Blue Bear Bus Summer Team
The Blue Bear Bus of Mount Airy City Schools (MACS) is a refurbished school bus that serves as a mobile classroom for science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM) classes. The BBB, as it is affectionately known, first rolled into the five Mount Airy Housing Authority neighborhoods during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each week, the team provided families with first-hand experience of how teachers and instructional support staff work with students. They modeled the read-aloud process, along with questioning techniques to support increased comprehension, critical thinking activities, physical fitness games, and strategies to promote engagement through speaking and listening conversation.
In the words of a nominator, the BBB program played a critical role in fulfilling one of MACS’ most important goals: “… to provide equitable access to resources for all students, regardless of their neighborhood, ethnicity, native language, socio-economic status or any other factor.”