Join us for the final evening of the 2013 Arts Festival in the Loft tonight, Friday, March 15, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Various works of art created by all Burgundy students will be on display and refreshments will be provided. 

Have you been craving time in the garden? Good news! Our first Garden Work Day of the year is Sunday, March 17 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. We will be preparing the beds for spring planting, and everyone is welcome to attend. It's a great way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and the fact that spring is right around the corner! Please email Jill Reuter (jreuter@answerware.com) or Jane Hanson (janehanson@yahoo.com) with any questions. 

 

Extended Day Open During Spring Break: Drop-Ins Available

Congratulations to Burgundy's three Destination Imagination (DI) teams who competed Saturday in the DI Northern Virginia regional competition. DI strives to teach students the creative process from imagination to innovation by challenging teams of learners to creatively problem-solve in different categories. On Saturday, Burgundy's two elementary teams (from the 4/5 classes) each earned second place in their divisions, and all Burgundy teams took the top place for their division's Instant Challenge, which exercises on-the-spot problem solving with limited resources and without any adult assistance. Burgundy's Middle School team took on two other challenges, science and structure, and earned first place for both. They also won the DaVinci Award for the Northern Virginia Region. They received this award for "Most Outstanding Group Problem Solving," and they were recognized by the judges for approaching the challenge from a global perspective and incorporating foreign languages and world travel. As a result of Saturday's competition, all three teams have qualified for the state-level competition on April 13. 

Chloe Sable '16 played with her basketball team in the Fort Hunt Youth Basketball League Championship on Sunday, March 10. Her team placed second in the league, losing the championship game by only 4 points. Chloe has played basketball locally for five years, and she enjoyed playing on Burgundy's JV team this year. 

 

Beata Corcoran Competes in Junior Olympics

Beata Corcoran '14 is competing today, March 15, in the Junior Olympic Swim Meet in the 50 fly. Beata swims each summer with the Hollin Hills Pool and this winter began swimming two days a week with the Nation's Capital Swim Club. She dove into her first meet with the Potomac Valley Swimming 18 & Under Championship, where she came in second place (with a Junior Olympic qualifying time) in her division against 140 swimmers. 

 

Congratulations to players on both teams, who improved dramatically throughout the season. 

I am excited to announce the start of Integrated Study Skills Sessions. My goal is to support the development of effective work habits and to prepare our students for an intensive high school environment. These sessions aim to expand each student's academic skills by focusing on listening skills, reading for meaning, understanding directions, time management, note taking and goal setting. As well, I will support the students in stress management and self-advocation within their school environment.  

 

This is an optional group, so students can pop in and out of the sessions whenever they need to or want to. In order to accommodate various parent and student schedules, I am offering sessions before and after school, as well as during lunch. Students are welcome to meet in Maria's classroom on Tuesdays (7:30 to 8:30 a.m.), Wednesdays (12:05 to 12:40 p.m.), and/or Thursdays (3:15 to 4:15 p.m.). There is one topic taught each week. For a breakdown of week-to-week lessons and tips, please log on to the Middle School Resource Room on Haiku.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

- Stephanie Borges, Middle School Learning Support Coordinator

703.842.0465 or stephanieb@burgundyfarm.org

Because there were no registrations for the Middle School Book Talk about Silent Spring scheduled for Monday, March 18, the event is cancelled. Please contact Stephanie Borges (stephanieb@burgundyfarm.org or 703.842.0465) with questions. 

Our gender and sexual identities are as diverse as every other aspect of us as people. Understanding and appreciating these differences can be challenging. As we approach the month of April and the upcoming Day of Silence, we hope to open up a dialogue in an effort to better understand these complexities and foster understanding and acceptance. 

At Burgundy, we celebrate diversity in our students and community, looking to affirm who we all are as people irrespective of race, gender, family structure, and sexuality.  As one of our efforts to better understand the complexities in the larger community, Burgundy educators attend professional development workshops*. 

