Seventh grade students and their parent volunteers gathered in Furey Hall today to prepare the stage for the “The Giver,” scheduled for Friday and Saturday, February 5 and 6. The Giver, a play by Eric Cobble based on the book by Lois Lowry, will be performed by 11 seventh grade students and directed by BCD parent Meg Agnew. Watch MyBCD for more information!

Over 30 students, parents, grandparents and friends gathered in Fitzpatrick Hall today to sew receiving blankets for the Haiti relief efforts. Under the organization of Tina Petricca and other upper school parents, the gym was transformed into a work station where everyone got involved in fabric cutting, sewing, ironing, folding, and bundling. Thank you to everyone who turned out to work, provided supplies, and brought snacks!

BCD’s library became a bookstore for the first week of December, and the BCD community enjoyed finding great books to read and to give as gifts. From November 30 through the morning of December 4, more than 450 books were sold, raising over  $1,500 for our library! The money raised will go to purchase books and technology as well as pay for subscriptions to databases.

BCD Book Sale Director, Librarian, Teacher and Coach Jeff Uhas appreciates the help of BCD parents and students with the sale. Al Marrapodi, Sue Venkat, and Jenny Greenfeld helped set up; Rachel and Noah Beckwith and Stephen Taglieri packed up at the end. A special thanks to Rachel for blogging book recommendations. We all thank Eric and Ev Wilska and everyone at the Bookloft in Great Barrington for all they do to make the sale a success, especially Ev and Kat for their wonderful book selections.

“It’s always a lot of work to transform the library into the bookstore,” says Jeff Uhas, “but it is always worth it when I see the excitement on the students’ faces when they come in and find a great book they really want to read. Also I always love to see the students looking to find a book to give to a sibling as a present. This makes all the work worthwhile.”

Thanks to the many parents and faculty who participated in the PA’s “Berkshire Grown” fundraiser earlier in the year, sales totaled $5,200, of which approximately half, about $2,300, went to the PA!  Appreciation and thanks go to Sarah Robotham, who organized the project, and to Denise Roszkowski.

This past spring, Jeff Uhas, BCD’s Librarian and 4th grade Humanities and homeroom teacher, submitted a proposal for professional development funds to examine and develop an updated curriculum for BCD’s Library. He then spent the summer connecting with other schools across the country to look at their curriculum and getting feedback from our own teachers about how the Library could support their needs. MyBCD sat down with Jeff to find out what’s new in the Library and what books are on his bookshelf:

“It was interesting to see what’s going on at other schools and look at how that fits in to what we are doing here. It’s important to keep abreast of changes and to re-examine our curriculum in that context because the field changes so quickly. It’s also reassuring to see that some areas remain the same. As a result of the process, I was able to come up with a new scope and sequence for our curriculum that I think better fits with how students learn and use the Library as a resource center.

One significant change to come out of my work this summer is a new, spiraling curriculum for our students that grow with their knowledge of the Library and its resources. Each year has a different theme. We start with Shelf Elf and Skoob for our Preschool and Kindergarten students who come to Library. This year they learn how to use the Library and care for the materials. In First Grade it’s about being Library Explorers. In Second Grade, students become Library Detectives.  In Third Grade it is about being an individual and being an expert. In Fourth Grade, students learn about the organization of the library and how to access materials. They work as teams – Deweys versus Decimals. By the time they reach Fifth Grade, they learn how to access materials in other libraries and get an introduction to print and electronic research.

Another part of my work this summer was integrating new technology into the Library. We now have six new laptops. Students use the computers to access the electronic card catalogue and search for books, work on class projects, and do their homework during the after school study hall. I was also able to establish a relationship with a company that will come in and do an assessment of our collection and make recommendations about books to add. And, we introduced “Book Talks” for our Middle School students as a way to help students introduce their peers to good books.”

What’s on Jeff’s bookshelf? “The Good Thief” by Hannah Tint and “Washington: The Making of the American Capital” by Fergus Bordewich.

The 2009/10 Faculty Brochure is now available online!

Learn more about your child’s teachers – from where they went to school to what they did before coming to BCD, and their interests and hobbies. View our new Teachers brochure and get better acquainted!

Please let interested family members, friends, and neighbors know that Berkshire Country Day School will be hosting an Admission Open House next Tuesday, January 26 at 9:00 a.m. This is a great opportunity to learn more about BCD’s curriculum, meet members of the faculty and Administration, tour our 27-acre campus and see classes in action! Interested families should contact Amy Broberg.

This morning Middle and Upper school students came together again with Mrs. Piasecki and Mrs. Pitcher-Hoffman.  Here is their plan to raise $1000 this week to send to Partners in Health and Doctors Without Borders for their important work in Haiti.  Students will be running bake sales this week during lunch/recess time (on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday).  They are being asked to bake or make snacks to sell and the bake sales will all be student run.  We will invite LS students to the Bake Sale ONLY on Thursday and they can bring in money that day or baked goods as well.  

Also, all students in all grades have been asked to do chores around the house to earn some money to donate.  We are having a change drive all week and students will be collecting change at drop off, pick up, and in the homerooms.  

Please help your children to bake, cook, earn a little money, and open their hearts to those in need.  Together we can make a difference. This is a great opportunity for students to lead an important effort. Thank you.

BCD parent Tina Petricca is organizing a sewing party for this Saturday, January 23 from 10-4 in Fitzpatrick Hall, calling all Upper School students (grades 7-9) and their parents to participate in a project to sew receiving blankets for the relief efforts taking place in Haiti.

In 2004, Tina organized a similar effort among the then seventh grade students and their parents, and their handmade receiving blankets were shipped all over the world to countries in need, including Haiti.

We need your help to make this effort successful. We need:

1. Donations of (cotton) fabric – the more fabric we have the more blankets we can make!
2. Donations of pins, thread, sewing machines, irons, ironing boards
3. Parent volunteers to teach students how to sew and who can help sew
4. Volunteers to bring in snacks for the participants

Please consider how you can participate in this important effort. Contact Tina Petricca at tmp709@yahoo.com if you are able to come on Saturday (please, only 7-9 grade students and their parents) and or if you are able to make a donation of the much needed items listed above.