BCD at the Movies: An Earthday Tale

Movie night, a joint venture between the Environmental Club and Student Council, was a great success.  Over $200 was raised to buy motion sensor light switches for the campus.  Kudos to Grace for spearheading the effort.  She was assisted by Kelt, Sam, and Jasper.  Other students pitched in to help with clean up.   The event was well attended by both older and younger students.  Disappointingly, there was a technical glitch at the end with the DVD, but the overall night was lots of fun.  Great job Student Council and Environmental Club and thank you to all who came out in support. 

Dancing Days at BCD

As part of Arts Month, students in the Lower and Middle School participated in Dancing Days, a celebration of dance organized by Sharon Smullen. Students in Grade 6 learned Brazilian Capoeira with Joyce Schneider, Grade 4 learned Jazz Tap with Stefanie Weber, Grade 3 learned Hip Hop with Kat Gurley, Grade 5 learned Salsa with Kat Gurley, and Grades 1 and 2 had the opportunity to enjoy dance and movement with Kristine Waterman. Click here to view pictures from Dancing Days.

A Thank You from Haiti

Back in January, BCD students, parents, faculty and friends participated in a project spearheaded by BCD Parent Tina Petricca to create receiving blankets for the relief effort in Haiti following their devastating earthquake. Volunteers sewed and prepared over 200 blankets that were delivered to Haiti by Sister Eunice, the Creator of Haiti Plunge. She and her team of volunteers delivered the blankets to babies in the mountain village of Desab. Sister Eunice sent her heartfelt thanks for all our efforts that, “brought comfort and smiles to the children of Haiti.” Our school community should feel very proud in the role we played and continue to play in the relief efforts in Haiti.

Partners in Health Acknowledge BCD’s Gift

The BCD student body also came together in January and February to plan and execute bake sales and coin drives to help raise money for Haiti relief efforts. Last week, we received a letter from Partners in Health thanking the BCD community for our gift of $2,216.16. The letter in part reads: “It is your belief in our work that enables us not only to provide world-class medical services, but also to tackle the root causes of poverty by providing access to food, clean water, education, housing, and jobs for thousands of people in need in the wake of this disaster.”

Save the Date

The Parents’ Association is is pleased to announce that Dr. Lyn Mikel Brown, author of the books “Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes” and “Packaging Boyhood: Saving our Sons from Superheroes, Slackers, and Other Media Stereotypes,” will be speaking at Berkshire Country Day School on Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the Furey Hall Music Room. Dr. Brown will be giving a talk entitled “Packaging Childhood: Saving our Kids from Marketers, Schemes, and Stereotypes.” This talk is free and open to the public so please feel free to invite friends and neighbors.

Save the Date

All BCD parents are encouraged to attend the Annual Meeting of the BCD Board of Trustees on Thursday, May 13 at 7:00 p.m. in the Furey Music Room. This is an opportunity to hear from Trustees about the state of the School and the work of the various Board committees, and get your questions answered.

 Pre-K & Kindergarten Class Visits Hancock Shaker Village

On April 21 the Pre-k and Kindergarten classes visited Hancock Shaker Village to see the baby animal exhibit (incuding the day old pigs), bees making honey, milk a “cow,” weave on a loom, and make Shaker crafts. A great day was had by all! 

Tuesday night, April 20 was a wonderful celebration of the Arts at BCD! Parents and students enjoyed viewing the gallery of student artwork in Fitz while enjoying hors d’oeuvres and sparkling cider courtesy of the Parents’ Association (a special thank you to Sarah Novak and Paige Orloff). Then, it was off to the Furey Hall Music Room for live performances by the vocal ensemble,  and Caribbean Music and Improvisational Theater students. The evening concluded with families visiting the various art rooms to view, among other things, the Sol Lewitt exhibit and the work of the graphic design students. Thank you to Marilyn Cromwell and all of our Arts teachers for an inspiring evening.
Note: Use the advance button just below the video screen to advance from clip to clip.

Thank you to all our BCD students who participated in the making of a class gift for our financial aid benefit this weekend, April 24 & 25 at Shakespeare & Company. Working with parent Doria Polinger and their homeroom teachers and art teachers, students created amazing works of art to help raise money for BCD’s financial aid program.  Please support their effort by purchasing raffle tickets for a chance to own an original piece of class artwork. Raffle tickets will be on sale tomorrow, Thursday, April 22 at drop off and pick up by the parking lot wall, Friday all day in the BCD Development Office, and Saturday during the cocktail hour of the Dangerous Women performance. The winners will be drawn during the performance. You need not be present to win but it sure would be fun! Haven’t gotten your tickets yet for Dangerous Women? Tickets will be on sale both Thursday and Friday in the Development Office and at the Shakespeare & Company Box Office the day of the performances. Please join your community friends and neighbors and support our Dangerous Women and financial aid program.

BCD Parents Bev Hosokawa, Hilary Ferrone, and Doria Polinger selling Class Gift Raffle Tickets at Arts Night

View your child's class gift at the Raffle Ticket Display

Third Grade Class Gift - Sites of the Berkshires Mirror

4th Grade Class Gift - Hanging of Music Inspired Watercolor Paintings

Kindergarten - Group Self Portrait, framed

Taylor Mali, one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement and one of the few people in the world to have no job other than that of poet, enthralled Middle and Upper School students today at an assembly presentation. Eloquent, accessible, passionate and often downright hilarious, Mali studied drama in Oxford with members of The Royal Shakespeare Company and puts those skills of presentation to work in all his performances. He was one of the original poets to appear on the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry and was the “Armani-clad villain” of Paul Devlin’s 1997 documentary film SlamNation.  He is also the author of two books of poetry, The Last Time As We Are  and What Learning Leaves, and four CDs of spoken word. He received a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant in 2001 to develop Teacher! Teacher! a one-man show about poetry, teaching, and math which won the jury prize for best solo performance at the 2001 Comedy Arts festival. We thank Sharon Smullen for arranging for this very special guest to help us celebrate National Poetry Month and Arts Month at BCD.

