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 Tuesday was National Teacher Appreciation Day. As a fun token of our appreciation on campus, we gave out smoothies to teachers during afternoon carpool on a day that a cold smoothie would be most appreciated.
We are very blessed to have teachers who love teaching, who respect children, and who love their students as they are, while helping them grow into who they can become. Burgundy teachers work hard to maintain a developmentally sympathetic relationship with their students (and among their students), and this makes all the difference in a healthy learning and growing environment. Children instantly recognize where they are welcome and respected, or where they are resented or feared. In the first instance, students can accomplish anything! In the second, there are real obstacles to learning and healthy growth.
Burgundy teachers recognize that all children inherently are in different places on every continuum of development, be it academic, social or emotional. This is normal and predictable, and, to the great benefit of our students at Burgundy, these differences are respected, whether we are talking about 4- and 5-year-olds in JK or 12- to 14-year-olds in 7th and 8th grade.
My personal thanks to our fantastic, loving, hardworking teachers. As a parent and educator I am so happy to be at Burgundy!
Note: if you would like to make a gesture to honor a teacher now or at any time, please consider a gift to Burgundy Annual Giving in that teacher's honor! Among other things, Annual Giving supports budgets for robust professional development and curriculum development. What teacher has made a big difference for your child?
Finally, next week, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, is our 8th grade musical. I look forward to attending Bye Bye Birdie next Saturday. Elementary and Middle School students in particular, as well as their families, will enjoy this classic!
Jeff Sindler
Head of School |
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Coming Up at Burgundy ...
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| Volunteers at work on the Bye Bye Birdie set last weekend.
Photo by Deborah Clark Ives.
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Burgundy's 8th Graders Take the Stage!
Bye Bye Birdie was the first musical Deborah Ives directed all those many years ago! It was fun and challenging to stage then and now, bringing back memories of President Kennedy, the roll-out of Barbie dolls, the draft, Fats Domino, Sam Cooke, Elvis, and more. One of America's most popular musicals, it was originally produced on Broadway in 1960.
The story was inspired by the enormous popularity of singer Elvis Presley and the national uproar caused by his induction into the United States Army in 1957. The notion of celebrity and our preoccupation with celebrated people is humorously satirized. There are gentle jabs at prejudice and stereotyping, rebellious but still innocent teens, domineering mothers, and more. Come watch Conrad's agent Albert Peterson and his loyal secretary Rosie Alvarez bungle a national lottery to kiss Conrad goodbye before induction and sing one more hit song--all on the Ed Sullivan television show!
Join the Class of 2015 in the Loft for their production of Bye Bye Birdie at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 14, 15, and 16. Tickets are $5 for adults and $1 for students and children. Refreshments will be available for purchase.
Call for Nominations: Burgundy Parent Association
The Burgundy Parent Association (BPA) is accepting nominations for officers for the 2015-2016 school year. The BPA collaborates with the administration, faculty, parents and the Board of Trustees to coordinate and inspire the engagement and involvement of volunteer parents in support of sustaining and advancing the school. You may learn more about specific responsibilities from our President Tara Casagrande (tara@easeyogacafe.com) and President-Elect Kelly Abramson (kabramson99@comcast.net). Any parent or guardian is eligible to run or to nominate another parent or guardian by Friday, May 15. Nominations will be compiled and ballots sent to each Burgundy family in May, and election results will be announced before the school year ends.
Cove Work ("Power Tool") Weekend
Builders and gardeners are invited to join an adults only "power tool" work weekend at the Cove May 16-17. We need experienced hands with power tools and gardening. No children are allowed, due to the use of power tools. Contact Chris Mills for more information or sign up to attend.
Staffing Updates
For next year, longtime Early Childhood teacher and current K Polar Bears teacher Carrie Ustun is going to shift from a full-time teacher role to a part-time role as Early Childhood world language teacher, in order to attend to family matters, on an interim basis. Carrie, who has been teaching at Burgundy for more than a decade, has a major in French.
Nicole Pagett, who has made a real impact this year filling in for Kira Cotter with the First Grade Sheep, will serve as interim Polar Bears teacher alongside Barbie Holland. Nicole came to Burgundy this school year with 14 years of experience teaching preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. She is also mother of Sam Pagett, who is finishing second grade at Burgundy. Kira, who was on leave last year working on her Masters of Education through the University of Virginia, will return to the Sheep classroom. After teaching first grade at the Beauvoir School, Kira joined Burgundy as a kindergarten teacher and transitioned back to first grade in August 2012.
With Deborah Clark Ives leaving full-time drama teaching, Emily "EJ" Jonas '03 will be teaching 4th-8th grade drama next year, moving from Middle School Humanities. Theater was one of EJ's areas of study at the University of Delaware. She has directed and performed in productions with the Harrington Theater Arts Company, and acted with the University Professional Theater Training Program, the Delaware Rep Theater, Signature Theatre's Overtures Program, The Little Theatre of Alexandria, Reston Community Players, and Dominion Stage. EJ's interest in theater began in her 2/3 class at Burgundy, when she was cast as a fairy in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and she is looking forward to teaching in an area of such great passion for her.
