Mt. Mansfield Modified Union School District (MMMUSD) is Formed

On December 18, 2014, Secretary of Education, Rebecca Holcombe, swore in community members who were elected in November to serve on the new MMMUSD Board and officially recognized Mt. Mansfield Modified Union as a Vermont school district.  In addition, a treasurer, clerk and annual meeting moderator were elected from the floor and an annual meeting date established on the fourth Thursday in February.  This organizational meeting was formal in nature as its purpose was to solidify MMMUSD as an authorized school district entity in the State of Vermont.  However, Secretary Holcombe highlighted the historical significance of the new school district as well as her support for the work of the Voluntary Merger Committee and enthusiasm for the potential of the the preK-12 school district.

Mt. Mansfield Modified Union School District (MMMUSD) Board Retreat

The MMMUSD School Board wasted no time in beginning its work.  On December 20th, the new board gathered at Camels Hump Middle school to discuss roles and responsibilities, set priorities for the next six months, elect officers and initiate the process of forming a new governing body.  The Vermont School Boards Association supported in facilitating the meeting. The retreat was productive and resulted in the following:

• Jon Milazzo (Richmond) was appointed Chair.  Andrew Pond (Bolton) was appointed Vice Chair.  Dianne Kirson-Glitman (Jericho) was appointed Clerk.
• Peter Geiss (Underhill), Beth Racine (Underhill),  Kevin Campbell (UID), Dave Clark (Huntington), Michael Marks (Richmond) and Edye Granning (Jericho) were appointed to the Finance Committee.
• Andrew Davis (Jericho), Peter Geiss (Underhill), Michael Marks (Richmond) and Jon Milazzo (Richmond) were appointed to the Negotiations Committee.  Huntington School District Representative, Edmund Booth is also a member of the Negotiations Committee.  
• The Board will meet the first and third Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. (Click here to view meeting schedule) 
• The January 5, 2015 meeting will take place in the MMUHS Library. Subsequent meetings will be held at CHMS until June 30th.  CHMS is the meeting location during the transition phase. After June 30, the board will determine meeting venues.
• Set preparing a 2015-2016 budget; negotiating contract agreements; transitioning supervisory union responsibilities; building a cohesive board team; develop an understanding of the assets of the new district and plan for Town Meeting 2015.  

In addition to short-term priorities, the MMMUSD Board will be working on a vision, strategic plans/priorities and community engagement plan.  To access a draft of the Board Retreat minutes, please go to MMMUSD retreat minutes.

The next meeting of the MMMUSD Board will be held January 5, 2015, in the Mt. Mansfield Union High School Library.  A primary agenda item will be the 2015-2016 MMMUSD budget development for 8 schools which include Smilie Memorial School, Jericho Elementary, Richmond Elementary, Underhill ID Elementary, Underhill Central, Browns River Middle, Camels Hump Middle and Mt. Mansfield Union High Schools.

colonial candle making

Second graders experiencing first hand the process of making candles; creating tapers one dip at a a time. 

Please join us for our annual

Holiday Sing Along

Tuesday, December 23rd

** 1:30 pm **

**please note corrected time

special events reminder, today and tomorrow

Kindergarten Parents 
1:00 pm today, Monday
Kindergarten Tea

All Parents
1:30 pm tomorrow, Tuesday
Holiday Sing Along

Free nutrition/ cooking educational opportunity in January

The Farm at the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps is excited to offer a free cooking & nutrition class to students. Parents and siblings are welcome. Join us for The Learning Kitchen, a six-week class designed to teach all youth how to cook, eat and celebrate food. We try new recipes, learn new skills in the kitchen, and share farm fresh vegetables!

Classes meet for 2 hours once a week at VYCC’s West Monitor Barn in Richmond. All students go home with a vegetable share from The Farm at VYCC each week. There is no cost to participate, only a willingness to have fun in the kitchen!