To learn more about Taylor Mali and his poetry, visit www.taylormali.com

BCD’s Got Talent Night was a huge success and raised $1,771!  Thank you! Thank you! The Service Learning Club met on Monday to discuss ways to sustain and support our relationship with the school AVS in Salino Haiti.  They have come up with some wonderful ideas and will share them with the school community soon! If you were unable to attend or want to relive the night, a video of the performances can be found on MyBCD.

Don’t forget that Student Council and the Environmental Club will be hosting a movie night tomorrow (Friday) night in the Furey Hall Music Room at 6:00 p.m. The movie to be shown is Disney Pixar’s “Wall-E” (rated G).  A $4 admission fee will be charged to raise money for the purchase and installation of motion-sensor lights. This initiative will help the school become more energy efficient and reduce energy costs. 

The Dangerous Women Event Committee will be on campus again tomorrow at both drop off and pick up selling class gift raffle tickets and tickets for both performances of Dangerous Women. Raffle tickets are $10 or 5 for $40, 10 for $75 and 20 for $100. Please help support your child’s contribution to the financial aid fund by buying raffle tickets. Looking to buy tickets and no one is around? Stop by the Development Office any time (between 8:00 – 4:30) and see Joanne DelCarpine or Maxine Carter-Lome.

Mark your calendar for Arts Night at BCD, Tuesday, April 20. This celebration of the Arts features exhibitions of student artwork and live performances by the Vocal Ensemble, Band, Caribbean Music and Improvisational Theater students. Join us in Fitzpatrick Hall starting at 4:45 for our gallery showing. Hors d’oeuvres courtesy of the Parents’ Association will be served.

Mark your calendars for Thursday, May 6 at 7:00 p.m. when the Parents’ Association will present guest speaker Dr. Lyn Mikel Brown. Dr. Brown is the author of the books “Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes” and “Packaging Boyhood: Saving our Sons from Superheroes, Slackers, and Other Media Stereotypes.” Dr. Brown will be giving a talk entitled “Packaging Childhood: Saving our Kids from Marketers, Schemes, and Stereotypes.” This lecture is free and open to the public so please help us spread the word.

We are pleased to announce that 21 Upper school students were awarded certificates and medals for their high scores on the 2010 National Latin Exam. The NLE exam is sponsored both by the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League. More than 150,000 students from all 50 states and 13 foreign countries took the test in March.

The following students received their Certificates and Medals at a special MS/US Morning Meeting today as their proud parents looked on. Congratulations to Eugenie Fawcett, all the students that participated, and our award winners:

For the Introduction to Latin exam, C. Wessel received a Ribbon and Achievement Certificate.

For the Latin I National Exam, the following students received Gold Summa Cum Laude distinction: I. Raposo and N. Sprague.

For the Latin I National Exam, the following student received Silver Maxima Cum Laude distinction: J. Cole-Kink, S. Hampton, H. Newman and Z. ParkeHarrison.

For the Latin I National Exam, the following student received Magna Cum Laude distinction: G. Ciaburri, C. Capeless, and H. Novak.

For the Latin I National Exam, the following student received Cum Laude distinction: J. Corcoran and G. Pichard.

For the Latin II Exam, the following student received Gold Summa Cum Laude distinction: J. Reynolds, G. Rossman, H. Bruggemann and H. Piasecki.

For the Latin II Exam, the following students received Silver Maxima Cum Laude distinction: W. Benner and S. Blair.

For the Latin II Exam, the following students received Cum Laude distinction: MG McNulty (G8 – Lenox, MA).

For the Latin III Exam, the following students received Silver Maxima Cum Laude distinction: I. Ciaburri and B. Wheeler.

Did you know that BCD’s Upper School Arts Block consists of over 20 classes for students in Grades 7-9 to choose from?

• Band
• Chorus
• Chamber Music
• Electronic Music
• Caribbean Music
• Guitar Ensemble
• Drawing, painting, Sculpture
• Black & White Photography
• Arts Foundation
• Mosaics & More
• Graphic Design
• Shop
• Digital Film
• Improvisational Theater

These classes encourage BCD students to explore new mediums and creative ways of expressing themselves. For more information on BCD’s Upper School Arts Block, view the Upper School Program of Studies .

Want to see and hear what these students have been working on this year? Join us for Arts Night at BCD, Tuesday, April 20 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. This family event celebrates the Arts at BCD with exhibitions of student works and live performances. We hope you will join us!

Members of the Dangerous Women Event Committee will be selling Class Gift Raffle Tickets and tickets to both performances of Dangerous Women at the wall tomorrow, Wednesday, April 14, and Friday, April 16 at drop off and pick up. 

Support your child’s class in their effort to raise money for BCD’s financial aid fund. Raffle tickets are $10 each, or 5 for $40, 10 for $75 and 20 for $100. The more you buy – the more you increase your odds of being a winner. The drawing will be held at the Saturday night gala performance of Dangerous Women. You need not be present to win – but it sure would be fun!

Tickets for both Saturday night’s performance and the Sunday matinee will also be on sale. Avoid the Shakespeare & Co. online service fee and buy direct from us.

Cash and checks only, please. Stop by our ticket information booth this Wednesday and Friday for more information.