Accordingly, Anastasia Quinn will be coming to Burgundy to teach Middle School Humanities next year. For the past several years, Anastasia has been a teacher at Kirk Middle School in Newark, Delaware, and an adjunct professor at Delaware Technical Community College in Dover. Anastasia also has teaching and volleyball coaching experience at Tower Hill School, in Wilmington. Anastasia has her bachelor's degree in English from Holy Cross and a teacher certification from the University of Delaware.
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Don't Forget-
Please join us to celebrate Ann Van Deusen and Deborah Clark Ives at a retirement reception Saturday, May 30, 2-4 p.m. All members of the Burgundy community, past and present, are invited--so please help us spread the word!
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Registration is ongoing for both of Burgundy's summer camps: Burgundy Farm Summer Day Camp on the Alexandria campus, starting June 15, and Burgundy Center for Wildlife Studies Camp at Cooper's Cove, starting June 21. Please note that the junior session at BCWS is already full, and Sessions 1 and 3 (senior) are full for girls. Contact Michele McCabe if you would like to be added to the waitlist.
- Complete Burgundy Calendar
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Campus Renewal Construction Update
Workers have been busy again this week at the Outdoor Classroom and Discovery Playground. Around the pond, installation of the fence is in progress and construction of the learning dock has begun. A new paver drive around the pool and orchard area has been started, and more sections of concrete sidewalk in front of West Barn also have been poured. Work also continues on the gabion wall.
Thank You: Family Fun Night
A wonderful time was had by all attendees at the Family Fun Night Movie Night last Friday! Nearly 20 new families joined many long-time Burgundy families for an evening of camaraderie and cinema. Thank you to the Burgundy Parent Association as well as Ann Grillo, Bill Garland, John Voorhees, Mark Pospesel, Mark Sullivan, Darcy Katzin, Caitlin Garvey, Stephanie Chase, Tovah Ravitz-Meehan and Alison DeCourcey for hosting such a wonderful event for the Burgundy community--current and newly-enrolling families alike!
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| Middle Schoolers paint the slide on Elbert Avenue.
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Community Service Report
On Saturday, May 2, a group of Middle Schoolers completed their work on a playground for children living in Community Lodging's affordable housing units. This project began more than a year ago when Community Lodgings staff showed us a vacant, weed-filled lot behind the apartments on Elbert Avenue. As a community service project, Middle School students planned to gain experience by designing a playground, using tools, landscaping and painting to create a better place for young children to play. The project began with our students talking with the children and parents on Elbert Avenue about what they wanted in their playground and creating drawings of the newly-designed space. With the help of parent-architect Scot McBroom (father of Nicky, 7th grade and Sam '13, and Burgundy Facilities Manager Larry Inguatiato (father of Jessie, 7th grade, and Kaitlin, 4th), as well as other talented parents, several playground elements--a series of "cars" that children could use for imaginative play, a slide, and a table and chairs made of Burgundy stumps were built. Middle School student volunteers worked with Larry, Scot, and other parents in the Burgundy shop to fashion these playground elements, then painted and installed them. Burgundy students also weeded and mulched the area to make it an attractive and safe playground.
Community Lodgings is an Alexandria non-profit that provides both transitional and affordable housing for Alexandria families, as well as some educational services. Burgundy has a history of working with the organization. One of the Community Lodgings staffers writes: "Please extend our thanks again to the Burgundy Farm students, parents and staff who helped to spruce up the playground on Saturday. The slide turned out wonderfully ... The children in our housing program enjoy using the playground and now there is even more fun to be had with the new slide."
Burgundy Bulletin
Groundworks Farm CSA, run by Margaret '02 and Kevin Brown '01 and a team of energetic young people, is entering their third summer of delivering CSA shares to our area, and they are gearing up for the summer season right now. They have produce shares available as well as meat, chicken, eggs and cheese shares from their farm and other local farms in our area. Deliveries are made to Alexandria, Arlington and Annapolis. Groundworks also offers a variety of local products for sale at pick up locations each week. For more information, visit www.groundworksfarm.com, email info@groundworksfarm.com or call Margaret at 443-220-2338.
Josh Davis '88 shares that HarperOne has published his first book, Two Awesome Hours: Science-Based Strategies to Harness Your Best Time and Get Your Most Important Work Done. Its topic is timely: the book provides a science-based approach to handling being overwhelmed with work. It includes five science-based strategies for setting up the conditions for periods of peak effectiveness. Learn more at www.twoawesomehours.com.
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Parting Photos|
| First graders imprint leaves in freshly poured concrete.
Photo by Jeff Sindler. |
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| | Viceroys put on their silly faces for the camera. Photo by Kayla Parton. |
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| Listening to 6th graders showcase their
musical talents. Photo by Maria Gilroy. |
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