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MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD

Athletics News

Athletes Gear Up for Spring Season

Arts News

Music and the Rubik's Cube

March 10, 2017

As promised, here begins the first installment of a six-part series inspired by the NAIS annual conference theme of Mission, Vision, and Values. As a reminder, six themes of mission were showcased throughout the conference - curiosity, diversity, community, wellness, innovation, and changing the world. Each week, I will be commenting on one of the six themes and how they manifest here at Belmont Day.

The courtyard, filled as it is with stones, logs, and lovely shade-giving trees, the split trunk of the birch tree in particular invites something more than adventurousness in our pre-kindergarteners. It stirs something deeper. Touched by wonder, pre-kers no longer see a split trunk—instead a doorway into a world unknown, where those who pass are all wolves in a great wolf family appears; or a galley through which only pirates may pass; a makeshift jungle gym; or a street corner lamppost, à la Gene Kelly, for the latest rendition of the next great (as yet unwritten) musical. Today, remarkably, it is snowing here, some fairy dust, perhaps, to bring more magic to an already magical place. Standing at the very geographical center of our school, this split birch and this courtyard stand as daily symbols of the ways that we strive to nurture curiosity here at Belmont Day.

A quick walk back inside, with cold cheeks and a leaky nose, and I am in Coolidge Hall taking note of the tape people. These life-sized imaginings by our eldest students—one reclining comfortably in a chair, one frozen in salute, another mid-pirouette—hang above our heads in welcome. “How did they get there?” our youngest wonder. “What’s he doing?” another asks. All these hows, whats, and whys resonate with the natural wonder of early childhood.

NEED TO READ

Upcoming Events
Friday, March 10 to Friday, March 17

Friday, March 10 to Saturday, March 11: Steppingstone Foundation Retreat, 6 p.m. to 11:15 a.m.

A Week

Monday, March 13 to Thursday, March 16: Enrichment Expo Week

Monday, March 13: Capstone Presentations 1, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., Kiva; Enrichment Class: Jewelry Workshop Share, 3:45 p.m., Polygon; Enrichment Class: Fused Glass Share, 3:45 p.m., Woodshop; Capstone Presentations 2, 3:45 to 5:45 p.m., Kiva

Tuesday, March 14: Capstone Presentations 3, 8:45 to 10:30 a.m., Kiva; Spring Athletics Tryouts, 3:30 p.m.; Capstone Presentations 4, 6 to 8 p.m., Kiva

Wednesday, March 15: Trustee Visiting Morning, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Capstone Presentations 5, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., Kiva; Spring Athletics Tryouts, 3:30 p.m.; Enrichment Class: Karaoke Sharing, 3:45 p.m., Kiva; Capstone Presentations 6, 3:45 to 5:15 p.m., Kiva

Thursday, March 16: Capstone Presentations 7, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., Kiva; Pre-K to Grade 5 Assembly, 8:50 to 9:35 a.m., PAC; Spring Athletics Tryouts, 3:30 p.m.; Enrichment Assembly: French Sharing, 4 p.m., Kindergarten Room; Capstone Presentations 8, 6 to 8:15 p.m., Kiva

Friday, March 17: After School, Extended Day, and Enrichment Session 2 Ends; Winter Athletics Season Ends; Enrichment Class: World Drumming Share, 1:30 p.m., Music Room

Lunch & Snack Menu

Monday
Snack: Tostitos; fruit cup
Lunch: gemelli with creamy tomato sauce; whole grain rolls; hot veg special; Italian salad

Tuesday
Snack: Saltines; apples
Lunch: Asian beef and broccoli; basmati rice; hot veg special; Asian greens with soy dressing

Wednesday
Snack: Nutri-Grain bar; bananas
Lunch: crispy cheesy chicken*; fresh herb roasted potatoes; hot veg special; spinach salad with bacon, egg, and mushrooms
*GF and DF options available

Thursday
Snack: Smartfood Delite; oranges
Lunch: butternut squash soup; turkey and cheese panini; hot veg special; pesto pasta salad
*GF, DF and VG options available

Friday
Snack: green apples for St. Patrick's Day

CAMPAIGN NEWS

It came to our attention that many families missed our recent message about the campaign's Grandparent Challenge, so we thought we'd revisit it and share with you some good news. Grandparents are a special part of the Belmont Day School community, and they have become a very important part of the Raise Y[our] Voice Campaign thanks to the leadership of grandparent co-chairs Ronald and Joan Pokross Curhan ‘49 and David and Jane Otte and a $250,000 matching challenge gift to the campaign made by an anonymous donor. This donor will match, dollar for dollar, every grandparent donation up to the $250K limit. Wow! So far we have raised...AND THIS IS THE NEWS...$75,000 towards this goal. Let's not leave any of this very generous challenge donation on the table.

