Doug Fishman discusses the science curriculum at Curriculum Night.

Curriculum Night Recap

Last Thursday's Curriculum Night was the perfect opportunity to be reminded of and reflect on the extraordinary education that our children are getting at Burgundy. This year's event focused on PE, Math, Foreign Languages, and Science. Every parent who was able to attend the event was welcomed enthusiastically by teachers at all grade levels ready to share curriculum tools and methodologies as well as examples of our children's work. The examples of work were carefully selected and displayed at a series of stations designed to walk parents through the progression of each subject from JK through Grade 8.

Rushing from work, I arrived a little late, so only had time to give attention to the math area of the exposition, but saw teachers and parents engaging in discussions over examples of student work in all subject areas. At the math tables, for example, Mary Akeley showed parents beautiful student projects that demonstrated the creative ways that 5th graders are introduced to some complex geometry concepts. At another table, Erin Kelly explained student-made manipulatives (think 3D math art project) to help 2nd graders conceptualize multiplication, perhaps some for the first time. Equally impressive was the Middle School table where many parents of students in all grades were gathered asking questions about Algebra I.

A slideshow presentation with videos of classroom exercises and teacher-led discussions of the curriculum areas followed. Some of the highlights for me were hearing from Carol Schwartz about how she revisits and expands on themes from year to year. Energy, for example, is a concept that sticks with every 2/3 student because of their observations about transfer of energy during the ice cream making process. Carol talked about how in later years when explaining a more complicated concept involving energy to older students (sometimes even in the context of current events) all she has to say is "ice cream bucket" and the bells go off in the students' memories. This is how our children learn, and more importantly, how they remember what they learn at Burgundy. We also heard from Paige, who talked passionately about the care that Burgundy middle school teachers take to retain children's natural love for science and the ways that we as a community can work with our Middle Schoolers to remove the fear of science and break down the barriers that some students put up in those years. Retaining a love of learning was a theme throughout each presentation.

In the PE discussion we were treated to wonderful videos of stroke development and diving in Burgundy's pool. As a parent who only hears about the bouncey floats in the pool, it was wonderful to see my own kids in the video responding to quality instruction on these life skills. In the foreign language presentation we saw videos of puppet shows, plays, mock school tours, fashion shows and more--all showing our children speaking fluently and confidently in French and Spanish. Once again, it was very clear how pieces of the curriculum were introduced, repeated, and built upon year after year.

Even though our family has been at the school for a number of years now, each time I attend a curriculum night I learn something more that reminds me why we send our children to Burgundy. I know that every single Burgundy faculty member worked hard to prepare for this event, but on behalf of all the parents that attended, I want to give a special thanks to the presenters of the evening.

The work-weekend-o-meter measures how much work was done opening the Cove.

Many, many thanks to these hardy folks who helped to open the Cove this past weekend. As you can see, we completed enough tasks to fill in the Work-Weekend-O-Meter. A special tip o' the hat to those who enlisted small children, helping them to be helpful.   

Current BFCDS families:

Aaron/Katzin family

Cumti family

Henry and Sophie Edwards

Doug Fishman

Friedl family

Larry Inguagiato

Joan and Carolyn Miller

Posposel/de Souza Lima family

Jeff and Tatum Sindler

Russ and Rowan Smith

Alumni / BCWS families:

Dave Bernhard and Diane Byers

Taylor Bostick

Castle/Carlson family (Abby Carlson, '98)

John and AnnMarie Cunningham

Alison Frane

Karla Jamir and Paul Glist

Victoria Horrock '98

Christian Kroeger '08

Mikeska family

Chris and Thea Mills '14

Rachel Slezak

- Vini Schoene, BCWS Director, and David Sicree, Cove Coordinator

Forming fresh concrete into a sidewalk near the First Grade building.

Campus Renewal Construction Updates

The campus is bustling as the construction of the Outdoor Classroom and Discovery Playground continues. The pathway from Extended Day to West Barn has been restored, with new concrete sidewalk and steps installed this week. From time to time, the stairs and this path may have brief closures as work is done in adjacent areas -- including installing permanent handrails, pouring additional concrete at the bottom, and adding landscaping. Please give extra time and attention when heading to West Barn.

In the meantime, building work on the treehouse behind West Barn has been finished. The installation of the fence around the pond has begun. Gabion wall work continues, and rough grading around the gabion walls and near the pond dock has been done.

Catch up on all our recent progress, as well as photos and project descriptions, on our Campus Renewal webpage.

Directory Update

Beth King, parent of Sarah, 4th grade, and Katie, 8th, has updates to her family's information in the student/parent directory. Their new address is 8429 Camden Street, Alexandria, VA 22308. The new home phone number is 571.551.6536. Beth's new email address is sbethking@cox.net.