For more information, or to sign up, please contact Cae (“Shay”) Keenan at caelan.keenan@vycc.org or by phone 248-882-0634. The deadline to enroll is December 29, 2014. Classes begin in January 2015.

Yummm! Kale chips

Nutritious, delicious, homemade kale chips are frequently a part of our colorful lunch menu. It's no problem for the students at BPMS to EAT more kale! Yum!

young writers blossoming as teachers gently water, tend and nurture

https://animoto.com/play/qJjnOFuz2afqGEQBe1xOTg

Ask your writer to share something new they're writing about! click the link to see our teachers and writers in action

Huntington Cookbooks are now ON SALE at school!

Can we help?

While many of you have had heat and utilities including phone service, restored; many people are still without. If you know of a family that needs our support, or children and families that were challenged over the last five days that we can reach out and help physically or emotionally; please let Sue or Sally know. We understand that this has been a difficult week. The heavy snows caused a tremendous amount of damage to trees, homes, cars and even some livestock and it will be days or even a few weeks until everything returns to normal. As we return to school today we would like to support students and families; please let us know if we can support you.

Storm Passes...

As a very unusual week comes to a close, we hope that you and your children are safe, warm and returning to a regular routine. While Mother Nature's snow halted our daily work and school routines, the crews have been out restoring power and phone service. Our hope is that throughout the weekend all utilities come back on and we'll be ready to go Monday morning.

Tues. 12/9 School Board Meeting POSTPONED

Tonight's School Board Meeting has been POSTPONED

Rescheduled meeting TBD

12/9/14

Weather Conditions on school days UPDATE

Dear Students & Families: November 21, 2014

Once again we are approaching the time of year when weather might influence the school day.  The primary factor in determining whether to alter the school day in response to weather conditions is student safety.  The day may be affected in three ways.

1. School delayed one hour
2. School delayed two hours
3. School closed

If we are able to open school, we seldom close early due to inclement weather.  The local and state road crews know when the afternoon buses depart from school.  We need to allow them an opportunity to service the roads.

The following factors will be considered when making a decision about the school day due to inclement weather:

1. Are the roads/highways safely passable?
2. Can pedestrians (on the way to and at school) move around safely?
3. Can the building exits be cleared in the event we need to evacuate?  Being able to get into a building does not necessarily mean we can efficiently evacuate a building.
4. Can the buses travel safely?

There will be occasions when school remains open in less than ideal weather conditions. When this happens, we have particular concern for the welfare of our teenage drivers.  We know that icy and snow covered roads are a challenge for any driver.  Please be very deliberate before allowing a young driver to leave for school in inclement weather.

When school is in session, if you feel road conditions are unsafe to send your child to school, you always have the freedom to keep your child home for the day.

When there is a change in the school day, the announcement will be broadcast on radio, local TV and online at www.sover.net/schoolclosings and www.cesu.k12.vt.us .  A message will also be delivered via email and/or phone to individuals who have signed up for the Blackboard Connect 5 Emergency Notification System.  Please contact your school to specify phone numbers and email addresses to be used by the Emergency Notification System, if you wish to participate or have a change in contact information.

Sincerely,

John R. Alberghini

Superintendent of Schools

Shadow Puppet Performance, Monday Afternoon

Please join us for a Shadow Puppet Performance of Swimmy 

a favorite Leo Lionni story

Monday, December 8th 

K,1,2 at 12:30

3,4 at 1:15

Best Celebration EVER!

This week we celebrated 5,000 positive acknowledgements! We began the day with Jazzercise, laughter, smiles and FUN!
Thank you Emily Donovan for providing us with this awesome start to the day!

Stone Soup performance by Ms. Motta's third and fourth grade students

Please take a few moments to enjoy the short play put on by Ms. Motta's third and fourth grade students at yesterday's All School Morning Meeting!

Thanksgiving Feast at BPMS

We are thankful for Alison, Anne, John, many volunteers and students for making a very special Thanksgiving meal which was enjoyed by many at BPMS! Turkey, gravy, cornbread, beans, vegetables, sweet potatoes and cranberries; what a wonderful feast! 

