Clara Barton Open School

6th Graders Receive Award in District Math Competition

Seven 6th grade "mathletes" spent an entire Saturday morning back in March competing in the annual Minneapolis Public Schools district math competition.   The very happy smiles in the photo show the student's enthusiasm for this event and their pride at winning third place in the team competition!  Congratulations 6th graders on your success in the competition and your hard work during and after school preparing for the event!  Thanks to parent coaches Jeanne Arp and Karen Fassett-Carman.

Spring Break!

Don't forget that Spring Break begins with no school on Friday, March 28th.  Classes resume Monday, April 7th.

Have a restful and safe Spring Break!  And, if you can, sell a few GREEN PLANTS!

Maybe Sue's buckets on the maple trees will have some sap in them by then!

Plant Sale Forms Available Online - - - - - - >

Our 26th Annual Plant Sale is underway! Students have been given a supply of order forms. An order form is also available on this site under the heading ANNUAL PLANT SALE in the right-hand column.  You can print extra forms or view plant sale information and instructions there.  Photos and descriptions of the plants are also available, so tell your friends and neighbors to have a look if they are not sure what to order.

There's more information on the plant sale kick-off and about volunteering to help in this week's Barton Bugle.

The deadline for ordering plants this year is Monday, April 21st.  Happy selling!

Leadership Council Meeting

Minutes from the March 13th Leadership Council Meeting have been posted to this website. Included in a packed agenda were: a decision on a Minneapolis Kids program at Barton and reflections from the Council retreat in February.

Pi Day Observed

March 14th    3/14     π     3.1415926...

Uppers and some middles classrooms celebrated this very important mathematics holiday on Friday, March 14 with pie and other events related to roundness.  In Sarah's classroom, there was an Oreo eating contest, and a pi digit memorization contest - with the winner reciting 192 digits!  Thirty pies were ordered in advance and consumed by the uppers (Oreo was the favorite), and many more excellent homemade and pot luck contributions by students.  As thanks for spreading the positive message of mathematics, all staff was invited for pie at 3.1415926 or 3/14 1:59pm 26 seconds.

Middles Skiing

The middles team took to the slopes at Afton Alps on February 12th.  See for yourself how much fun they had!  Here's a link to more photos.

All You Need is Love

The Barton Family Dance "All You Need is Love" on February 8 was a blast! Thanks to Shawn Gibbons, The Melvilles and Cosmoline (all Barton parent musicians).  We raised $1,500 to support the Uppers musical (The Sound of Music, coming May 21 and 22 @ 7:00 PM).

Introduction to Somali Culture Conversation for Parents

On Thursday, March 6, at 7 pm, Faduma Roble, our Somali Bilingual Educator, and Shamso Farah, one of our parent Council members, will give a short presentation on the Somali culture.  They will be joined by a few other Barton Somali parents.  The presentation will be followed by a time for questions and answers.  This program is intended for adults only.  The idea for this class grew out of requests by some Barton parents for more information on Somali culture so they could answer questions that their own kids were bringing home from school.  The class will meet in the media center for an hour.  Please join us if this is a topic you'd like to learn more about and bring your questions.

Karen Karis, ESL Teacher

No Bugle Today, No School Thursday and Friday

There is no school the remainder of this week.  Teachers and staff will be working on the school improvement agenda at the Leadership Council Retreat and participating in district workshops.

Because of the short school week, the Barton Bugle is not available today.  Look for the next Bugle to be published on March 5th.   

Garth Fagan Dance

Middles and Uppers students enjoyed watching dancers in elaborate costumes leaping through the air to a diverse collection of music in a performance by  Garth Fagan Dance at the Ordway Center in early February.  Here are some excellent links for a program study guide and a short video.