January 5, 2024
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Fourth graders were back at work this week doing research in the Erskine Library.
Opening Message
Happy New Year, Belmont Day!
Brendan Largay, Head of School
Post Date: January 5, 2024
We are already back in the groove! Students did not miss a beat as they returned to their classrooms, and teachers were ready to greet them, well-rested themselves. High fives and other delightful greetings at the doorways of lower school classrooms, energetic middle school athletics practices, the hum of engaged learning, and efforts like the annual winter drive for Pine Street Inn highlight the delight in being back together as a community.
The new year provides an opportunity for reflection, growth, and renewal. What might we reflect on as an institution? How might we seek opportunities to grow? What might we try that is new or, perhaps, renewed?
My reflections always start with the school’s mission. How have we been inspired or challenged, and what will that mean for us this year? As I greet parents, teachers, and students alike, so many folks reported the so-called ‘new normal’ of illnesses—RSV, COVID, or the flu—were unwelcome visitors over the break. Yet, they returned to BDS with a smile, eager for what the new year brings. This resilience reminds me of the experiences of the last three years and how the world, and indeed the world we know as Belmont Day, endured profound challenges and emerged from them stronger and wiser. We better understand the effort it takes to meet the challenges of the classroom. We understand the power of a diverse and inclusive community. We know how our core values contribute to the greater good. What a powerful position from which to begin the new year!
Where might we seek to grow? The faculty has been deeply engaged in the AISNE (Association of Independent Schools in New England) accreditation self-study process this school year. For those unfamiliar, every ten years, schools welcome a visiting team of educators from other AISNE schools to determine if we live our mission in every facet of our work. They leave no stone unturned. In anticipation of the team’s arrival in October 2024, we are reflecting on thirteen standards—everything from curriculum and program to finance to development, facilities, administration, governance, admissions, and more. The process is designed for a New Year’s resolution: where are we thriving, and where might we grow? What work do we have to do to keep Belmont Day achieving the excellence it promises in its mission? Every faculty member is engaged in finding the answers to these questions, and we are a couple of short weeks away from their initial drafts of the answers.
So, 2024 promises to be full of growth and renewal. Certainly, there are individual goals that folks have set for themselves, both professionally and personally. (I would welcome support to keep my ‘eat healthy’ and ‘get more exercise’ goals afloat for as long as possible!) At Belmont Day, the goals we have set for 2024 are sure to help us advance our mission through reflection, growth, and renewal.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Upcoming Events
Coming Up This Week
Monthly Calendar
Braiding Different Strands
New Date for January Meeting
Due to a conflict, we are rescheduling the next meeting of Braiding Different Strands to Thursday, January 18, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Coolidge Hall. Please RSVP by clicking the button below.
Please join us for a presentation and Q&A session regarding diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging priorities and initiatives with Brendan Largay, head of school, Connie Yepez, director of DEIB, and Mike Marroquin-Castillo, assistant director of DEIB. We will discuss how the recommendations from the Hinderlie climate assessment have informed our work and how we believe DEIB will evolve over the next few years at Belmont Day. We welcome and encourage all adult community members to join us.
If you have questions, please contact Connie Yepez at cyepez@belmontday.org.
ICYMI: Winter Concert Recording
Before we headed off to Winter Break, we gathered as a community to enjoy songs and musical performances from all grades and student ensembles. If you were unable to join us or would like to enjoy the music again, click here or on the photo above. There’s also a photo gallery on our website!
Lunar New Year Celebration
Save the Date & Call for Volunteers
Please save the date and plan to join us on Tuesday, February 6 at 5:30 p.m. to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The formal invitation and RSVP form will be shared next week. We would like to celebrate the many Asian countries, cultures, and traditions in our community at this event. If you want to share your Lunar New Year/Spring Festival traditions at this event, please contact Wenting Cai at tingting4805@gmail.com or Connie Yepez at cyepez@belmontday.org.
Lunch & Snack Menu
January 8 to January 12
Monday
Snack: applesauce; Smartfood
Lunch: penne pasta with marinara; gluten-free penne with marinara; crusty rolls; roasted Mediterranean vegetable blend (red pepper, red onion, eggplant, summer squash, and zucchini); mixed greens with balsamic
Tuesday
Snack: bananas; banana chocolate oatmeal round
Lunch: coconut-crusted fish; vegan kelp meatballs; citrus roasted fish; steamed broccoli; creamy vegan coleslaw
Wednesday
Snack: clementines; Tostitos
Lunch: beef tacos; vegan tacos; corn tacos and flour tortillas; all the fixins (cheese, salsa, sour cream, guacamole); roasted corn; black bean salad with cilantro; taco salad with tomato and chipotle ranch
Thursday
Snack: apple slices; Sun Chips
Lunch: cheese pizza; beef pepperoni pizza; vegan cheese pizza; gluten-free cheese pizza; gluten-free beef pepperoni pizza; roasted butternut squash; Caesar salad
Friday
Snack: apples; blueberry lemon cookie
Faculty Lunch
For a more detailed and updated weekly menu, please click the button below.