We would be delighted if BDS parents would discuss The Barn project with their own parents to let them know how meaningful their participation in this endeavor would be to their grandchildren and to Belmont Day School. We would be very happy to speak with grandparents about this matching opportunity, so please contact us, the grandparent co-chairs, or Mary Merrill (MMerrill@belmontday.org) in the development office. Mary can also provide parents with packets of information regarding the campaign to pass along, if this makes the discussion easier.

Click here to see an aerial view of the proposed driveway and floor plans of the Barn.

Margaret Wade and Bradley Lewis, Campaign Co-Chairs

DIVERSITY NEWS

Braiding Different Strands Meeting
Thursday, April 27, 6:15 p.m. in Erskine Library

Come one, come all to our next Braiding Different Strands meeting. Braiding Different Strands is a group that engages in lively conversation around equity and diversity, sharing resources, ideas, and challenges in a collaborative and safe environment. All adult members of the Belmont Day community are welcome to attend and contribute ideas or questions, whether you can make one meeting or all of the meetings. A light dinner will be provided at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting will start promptly at 6:30 p.m.

"There comes a time when silence is betrayal" ― MLK

Race-Based Discussion Groups

To prepare for the April 13 session, we ask that all members of the Witnessing Whiteness group complete Chapter 4 of Witnessing Whiteness. We will not be providing copies of the reading, so click here if you do not yet have a copy of the book. There is no homework for the POC group.

We also encourage you to go see local spoken word artists and dancers perform Invisible: Imprints of Racism at Emerson College Theatre. Their last performance will be tomorrow, March 11, so get your tickets asap!

ANNUAL GIVING NEWS

Annual Giving Update

Our BDS Story

It has certainly been an active year in the development office. The Raise Y[our] Voice Campaign is in full swing, with community receptions and parent-to-parent meetings happening throughout the fall and winter. The school community is abuzz following a successful online auction and preparations for the parents' association Homegrown Auction on April 29. Please plan on attending this fun and important night. The campaign and the auction each require a great deal of organization, volunteer commitment, and financial support to succeed and we are deeply grateful for the many ways that our families contribute. Another critical component of Belmont Day's budgetary story is annual giving.

Why Is Annual Giving Important?

Gifts to the annual fund are critical to bridge the gap between the annual cost of operations and the revenues received from tuition and fees—a gap that amounts to approximately $3500 per student each year. Annual giving, coupled with the school's strong spending discipline, allows us to balance our budget every year, while the campaign and the auction allow us to invest in programs and facilities in alignment with our long-term strategic and master plans. The solid foundation annual giving provides is clearly fundamental to the success and vibrancy of our school. If you have made your gift to the annual fund already this year, thank you! If you haven’t made your gift yet, you will be receiving an appeal in the mail in the next week. The appeal features the stories of a few community members who share what makes BDS special to them and why they support annual giving. I hope that their stories will inspire you to support BDS with a gift. Your gifts make a BDS education possible for all of our students. Thank you! Make your gift today by clicking here.

ENRICHMENT NEWS

Enrichment, Conference Day Updates

The second trimester of enrichment ends on Friday, March 17. This will also be the final week of registration for our third trimester, which begins on Monday, March 20.

If you are coming in for an enrichment share next week, please do not park along the driveway outside Coolidge Hall as athletics dismissal takes place there at 4:30 p.m. Please park in the parking lot.

Registration for the conference day program is due no later than Wednesday, March 15. Please contact Blair Fross with any questions.

CAPSTONE NEWS

Capstone Presentations Next Week!

March 13 to 16

The 2017 Capstone presentations will be held during morning, afternoon, and evening sessions on March 13 to 16 in the Kiva. Now in it’s fourteenth year, the Capstone experience is a highlight for our eighth graders. As you look over the presentation program, you'll see the wide array of topics and interests of this year's eighth grade class. The presentations are the culminating event in the 'triathlon' of the Capstone experience, which encompasses a year of research and independent project work for our eighth graders. It's been an exciting year for our Capstone students and their mentors, and we're looking forward to an engaging and informative slate of presentations from this year's class. We hope to see you there!

GREENING NEWS

Family Environmental Community Service Date Changed

Please note that our Family Environmental Community Service event will take place on Saturday, April 1, from 10:15 a.m. to 12 p.m. We are excited to continue helping our neighbors at Mass Audubon’s Habitat Education and Wildlife Center. Children from kindergarten through eighth grade are welcome with a parent. We will meet at school and walk over to the center at 10:15 a.m. We will be working outside, and projects will likely include clearing trails of sticks and putting wood chips around some of the nature education areas. Gloves for children are provided. Feel free to stay after to enjoy a hike on the many gentle trails that wind through deciduous and evergreen forests, across meadows, and around ponds and vernal pools at the Habitat Center. Questions? Contact Kathy Jo Solomon or add your name to the sign up sheet.

