Eighth grade Spanish students recently worked on free choice projects to create different items to share with the class. Some projects included a card game with Spanish instructions to sharpen translation skills. Two podcasts were also recorded. One podcast was called La Hora del Té (Tea Time), in which students talked about their favorite topics, classes, sports, news, music, movies, and TV shows. The other podcast was titled Clasificaciones de Carne (Meat Ranking). The hosts showed steaks and meats to rank them on taste, juiciness, and appearance. During these sessions, students practice their Spanish speaking skills. They didn’t have a script; all the conversations were natural and fluent. An educational video about basketball was also created, along with a card game for the community to learn about basketball movements and rules. Students applied the learned grammar, oral, listening, and writing skills, as well as the use of technology.

– Ana Maria Restrepo, middle school Spanish teacher

Second graders got to see math come to life thanks to a project in collaboration with the innovation team. In math class, students were challenged with writing and illustrating their own multiplication and division problems. Some examples include the number of buttons on gingerbread men and eggs per chicken. Next, we got to use the Gif-O-Graf machine to turn our problems into stop-motion animation. This machine takes many photographs and turns them into a video. The project culminated in students getting to meet the creators of the machine. Watch out, Pixar!

– The Second Grade Team in partnership with the Innovation Team (Annie Fuerst and Brit Conroy)

Did you know that we start sixth grade English class with eight minutes of choice reading? Why, you ask? First, sixth grade is a time of increased demand on a student’s executive functioning skill set. Being accountable for always having a choice book with them helps students to build personal responsibility for their learning. Second, this in-class routine and the corresponding expectations for reading outside of class create a habit of reading with consistency. The goal is also to build a positive association between reading and pleasure. Lastly, students have the opportunity to try different types of books to discover what they enjoy reading.

To help with that learning process, sixth grade English takes place in the library once a month, where librarians Ms. Sprung and Ms. Saidenberg introduce a new book genre. We discuss what distinguishes each genre and what sub-genres might exist within it. We present them with both contemporary and classic titles within the genre and make recommendations. Students have to pick up and open at least three books of the genre before checking one out. Students then have four weeks to finish reading the book independently and report back their findings on how they enjoyed this particular genre.

This month’s genre is . . . science fiction!

– Rebecca MacKillop, sixth grade English teacher

This week, teachers were excited to introduce fifth graders to The Marvellers, a fantasy novel following the adventures of Ella Durand while she attends the Arcanum Institute, a magical school in the sky. Students began by receiving a scroll from Headmarvellers Skinner, Fuerst, and Sprung with the text of the letter offering Ella entrance into the Arcanum. They studied it carefully to look for magical elements that might appear later in the text.

Students also began learning about wikis and how we might develop one as a group to serve as a knowledge base to keep track of the many characters and magical elements in the novel. Students tried their hand at some wiki markup language and will soon be working together to collaborate on curating and organizing content with our class wikis.

– Vaniecia Skinner, fifth grade teacher, Annie Fuerst, director of innovation, and Amy Sprung, librarian

Coach Nyland headed up the most successful badminton/squash season to date. Here’s the season in her own words:

This winter, the badminton and squash team had the most members to date, which required a two-team split from the start. The fearless sixth graders were excited to participate in their first winter sport season for Belmont Day and were ready to embark on every new experience. The team was inspired to hike the stairs at Harvard before heading in to see the facilities, meet the coach, and learn how to play squash for the first time. The snowy hikes and sledding days were filled with lots of laughs and creative conversations.

The seventh and eighth graders brought their own vibe of experience and palpable energy on the daily. Most fondly remembered our trip to Harvard from the year prior, and were well versed with the routine of visiting the college campus and playing on the courts. They carried themselves with a confidence that only middle schoolers can and had no problem teaching those newer to the sport. This group connected through play and music and made a point to submit music requests to sing along everywhere they went. When there was no music, they would make their own.

One day a week, the schedules aligned and the two groups became one. Everyone sang, played, and stepped out of their comfort zone. Together they asked questions, learned new skills, played against new teams, and shared many laughs through it all.

Lexington’s Cary Library invites you to a virtual program, From Wasteland to Wonder – Easy Ways We Can Care for Trees and Help Heal Earth in the Sub/Urban Landscape, presented by Basil Camu, on Thursday, March 20, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

Camu believes that the way we currently manage the suburban and urban landscape is harming the well-being of Earth. Fortunately, we have an alternative path: we can work with natural systems instead of working against them. Caring for trees, soil, and the well-being of Earth can yield a more beautiful world than what we have experienced previously.

Basil Camu is the co-founder of Leaf & Limb, a tree care company in Raleigh, NC, and Project Pando, a non-profit that aims to connect people to trees. He is a treecologist, ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, and author of the book From Wasteland to Wonder – Easy Ways We Can Help Heal Earth in the Sub/Urban Landscape.

Click here for more information and registration for this program.

As the winner of the 2024 Rivers School Conservatory Concerto Competition Junior Division (12 and under), Belmont Day sixth grader Clara Min will be performing the first movement of Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in G minor (Op.49) with the adult Rivers Symphony Orchestra. The piece will be performed at the Fine Arts Center of Regis College on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at 7 p.m. as part of the program for the Rivers Symphony Orchestra and Commonwealth Chorale Concert. Congratulations, Clara!

If you are interested in attending the concert, click here to purchase tickets.