BDS News
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Donations Sought for Winter Collection Drive
Our annual community collection of items to donate to those facing the winter without secure shelter is underway. Donation bins are available in front of the Schoolhouse and the Barn. As identified by our partners at the Pine Street Inn, the most needed items include:
- men’s winter coats, sizes large and up (preferably new, but used if in good shape)
- warm socks, winter gloves, and hats
- hand and foot warmers
- thermal layers – shirts and leggings
- individually packed snacks (sweet and salty, chewy)
- $5 gift cards for McDonald’s or Dunkin’
Your donations will support our Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly themes of collaboration, strength in numbers, empowerment, social change, advocacy, and amplifying marginalized voices while giving back to our communities.
Donations will be accepted through the end of January, with deliveries to Pine Street about each week. Matt Ferrer from Pine Street Inn will join us at our MLK Assembly on Friday, January 12. We will keep everyone informed if particular items are more urgently needed.
Thank you!
LIBRARY NEWS
Author Elizabeth Shreeve to Talk Sloths with Grades 2-4
On Tuesday, January 30, author Elizabeth Shreeve will meet with students in second through fourth grades to talk about her new non-fiction picture book, The Upside-Down Book of Sloths. The book is a deep dive into the world of living and prehistoric sloths and is filled with fascinating facts and pictures. Older students may remember Elizabeth Shreeve from her visit two years ago when she spoke about her book Out of the Blue: How Animals Evolved from Prehistoric Seas.
If you would like to purchase either of these books, please order them from Belmont Books by next Friday, January 12, using these links: The Upside-Down Book of Sloths and Out of the Blue. Please mark your order with “For Pick-up by Amy Sprung for BDS author visit” and indicate who you would like the book personalized for in the order notes. On the day of the event, we will ensure all books are signed by the author. All classes will also have copies of her books in the classrooms, and there will be copies in the Erksine Library for students to peruse.
We look forward to welcoming back author Elizabeth Shreeve later this month to learn all about sloths and non-fiction authorship. Please contact me if you have any questions about this event or book orders.
– Amy Sprung, school librarian
COMMUNITY EVENT
Save The Date: STEAM EXPO 2024
Tuesday, February 13, from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
Join us for an exciting evening of hands-on learning and discovery at the second annual STEAM Expo. Bring your family and explore the world of science, technology, engineering, art, and math in a fun and interactive way. Our sixth and seventh grade students will showcase projects and demonstrate how BDS approaches teaching and learning science through experimentation, exploration, and an iterative process.
Interactive activities and exhibits throughout the Barn will highlight how this style of learning lives beyond the science classrooms and is woven into the BDS experience.
There will be activities geared toward all grade levels, and this event is open to all families and students. Participate in the learning process with our BDS scientists—we hope to see you there!
ATHLETICS NEWS
Basketball Program Gears Up for Stretch Run
Following almost three weeks off, the basketball program hit the ground running this week as they prepare for a busy interscholastic schedule. All four of Belmont Day’s teams will square off against Shady Hill next week, which is always a good litmus test to start the second half of the season. The varsity squads will be counting on veteran players Copeland Maier, Sam Rodriguez, Laurice Bandar, and Claire Hunag to take their games to the next level during the stretch run and become impact players on the court. On the other side of the curtain, the junior varsity teams will look to build on the positive momentum they established before break and keep Rowan McCoy, Eileen Luo, James Shields, and Deniz Kas all moving in the right direction in their development.
Athletics Updates
- The wrestling team will be back on the mat next week against Roxbury Latin. Newcomers Altay Jomazer and Sam Doyle will look to continue their upward trajectory.
- A trio of seventh grade classmates (Vatche Balikian, Jonathan Laipson, Edwin Voiland) are already making an impact on the varsity fencing team this winter.
- After a handful of successful squash experiences before winter break, the badminton team returns to campus. Sam Springer and Harvey Borisy are off to great starts.
SUMMER CAMP
Don’t Delay! Register Now for Summer at BDS
Camp registration is now open for returning campers and all Belmont Day families.
School-year families enjoy access to priority spots in our summer camp programs and our Swim & Tennis Association membership. Our camp registration period is extremely competitive. Spots will be available for Belmont Day families through February vacation week in our general day camp, while specialty, sports, and Journeys camps have limited spaces and are subject to first-come, first-served availability even for BDS families.
Families of returning Belmont Day students can register now using the account on CampMinder they’ve used in previous years.
Belmont Day families new to our summer camp programs will need to register by directly contacting the camp leadership team before January 16, 2024, when registration opens to the public. Please email summer@belmontday.org; we will get the information needed to register your child. If you’re unfamiliar with our camp programs, please visit the Summer Programs page of the BDS website for more information.
