December 11, 2015 Constant Comment One of our most cherished Burgundy traditions is our Festival of Lights program, which will take place next Friday, December 18 at 9:30 AM in the Gym. You'll find more details below! The Festival of Lights celebrates light as a symbol across diverse religions, cultures, and traditions. The term itself may refer to 'Festival of Lights' celebrations from Diwali (associated with Hinduism, Sikhism, and Jainism) to Jewish Hanukkah to the Buddists' Tazaungdaing Festival. Our Festival of Lights is a succession of brief narrated stories, songs, and traditions performed by all of our students in a seasonal pageant that serves as a binding ritual, full of rites of passage, that connects our community, we hope, and connects us to a broader, global community. The program is symbolically representative and runs approximately an hour and ten minutes. Jeff Sindler Head of School  Coming Up at Burgundy ... Kindergarteners and 8th grade girls at last year's Festival of Lights. Reminder: Festival of Lights Burgundy's annual winter performance, the Festival of Lights, will be Friday, December 18, at 9:30 a.m. in the Gym. All Burgundy classes will perform during the event, which reflects the theme of light in diverse cultural traditions and experiences. This beloved Burgundy tradition is always well-attended. To accommodate all our guests, we ask that you park at the nearby Life Community Church, 3500 Franconia Road (corner of Franconia and Norton Roads). A shuttle will be available to bring event attendees to campus from the church beginning at 8:30 a.m. and will run from campus back to the church following the performances. If you choose to park on neighborhood streets, please park only next to a white curb -- if you don't see a curb, you're in a no-parking zone, and you may be ticketed or towed. Do not turn around in or block anyone's driveway. It is also thoughtful to leave a few feet for neighbors to navigate in and out of their driveways. Please note that after the performances, students will return to their homeroom classrooms for instruction and celebrations ahead of an early dismissal at 12:30 p.m. There will be no Extended Day programs and no afternoon bus service. Lost and Found While on campus for the Festival of Lights, please take a moment to check Burgundy's lost and found. Any items left in the lost and found will be donated to charity organizations during winter break. Celebrate Kwanzaa at Burgundy Burgundy's Parents of African American Students (PAAS) invite your family to a community Kwanzaa celebration that offers food, fun, and fellowship! Sunday, December 27, 4-6 p.m. in the Loft. Please RSVP to Kristen Noble so that PAAS can prepare accordingly. New Carpool Signs For January We will transition to new afternoon carpool placards when school resumes after winter break on January 4, 2016 to make pick-up more efficient and secure. One placard should be kept in each of the two cars that are most regularly used to pick up your child or children. In addition to the names of your child or children, the placards include a three-digit number. Please encourage your children to learn this family number. During afternoon carpool, names and numbers will be used together. Numbers will also be used to verify the authority of other drivers to pick up your children. The placards and an explanatory letter will be mailed to families next week. For more details, see the letter online (PDF). Please keep in mind that morning carpool runs from 8 to 8:25 a.m. Burgundy staff opening doors at morning carpool will leave the lane at 8:25, and after that time students should stop at the reception desk to get a slip before proceeding to class. Afternoon carpool runs from 3:15 to 3:40 p.m. Students not picked up by that time will be sent to Extended Day. Save the Date: Burgundy Bingo BPA is announcing the first Family Fun Night of the school year. Mark your calendars: Sunday, January 31, 4-6 p.m. is now Burgundy Bingo Night! Students and parents of all ages are invited to join the BPA and special guest callers for some good old-fashioned family bingo! Prizes and snacks will be on hand! RSVPs will be solicited in January. Save the Date: Summer Camps Burgundy Summer Day Camp The 2016 Burgundy Farm Summer Day Camp will run for eight weeks, from June 20 through August 12. Please note: there will be no camp on Monday, July 4, and that week/session of camp will be prorated. Day camp includes Lower Division, for children age 3 years, 8 months through 7 years; Upper Division, for children 8 to 12 years; and a Counselors in Training program for teens 13-16. Burgundy Center for Wildlife Studies Camp Junior Session (ages 8-10): August 21-27 Senior Sessions (ages 11-15): 1 - June 26-July 9 2 - July 12-26 3 - August 3-16 