Director for an Inclusive Community Stephanie Borges and School Counselor Elizabeth Schachter attended a thought-provoking presentation about "Understanding Transgender." The workshop emphasized that because children who do not feel strongly connected to their male or female gender roles may experience a particularly high level of stress, it is important to create an environment where it is safe to discuss and explore gender stereotypes. As part of their work to create that environment here at Burgundy, Stephanie and Elizabeth wanted to share the highlights of the workshop with the community. To read more about understanding transgender, click here for a PDF of their notes.

Below are a few more resources:

Story Corp: Personal Testimonies
Les, Scott, Thea and Amanda GrantSmith    
August Faustino and Chris Elardo   

Books
Transgender Explained For Those Who Are Not, by Joanne Herman
Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman, by Leslie Feinberg
The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals, by Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper
Transgender Voices: Beyond Women and Men, by Lori Girshick and Jamison Green

Educational Resources
Lesson Plan: Understanding Gender Identities 
Community Norms from Teaching Tolerance: Best Practices: Creating an LGBT-inclusive School Climate 
Human Rights Campaign: Transgender Visibility Guide 
APA Pamphlet Answers to Your Questions About Gender and Sexuality

After reviewing many complex elements and varied opinions about Campus Cuisine, leaders from Burgundy's administrative team, Board of Trustees and Burgundy Parent Association (BPA) have made the difficult decision to discontinue this catered lunch program when the pilot ends on Thursday, March 21. Campus Cuisine will not refund money left on accounts, so please spend any money you have put on your account prior to March 21. Please read further for more information regarding why we have made this decision.   

 

Prior to implementing the pilot, the BPA leadership extended an open invitation to all parents to join a committee of teachers and administrators in managing and evaluating the program. This committee decided to pilot Campus Cuisine after conducting significant research to identify a catered lunch model that we believed would be the best fit for Burgundy. Prior to beginning the pilot, it was determined we would evaluate the program after four to six weeks of the pilot, and we established criteria for evaluation, including 1) impact on classroom culture, and 2) operational feasibility. We analyzed the multiple subsets of these criteria via discussions with the teachers who oversaw the program as well as online surveys that we distributed to all parents, teachers, staff and administrators.

 

While we recognized varying degrees of success in different classrooms, we were surprised to discover that in a majority of classes it caused disruptions ranging from arguments between students to lingering disappointment when lunches did not meet student expectations because of misunderstandings or miscommunication with Campus Cuisine. To maintain a peaceful classroom and manage challenges like these, among other logistical and administrative demands, would require additional staffing from Burgundy that the school cannot provide at this time.

 

Surveys and feedback further indicated that while many families tried and appreciated the catered lunch program, a similarly sized portion of our community raised significant concerns regarding how Campus Cuisine corresponds with Burgundy's culture, particularly in the areas of environmental sustainability, health and wellness, and economic diversity. 

 

We are disappointed that Campus Cuisine was not a better fit and that we are unable to offer a catered lunch program to our families. We understand this kind of service would be hugely helpful for many. Through the pilot, we gained a greater understanding of the kinds of features a catered lunch program would need to offer in order to serve our unique campus, and we remain open to alternative program ideas in the future.

Andrea Brown - JK Teacher

3353 South Stafford Street

Apartment B1

Arlington, VA 22206

Piccadilly Circus is coming to the National Harbor March 26 through April 7, and the Big Top is bursting with surprises. You'll see a herd of racing camels, the zebras of Madagascar, amazing elephants, and daredevils performing unbelievable tricks.  Free tickets are available for children (admit one child free with one paid adult), and discount deals for adults are available in advance online. Please contact Cathy Guertin (cathyg@burgundyfarm.org or 703.842.0469) for children's coupons. 

During their science class, seventh-graders jump on the Blacktop as part of an exercise to learn about heart rates.

First-graders practice their math by counting plastic caps in groups of tens and hundreds. The caps will go to Aveda to be repurposed as eco-friendly packaging for their beauty products.