– Zach d’Arbeloff, director of summer programs
COMMUNITY NEWS
Upcoming Parent Visits for Curriculum Showcases
We know that parents are always eager to observe their children engaging with their teachers, friends, and the curriculum. Sharing assemblies offer informal opportunities to see the authentic learning experiences at Belmont Day, and conferences are a formal means to activate the home-school partnership. Opportunities for parents to observe and engage alongside their children at school have taken different forms over the years—we iterate to ensure that the format is informative for parents and joyful for students.
This school year, interactive grade-level curriculum showcases will occur at different times so that families with children in more than one grade can attend a dedicated event for each child. As soon as they are confirmed, the dates and details will be added to the school calendar and published in a future edition of The Scoop so you can plan ahead for them. Please be on the lookout for an invitation from grade-level teachers as well.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Lower School Head Betty Chu Pryor or Middle School Head Liz Gray. We look forward to seeing you in the Schoolhouse and the Barn!
GREENING NEWS
Finding Alternatives to Poisons That Can Kill Raptors
The infestation of rodents, especially rats, in the Boston area has been significant over the past decade due to several factors, including real estate development, road construction and repairs, improper waste disposal, and restaurant closures during the pandemic. Unfortunately, many stepped-up efforts by communities and homeowners to reduce rat populations are now harming raptors (owls, hawks, and eagles), which are the rodent’s natural predators. Raptors are struggling to survive due to the use of rat poison, which contains SGARS (second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides).
In one very sad example, the female of a pair of breeding bald eagles in Arlington (the first pair in the town in more than 50 years) likely became ill and died after ingesting a rat that had been poisoned with SGARS. This is a growing trend in the Boston area as other raptors have been found dead with significant levels of SGARS in their blood. Fortunately, organizations in our area are promoting alternative practices to reduce the use of SGARS, including Save Arlington Wildlife, Sustainable Belmont, and MASS Audubon. Some suggestions for reducing rat populations are to remove food sources outdoors (such as bird feeders) and securely cover trash cans outdoors. In addition, if you need to remove rodents, you can use non-rodenticide traps such as snap traps, electronic traps, and CO2 traps.
I hope you will consider these alternatives to rodenticides and ways to support raptors who eat rodents and can naturally help reduce rat and mouse populations.
– Kathy Jo Solomon, visual arts teacher and sustainability coordinator
Parents’ Association News
Coffee Before Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly
We hope you will join us for a cup of coffee in the Barn lobby next Friday, January 12 starting at 7:45 a.m.
Family Fun Night – Save the Date
It’s back! Please mark your calendars for Family Fun Night on Saturday, January 27. More details to come.
Parent Book Group
Our next gathering will be on Tuesday, January 23. We will read Holding Pattern by Jenny Xie, a “hopeful novel about immigration and belonging, mother-daughter relationships, and the many ways we learn to hold each other” (288 pages). We hope you will join us.
Volunteer Opportunities
Happy 2024! As we enter the new year, if any parents have a renewed interest in volunteering to help out the parents’ association with any of our events or committees, please reach out to the PA executive team at bdspa@belmontday.org. We have a full schedule of great events and planning opportunities ahead for the winter and spring. We’d love your help! Thank you!
PA Contacts
At any time and for any reason, please feel free to email the parents’ association executive team at bdspa@belmontday.org.
Beyond BDS
FILM FESTIVAL
Belmont World Film 21st Family Festival: Where Stories Come Alive!
January 13-21 at theaters in Cambridge, Arlington, and Newton
Belmont World Film presents its 21st Family Festival, a four-day celebration of international culture for children ages 3-12 and their families. The festival includes a carefully curated mix of animated and live-action feature-length and short films from around the world in English and multiple languages, including Chinese, Czech, French, Dutch, Norwegian—even sign language. Subtitles for films in languages other than English will be read aloud through headphones, ensuring an inclusive experience. Most films cannot be seen anywhere else in New England.
The majority of films are based on children’s books, such as the US premiere of Julia Donaldson’s Tabby McTat (with the voice of Doctor Who’s Jodi Whitaker), a celebration of Weston Woods Studios’ 70th anniversary featuring never before seen and classic films based on picture books, a program of short films about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his contemporaries (including the premiere of I Am Ruby Bridges), and films based on Mo Willems books. For the first time, the festival is screening a film featuring deaf actors, which will be followed by a discussion with an ASL interpreter. The closing film, TOTEM, is about a girl whose Senegalese parents are illegal immigrants in The Netherlands, yet they raised her to believe that she was 100% Dutch. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Ghanaian-American filmmaker Menefese Kudumu-Clavell, who will talk about what it’s like to have dual cultural identities.
For a full schedule and descriptions of the films and events, as well as theater locations and ticket ordering, please visit please visit the website. Belmont Day is proud to be a sponsor of the Festival.
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