Other Greening events coming up in April: Wake up the BDS Garden! Help get our garden ready for spring planting. We will be working in the school garden on Saturday, April 8 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. This includes clearing, mulching, and some planting. Open to students and their parents, students in grades six and up can come unaccompanied. For more information or if you are interested in participating contact Kathy Jo Solomon.

PA NEWS

Be Involved in the PA

We are looking for grade parents and activity chairs for the 2017-2018 school year and we hope you will join us. Seize the opportunity to connect with new and returning parents, facilitate communication and social events for parents, and support classroom teachers. The goal is to have two parents per grade from pre-k to grade seven and four parents for eighth grade. You can nominate yourself or suggest people you think may be interested.

COMMUNICATIONS NEWS

Survey to Help BDS Grow

The campus is abuzz with excitement as we plan for the curricular opportunities that will come with the opening of The Barn in the fall of 2017. In addition to enhancing our current school program, this facility expansion allows Belmont Day to expand the enrollment size of grades 6 through 8 by 15 students in each class. This future enrollment size is our educational ideal for middle school—small enough to ensure the individualized attention that we are known for, and large enough to maximize curricular opportunities and social growth.

Much like a major construction project, planning for an enrollment expansion is a multi-year process. Our marketing and admissions team is already actively thinking about how to reach out to more families that will be a perfect fit for our school community. To be successful, we need your help. One great way to find out how to reach prospective Belmont Day families is to get input from our current families, particularly about the media you use and where you get information about school choices.

Watch your email for an online survey, to be released on March 20, asking questions about your media use. We will also gather some basic demographic information, because we know that our school community includes a diverse group of families who may interact with media in different ways. The information we gather will be vital to designing a marketing strategy that makes the best use of resources to introduce our wonderful school to even more families.

As always, thank you for all that you do as parents to support your children at Belmont Day School.

AUCTION NEWS

Homegrown News

Online Auction Winning Bidders
If you have won an Online Auction item, and have not yet picked up your envelope, please stop by Coolidge Cottage. There are still a few remaining envelopes waiting for pick up.

Homegrown Auction Invitations Emailed March 18th!
Your formal Homegrown Auction invitation will be emailed to you on Saturday, March 18. There will be no paper invitations. You can complete your RSVP and preregister for the auction in one place, using the link provided in the email invite. More details will be provided in next week's Scoop.

The online auction may be over, but we sincerely hope that you consider staying involved:

Underwriting
Place a winning donation! If you did not win a package online and would like to show your support, please consider purchasing a faculty ticket or table or underwriting general auction costs.

Become a Volunteer
Contact the auction committee at auction@belmontday.org to learn about current opportunities.

Attend the Auction
Mark Your calendars for our big Homegrown Auction and Community Event on April 29, 2017. Invites will be coming on March 18th.

Please contact auction@belmontday.org with any questions or concerns.

BEYOND BELMONT DAY

Bystander Intervention Workshop: What You Can Do When Witnessing Harassment
Saturday, March 18 from 2 to 4:30 p.m.

Beech Street Center, 266 Beech Street, Belmont

What do you do when you witness someone being mistreated (at work, school, on a bus)? In this non-political, non-partisan workshop:

Explore or share incidents, feelings, actions, and thoughts on being an ally
Work with an experienced theater group to role-play intervention scenarios
Gain a broader perspective on the pivotal role of a bystander to shift a situation
Explore ideas as a group about effective ways to intervene

This event is sponsored by The Stand Up Campaign, The Belmont Council on Aging, and True Story Theater, and is suitable for participants high school ages and older. Registration is strongly recommended, so click here if you are interested in attending. If you would like to help out with this event, please email Donna Ruvolo at donna.ruvolo@gmail.com.

Science on Saturday: How the Internet Works
Saturday, April 1 at 10 a.m.
MIT Kresge Auditorium, 48 Mass Ave., Cambridge

The next free Science on Saturday event will be "How the Internet Works." This show will be presented by Akamai. Volunteers from the audience will be able to assist with fun on-stage demonstrations showing how computers and the internet work. After the stage show, there will be many different hands-on activity tables where kids can create their own computer programs, build electric circuits, and do other experiments.

There is also half-price, same-day admission to the MIT Museum for Science on Saturday attendees. For maps of the event and parking garage locations, please visit the Science on Saturday website.

Upcoming Science on Saturday events: