We had a great start to the New Year in our classroom! Students created calendars and each chose a meaningful “one word” to guide them through 2026. We jumped right back into our weather research and are now writing the final section, focusing on the hazards and impacts of their chosen weather phenomenon and how we can prepare and stay safe. The students worked hard this week and showed wonderful focus and curiosity.

Looking ahead, we have a busy and exciting month planned, including a trip to a UVM women’s basketball game, Snowmotion, a visit to UCS from the Community Sailing Center to learn more about weather, and a special visit from Mrs. Dolan’s daughter, who will teach us about her job at Ben & Jerry’s.

We’re getting ready for another amazing season of Girls on the Run at UCS—but we need your help! We’re looking for volunteer coaches to help lead this fun, empowering program for 3rd and 4th grade girls. The season typically begins in March and runs two days a week after school, ending around 3:45 PM. The program wraps up with an inspiring Celebration 5K on Saturday, May 30, as part of the Essex 5K!

Don’t worry if you can’t commit to both days—we’re very flexible and would love to have you join us even if you can only help one day a week!

If you’re interested in coaching, please reach out to Head Coach Abbie Bernier at abigail.bernier@mmuusd.org for more information and fill out the coach volunteer form here.

We’re also trying to gauge interest for this year’s team! If your 3rd or 4th grade girl would like to participate, please complete the interest form here: GOTRVT Participant Interest Form.
Please note: this is not the official registration—just a way for us to plan for the number of participants.

Let’s make this another great season of fun, friendship, and running! 🏃‍♀️💫

We are excited to share that we will be having a special visitor in our classroom on January 23rd! Although we don’t have an exact date yet, we are lucky to have Becky Bulaga, who works as an Associate Brand Manager at Ben & Jerry’s, coming to teach us all about her job. She is Mrs. Dolan’s daughter, and she will be bringing Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to share with our class!

If this is something your child cannot eat, please let me know as soon as possible.

We always enjoy learning from members of our community! If you or someone you know would like to visit and share about your job, our class would love to have you come and present.

Please make a note on your family calendar to send your child’s Friday notebook to school each Friday (or earlier if possible!). It means so much to your child to read your response and write back to you. They truly look forward to that connection every week.

Do you have chickens?

Our class, the Green Team at UCS, is working on ways to reduce waste at our school. One idea we have is to send the lunch food waste home with a UCS family who can use it to feed their chickens.

Would you be interested in picking up the compost from the cafeteria each day (or every other day) to bring home for your chickens? The compost would need to be picked up by 3:00 p.m. each day.

If this is something that interests you or if you know someone in the community who might be interested, please reach out to Mrs. Bernier at [email] to make specific plans and discuss the details.

Thank you for helping us make UCS a little greener!