and Barre Town families and teachers! Thank you for supporting our students, and the learning that is happening in the classroom."

Happy Spring!  The month of April has been a remarkable one for the performing arts in the BUUSD.  Among many highlights, last Friday saw the first drama production at BCEMS in 15 years!  For those who got to see the kids' production of "Barre Poppins'' last Friday night in a packed house, it was a treat indeed!  First year BCEMS 5th grade ELA teacher Adam Jacobs saw an opportunity to get a drama club together this year, and he took it!

For the second Showcase in a row, we are happy to welcome back an SHS alum into our schools!  Last week, 2010 SHS grad and BCEMS dad Steve Rich visited BCEMS Art Teacher Kate Hawley's 1st grade class.  Steve was interested in sharing his experiences as an artist in the granite trades with these young learners, and it was a great visit!

As many of you know, young students in the BUUSD are very fortunate to have the opportunity to build positive relationships with our local police officers.  This week, new Barre City Chief of Police Braedon Vail joined BCEMS Special Educator Allison Courtemanche for a Q & A with a group of 7th and 8th graders on the PEAK team.  It was an informative and enlightening experience for all! 

Happy New Year!  Our first School Showcase of 2023 brings us to Barre City Elementary and Middle School and 5th Grade teacher Jody Leone's WIN group.  Ms. Leone's 5th graders participated in a BUILD Design Challenge in December, and their work resulted in a $500 award for their classroom! 

For those who don't know, last week was "Computer Science Education Week", and all of our schools are participating in the nationwide Hour of Code event this month!  We got to spend time with all three of our district's Technology Integrationists the last three days as they collaborated with their colleagues to bring basic coding skills into the classroom.  First, BTMES's Jess Van Orman joined band teacher Ally Tarwater and her 6th graders coding "Edison" robots to play their musical pieces.  We then joined SHS's Angelique Fairbrother at the SEA program to hear how she is teaching their students to use Minecraft with their history lessons.  Finally, we joined BCEMS's Mike Martin in the 4th grade classes of Roberta Melnick and Charlotte Murphy to learn how to move Angry Birds through a maze.

We joined BCEMS Art Teacher Eirene Mavodones and Barre City parent and artist Amber Charbonneau in their weekly after school Art Club with a group of 8th graders.  At the height of the pandemic, Ms. Mavodones was concerned that too many of our students were missing out on opportunities to socialize and connect with their friends in shared interests.  So, she and Amber did something about it!  The BCEMS Art Club has been a joy for students on Friday afternoons for nearly two years now, and you can hear the experiences of some of our 8th graders.

I was able to join BCEMS Social Studies teacher Missy Wiggins' 7th graders last week for a fun lesson in her Ancient Civilization class.  "Student Engagement'' is a key objective of our Strategic Plan, and it was great to see the kids using technology and engage in collaborative teamwork in their learning.  Most of us will remember learning long vocabulary lists when we were students, but what you will see here is a perfect example of a traditional lesson made better with simple but creative and engaging methods.  Ms. Wiggins made a vocabulary lesson come alive with an engaging and fun experience for her students, and the kids were all eager to share their work with us! 

Last night, the BTMES and BCEMS middle school boys and girls soccer teams combined for a spirited game under the lights at Pendo Field on the Spaulding campus.  It was a lot of fun for all the athletes and the big audience that came to cheer them on!  BUUSD Athletic Directors Jodi Bushway (BCEMS), Jack Carrier (BTMES), and Derek Cipriano (SHS) joined forces with the BYSA to put on this event.  Any opportunity to bring our school communities together is always welcome, and I want to thank all who made this event possible!  What an incredibly fun way to spend a Wednesday night!

I got to experience an extraordinarily fun and engaging math lesson with some 3rd graders this morning, and I want to share it with you.  Director of Curriculum and Instruction Karen Fredericks joined me in BCEMS 3rd grade teacher Carey Miller's classroom for about an hour today, and we got to see our new math program, Illustrative Mathematics, in action.  Take a look here: https://youtu.be/YSdSx0WdbtM

We will be sharing a Weekly School Showcase video each week that shines a spotlight on our students and staff across the district.  These Showcases proved to be very popular last year, and we look forward to showing you all of the outstanding and exciting learning opportunities that go on in our schools every day!

For this week, we have a showcase video welcoming everybody back and introducing our BUUSD Strategic Plan.  We hope you like it!

Now that the weather is getting more beautiful by the day, it's really time for our kids to get outside and get active!  Today's Showcase is a special treat as we get to spend time in BCEMS Physical Education teacher Jay Baitz's class with a group of kindergarteners!  Mr. Baitz and his PE partner Jodi Bushway are doing wonderful things with our youngest learners as they learn to have fun being physically active.

One thing I've learned in over thirty years as an educator is that the best way to put yourself in a good mood is to visit a Pre-K or Kindergarten class. There is nothing like it! For this week's Showcase, we are visiting the Pre-K programs of BCEMS and BTMES, and I can assure you that you will soon have a smile on your face! We joined BCEMS Pre-K teacher Nancy Benoit and BTMES Pre-K teacher Kelsey LaPerle's classes recently and learned a whole lot about car detailing and the solar system during our visits.

We had a chance to visit Ujamaa math teacher Tana Cosgrove's 7th-grade math class yesterday and witness the students working together on ratios in a math lesson.  The kids' engagement was amazing to watch.

What was most impressive about this math lesson was the collaboration I witnessed both between Ms. Cosgrove and Ujamaa Special Educator Becky Dwyer and the various groups of students who were working beautifully together throughout the lesson. It was great to hear the students talk about how they mix up groups and learn how to cooperate and problem-solve together. Ms. Cosgrove and Ms. Dwyer "work the room" following the lesson, but the focus is on having the students problem-solve with each other. Real-world skills in a real-world math lesson that focuses on financial literacy!