Belmont Day School Viewbook 2021

Engaging Today’s Learners

Inspiring Tomorrow’s Leaders

Welcome to Belmont Day Every day current events reinforce the importance of creativity in preparing our children for their futures. The first step in harnessing creativity is to view a challenge with fresh eyes. Then we ask better questions, recognize important connections, and apply innovative thinking to achieve goals. At Belmont Day School, we inspire students to be critical thinkers, collaborators, communicators, and change-agents in the face of problems that have yet to be solved.

This is the heart of what it means to be a learner and a leader.

—Brendan Largay, Head of School

SCAN for a school video tour.

Belmont Day School Quick Facts

co-ed

Pre-k through Grade 8

23%

of students receive financial assistance

30

local communities represented

1927

the school was founded

40%

of BDS students identify as persons of color

6:1

Student-teacher ratio

Dive right into the Belmont Day School experience!

Within these pages you can use your mobile device to view interactive videos. Also enjoy fun brainteasers and discussing essential questions.

You’ll quickly see how we synthesize critical thinking and creativity to fully engage students.

Look for these icons: Scan the code with your phone to step inside our classrooms. Select hotspots to learn more.

Scan the code with your phone to hear directly from Belmont Day faculty and students.

Brainteaser to engage students.

Big questions offer conversation starters for any age.

Hold your smartphone’s camera over the barcodes in this book. For iOS devices, scan the QR code and click on the link to your Safari browser.

For Android devices, use your camera and a fully featured QR code reader and browser.

Pre-k–Grade 2

See Yourself as a Learner • A reading specialist tracks the progress of every

pre-k through second grade student and collaborates with classroom teachers to advance reading skills.

• Singapore Math curriculum challenges students as it builds mastery in fundamentals.

• In small classes of 12–14 students, peers find friends and teachers know each student as an individual.

Our teachers are experts at joyful, “inquiry-based education. Our curriculum

offers an in-depth, cohesive experience that begins in pre-kindergarten. Even our youngest learners ask big questions, examine their world, and make informed predictions.

”

—Minna Ham, Lower School Head

WHO IS A CHANGEMAKER T H AT I N S P I R E S YO U ? W H Y D I D YO U C H O O S E T H AT P E R S O N ?

Each second grader researches a “changemaker” and combines facts and art into biographical bookmarks. Students then become changemakers themselves by raising money for Gaining Ground, which grows produce to supply Boston area food pantries, meal programs, and shelters.

5 things to find in kindergarten.

(Look in this classroom photo.)

1.

A middle schooler (Students enjoy cross-graded partnerships at every age.)

2. BDS mascot (Hint: Long ago

this campus was a farm.

What animals live on farms?)

3. Someone learning math 4. A hands-on science station

(Hint: Live worms wiggle inside.)

5. Big Blue (Hint: It's fun to be outside and climb!)

SCAN to see our kindergarten classroom in action.

Look for: • A master teacher discussing what makes kindergarten unique at Belmont Day • Our reading specialist describing how we support each individual's literacy journey • Information about our hands-on math program • Pre-k–grade 2 students enjoying outdoor learning throughout our beautiful campus • Kindergarten students reading favorite poems

Grades 3–5

W H AT I S O N E T H I N G YO U H AV E D I S COV E R E D A B O U T YO U R S E L F AS A L E A R N E R ?

Expand Your Thinking Step-by-step, Belmont Day teachers advance expectations to broaden student horizons, build content knowledge, and encourage children to tackle more complex problems.

Along the way, our students build confidence in themselves and their abilities as learners.

SCAN to see third graders welcome families to the State Fair and describe the learning that led up to it.

Take it for a spin.

Third graders research, write, and create art to explore specific states—all of which is celebrated at the culminating State Fair.

Fourth graders study ancient cultures, learn digital citizenship, survey a shoreline ecosystem, and use mathematical calculations to create scaled models of Egyptian pyramids.