Thursday, December 4th PreK Info. Night

Please click the link below for more information 

about the South End PreK

information night

https://www.smore.com/mx7vh

Pre-buddies and 3/4 Partners share about their SHAPE scavenger hunt!

 As I hung up the phone and turned to leave my office I 'ran into' four sets of children on a SHAPE HUNT. A preschool student politely asked, in a very excited little voice, "Mrs. Hayes, we're looking for shapes, can we look in your office?" I said, "SURE, Come on in!" .... "I see lots of shapes all around, look at the clock."  
 " Ohhhhhh, it's a circle," he noticed immediately.
Then the hunt began. In just a few moments, with the help from an older student mentor, they had discovered at least  six new shapes!  Diamonds, squares, circles and rectangles. What a fun experience for our youngest learners. Thank you 3/4 mentors, Jean and Anne for teaching our preschool students about shapes in the real world. This hands on experience was exciting and fun.... Did you know that the glass windows in the front office are covered in diamonds?? Come see for yourself!

PE + Physics!

What do you get when you combine snowboarding skills and physics?
Hands on learning FUN!

Wonderful writers

Have you heard about the writing that has been happening in every single classroom this year?
We have adopted a structure for writing instruction called Writer's Workshop. 
Students participate in a lesson to learn new skills or writing strategies,
then they practice during independent writing and teachers confer with students individually to help target the skill each student needs to work on.
Remember to inquire with your child about his/her writing. You may say,
"Tell me what you're writing about during Writer's Workshop."
You may be surprised at how connected your child is to the writing in class and especially with what she/ he may share. Teachers and students are thrilled with the amazing writing that is happening every day!

This Friday, Brass Trio at 1:15 pm

You're invited!

to hear the VSO Brass Trio

Friday, November 14, 2014

1:15 pm at the BPMS gym

Can't think of a better way to end the week 

than with some beautiful music!

Hope you can join us.

Do you have a collection? Third and fourth grade students have been sharing their collections with each other. Baseball cards, rocks, seashells, leaves, dolls, photographs, etc. It's fun to collect treasured objects and then to share stories about those objects. 
What would you share??

BOOK FAIR information

                               Hang on to your hats!

The BOOK FAIR is coming!

click below for details

http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/brewsterpiercesch

Preschool Fire Station Stories!

Our youngest learners created a narrative through pictures from their trip to the Huntington Fire Station. It's amazing to see their thinking depicted through art. Our talented preschool teachers, Jean and Anne, introduced this early story telling strategy called "Big Paper" to our preschoolers this week. The children were smiling, drawing and sharing their experience in a new and exciting way. The next time you are at school, come enjoy the picture stories in the hallway heading down to preschool.

The Scholastic Book Fair is early this year! The date has been moved up to November 17-21 to avoid the December rush. The theme is “Sir Readalot's Castle- Welcome to the Kingdom of Reading.”  The proceeds from the annual Scholastic Book Fair fund our Visiting Author every year during I Love to Read & Write Week.

You can help out as a volunteer this year or simply shop at the book fair. 

This year, give the gift of reading!!

Black Light Masks in Kindergarten

Kindergarteners made hand held masks last Thursday. They painted them with special neon paints and then watched themselves glow under a black light! They were thrilled to look in the mirror and see their mask "light up". Thank you Mrs. Wiltshire for sharing your creativity! Everyone had a wonderful time being behind their black light mask.

This Wednesday, November 5th, 7-9 pm 
Universal Preschool Information Night
at Jericho Elementary School

click link below to a flyer that gives you more information
https://www.smore.com/mx7vh

On Wednesday we welcomed two students from NECI to participate in preparing, serving and eating lunch at Brewster-Pierce. We can't think of a better kitchen than Alison's to be mentored about a five star school lunch program. Thank you Alison, Ann and John for sharing your expertise with two NECI students. This is an example of connecting the wonderful work at BPMS to our local community.

