Arts Update: Rehearsals Underway for Bringing Down the House!

Excitement is reaching a crescendo as our seventh and eighth grade students delve into the captivating world of their play, “Bringing Down The House!” With a talented cast of over 40 students, the rehearsal process is in full swing, currently immersed in the intricate blocking phase. These budding thespians are mastering their stage movements and weaving the rich tapestry of their characters’ backstories into the fabric of the play’s development. Set against the backdrop of a musical writing team racing against time to create a show before their rented theater faces demolition, our young actors navigate the chaos of unexpected interruptions, featuring pushy child actors, demanding Hollywood stars, confused protesters, and even the demolition crew itself. The challenges are mounting, but our resilient actors are poised to deliver a stellar performance that promises to be as dynamic and entertaining as the play’s intriguing premise. Mark your calendars for Saturday and Sunday, March 9 and 10, and stay tuned for more details and ticket information. We promise an unforgettable night of theatrical magic!

– Christopher Parsons, theater arts teacher

Fourth Graders Dive Into Research on Egypt

Fourth graders will spend the next month researching, writing, and presenting what they’ve learned about ancient Egypt. Students chose a topic of interest (such as magic and medicine, warrior kings, or the Great Sphinx) and are taking a deep dive as they work their way through the research process. They started their work in the Erskine Library, learning about search terms, truncation, and book citations. Once books were identified and located on the shelves, the fourth graders spent time reading and using what they knew about the table of contents and index to assess their books and decide if they had the information they wanted. This week, students are using the books they found to begin the note-taking process in the classroom. They are excited about their topics and look forward to learning from each other. 

– Lana Holman, fourth grade teacher

Fourth Grade Hears (and Studies) the Birds Calling

Fourth graders have been learning about sound waves and practicing reading and drawing what different types of waves look like. We have used technology to recreate waveforms, playing with the pitches and volumes of our voices. We have also been introduced to the school’s Haikubox, which records the sounds of birds here on the Belmont Day campus and allows us to see spectrograms of those birds’ calls. This week, we practiced listening to recordings and annotating spectrograms for the calls of the red-bellied woodpecker, northern flicker, black-capped chickadee, downy woodpecker, and house sparrow. We look forward to seeing these birds–and many others–around campus!

– Emily Crawford, fourth grade teacher

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.