Adult Weekend (21+): July 29-31 Don't Forget! Monday, December 14: MS Math Club, 3:15 p.m., Matthew's classroom. Wednesday, December 16: Work Smarter session, 3:15 p.m., Library. Thursday, December 17: Work Smarter session, 3:15 p.m., Library. Friday, December 18: Festival of Lights, 9:30 a.m., Gym. Early release, 12:30 p.m. December 19-January 3: Winter Break Monday, January 4: School Resumes. New sign-out system for Extended Day begins; PINs will be emailed to all Burgundy parents and guardians December 14. Continuing: Through December 18: Registration for Winter 2016 enrichment classes. Ongoing: The Board of Trustees is accepting nominations for new Trustees ahead of elections in February. If you are interested, contact Joanne Petty, Chair of the Committee on Trustees at joanne_petty@hotmail.com or 312-560-9796, or visit Burgundy's website for more details. Recently at Burgundy ... Board Report The Board of Trustees met Tuesday evening, December 8 in the Loft. The Board received the Head of School report along with updates on the Campus Renewal Initiative, recent faculty training and Strategic Planning efforts. The majority of the meeting was spent discussing the budget for the 2016-2017 school year. The next Board meeting is Saturday, January 23. Extended Day Takes on Flag Duty Extended Day has been honored to work with Larry Inguagiato and the Maintenance Team to learn how to properly and respectfully take the flag down in the afternoon. Recently, staff conducted tutorials with the students on the importance of flag duty and how to correctly fold the flag. For about a week now, every afternoon, Extended Day staff ask for volunteers to come and help with flag duty. There has been no shortage of volunteers! Flag duty has proven to be a great way for the students and staff of Extended Day to show their respect for the flag, the Burgundy community, and the country. Professional Development Reflections Director of Admission Lori Adams is perhaps most visible hosting open houses, but she works year-round to help prospective families get to know Burgundy. Like everyone at Burgundy, she looks for professional development opportunities to make her great work even better. Earlier in the fall, Lori attended a workshop on integrated enrollment strategy hosted by the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington. Lori writes: "For me, the conference reiterated the value of breaking out of our individual silos and the power of collaboration with not only members of the administrative team, but even more so with the academic leadership and faculty. Continued efforts for all school constituencies to collaborate, to be reflective and thoughtful about all of Burgundy's functions will only enhance the educational experience of our students." Burgundy faculty and staff engage in a variety of professional development opportunities like this throughout the year, made possible through Annual Giving. Box Tops Collection Results Woot woot, three cheers for Burgundy Box Top collectors! With a super special shout-out to both the 4/5 classes that rocked this collection -- the Coopers gathered a class record-breaking 707 Box Tops and 306 Labels for Education points! Our Labels for Education bar code points double this time, which means with all classes combined Burgundy garnered 1251 Box Tops plus a whopping 1546 Labels for Education points! It's hard to stop using so many exclamation points! Here are this collection's numbers: JK - 8 K - 50 1st - 31 2/3 Viceroys - 70 2/3 Buckeyes - 10 4/5 Coopers - 707 (plus 306 Labels for Education points!) 4/5 Redtails - 270 Middle School - 101 Extended Day - 4 We also had another, less exciting record breaker -- this time there were over 320 expired Box Tops. Every Box Top has an expiration date, and once that passes they cannot be submitted, so send them to school early and often!  And a friendly reminder that the entire bar code is needed for the Labels for Education points. Many, many thanks for helping to support our school! Keep collecting over winter break -- next collection will be at the beginning of February. We can't wait! -- Jenny Friedl Burgundy Bulletin Thanks to all current parents, students, faculty, and staff who helped with last weekend's successful admission open house! Burgundy alumna Hannah Miller '15 also returned to campus to support the open house, giving a campus tour and answering questions from prospective families. Parting Photos  Middle School violinists practice for the Festival of Lights. Students play a trivia game during Middle School's community meeting. First grade boys get ready to launch paper airplanes from the top of the Super Slide. Checking the results after the launch. Stay Connected |  Constant Comment Archives  | Affinity Programs |  Give Online  |