Fire Safety Day

137 eager students plus 4 fabulous firefighters

equals an exciting day of learning and fun during

Fire Safety Day!

(Did you know that all four firefighters that came today to teach us Fire Safety were dads of BPMS students?)

THANK YOU FIREFIGHTING DADS!

Elliot Lothrop, Edward Sayre, 

Keegan Carter and Mike Ramsey 

Community Forum on Monday Night

Community Forum, Monday Night, 10/27

 6:00 pm BPMS gym

Please join us for a community discussion  

about the proposed merging of the schools' governance

This is an opportunity to ask questions, share concerns and 
hear what community members have to share about the upcoming vote 

Election day is Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Save the date and Come Out and VOTE!

THANK YOU PARENTS and volunteers!

THANK YOU PARENTS 
and all of the Volunteers
that helped make the Halloween Party 
a HUGE success!                   ------>>>
The games, decorations, food, fun and SPOOKY TRAIL were "mesmerizing"!

Halloween Party TONIGHT!

ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY

TONIGHT at 6:00 p.m.

Looking for a SUPER FUN evening 

filled with Halloween surprises 

and a walk through the Spooky Trail?!?

SEE YOU THERE!

Second Grade Writing!

Want to know what our second graders are doing during writing?
They're practicing how to create a good title for their narrative stories. 
Yesterday students were collaborating and making a list of possible titles.
We've learned that the best time to create a great title is after the story is written!
Stay tuned for some more sharing of our stories!

You are invited to breakfast with the principal

Friday, October 24, 2014

8:30-9:30 a.m.

in the art room

topic to be discussed:

Universal Preschool

for more info. see AOE website:
education.vermont.gov/act-166-draft-rules

Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 22nd

is Anti-Bullying Day across the country

To show support for this please wear ORANGE.

If you have orange shoe laces, an orange t-shirt, even a hair band!

WEAR ANYTHING ORANGE!

Thank you for your help in stopping bullying!

T

Thank you parents and all family members that attended conferences this week. 

Your support and contribution to your child's education is critical; we look forward to this time to discuss your child's progress.

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Today at BPMS, third and fourth graders learned about the Middlebury based, Vermont Snack Company YoLo! One of the Co-Founders, Peter, AKA one of the 'YoLo! guys', introduced students to the name, logo, operations, economics and best of all a SAMPLE bag of YoLo! This opportunity really proved that you can turn an idea into a business right here in Vermont. Hurry on out and grab your own bag of YoLo!...delicious!

six larvae in a container

each larva eats 1/2 of a milkweed leaf each day

how many leaves will you need to feed the six 

larvae for 5 school days?

Wednesday, October 8, 2014
What is the Red Moon?
A full lunar eclipse can make the moon look orange or red in color.

Take a moment to visit this NASA site to learn more about the term eclipse!

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/lunar.html

Thank you very much to all of the parents, grandparents and friends  that joined us for our Annual Hike Day!

We had an amazing time enjoying Vermont's autumn splendor, colorful foliage, warm sunshine, breathtaking views and mother nature.

With sincere appreciation to the entire Smith family for providing us with a wonderful experience from which we created a vivid memory.

HIKE DAY is Thursday, October 2, 2014!

Be sure you fill out the volunteer paperwork before joining us on Thursday.

Hike begins at 9:15-9:20 a.m. at Windekind Farm 

and we'll return to school about 1:15 pm.

Welcome Kelly Spreen, "Miss Spreen"! Kelly is our new P.E. teacher. She is a recent graduate of the University of Vermont and worked at Summit Street School in Essex last year. Kelly has an amazing way with our students and continues to keep them constantly moving! If you are joining us for hike day you can say"hi" then as she is at school on Thursdays and Fridays.

Welcome Mary Morin, "Mrs. Morin"! 

Mary is a new teaching assistant; we're  so lucky to have added such a caring,

compassionate, team player to our staff.