Fifth graders study how the brain works, practice information literacy to evaluate sources, and design and 3D print assistive devices to help people offset disabilities.

Throughout these years, the Singapore Math curriculum moves students from a hands-on foundation to visual representations, and then to a conceptual framework. This promotes strong number sense and facility with mental math.

Focus on the center dot and move your head towards these rings. They appear to move! According to neuroscientists, the illusion results from tiny communication delays between the brain centers that process vision.

Effective Use of Assessment Students learn in many different ways, so we assess mastery with a variety of tools, including projects, presentations, portfolios, and traditional quizzes. Parents regularly receive in-depth reports highlighting student progress toward academic goals and specific areas for growth. In grades 3-6, students take tests designed by the Educational Records Bureau (ERB), which inform how we help individuals work to full potential.

SCAN to see fifth grade students outline strategies for writing a research paper.

Look Beyond Traditional Boundaries

Innovation

requires making connections between disciplines. At Belmont Day, we challenge students to do this in every grade, every day. Throughout primary classrooms, electives, and after-school enrichment, we encourage students to synthesize and apply lessons from science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM).

We’ve even created a STEAM hub to support this work—a dedicated building that houses our innovation studio, a woodworking studio, two art studios, and a science classroom, alongside a full-scale gym that is used for community gatherings, physical education, and athletics.

A Sampling of STEAM Projects First graders built robots inspired by reading Beverly Cleary’s The Mouse and the Motorcycle.

SCAN to see our STEAM hub in action.

Look for: • Our innovation and art teacher, along with sixth grade students, talking about being creators of technology in the innovation studio • Our woodworking and 21st-century skills teacher, along with third grade students, showing how this class teaches process, from planning to production • Our science classroom in action • Highlights from our visual art studios

Fourth graders researched heart rates in the Erskine Library before going to the innovation studio to design and build fitness trackers.

They tested the devices in physical education class to count their steps.

Seventh graders visited the innovation studio during a math unit on geometry to code designs for snowflakes, which were then created on a laser cutter.

As part of her Capstone Project, one eighth grader 3D printed a model of twins who are conjoined at the brain and programmed circuits to show how their neural networks are connected.

Grades 6–7

Change Your Point of View

• Sixth graders start each year with taking on the responsibilities of a

working farm at The Farm School. They study the basics of physics and chemistry, and then design solar-powered cars. They use primary sources to study the U.S. Civil Rights movement and write and produce a performance that explores issues of equity and social justice.

• Seventh graders bond each fall by climbing Mount Cardigan together.

They move into the science lab to conduct formal experiments and write lab reports. After a year of exploring guiding questions through the lenses of literature and social studies, they stage a mock trial where each student represents a character from history or literature.

• Throughout middle school, the Open Up Resources curriculum gives students the higher-level skills they will need for future success. This curriculum complements Singapore Math as both emphasize problem-solving skills.

SCAN to see our middle school in action.

Look for: • A middle school math teacher, along with sixth grade students highlighting the strengths of our math program • A world languages teacher discussing how our language program builds global citizens • The top 5 concepts BDS graduates know about history • The top 5 takeaways BDS graduates have from science • A glimpse of our award-winning literary magazine, Echo

The middle school “years are about stretching yourself and finding the voice to ask your own questions.

At Belmont Day, we balance challenge and support so that students can discover who they are and how they want to contribute to their world.

”

—Liz Gray, Middle School Head

Think like a mathematician.

How does changing the shape of the Tic-Tac-Toe board change the game? It makes it impossible to tie!

SCAN to see sixth graders

explain the mathematical reason why.

Arts From the beginning, students at Belmont Day are immersed in many artistic disciplines, including music, theater, visual arts, woodworking, and digital technology.

In the lower school, these experiences are tightly integrated with classroom themes and support an annual class play. In seventh and eighth grades, students choose each term from a wide variety of electives that allow them to explore a specialized area more in-depth. Topics range from ceramics to blues guitar, from stage makeup to public art—in which students studied the impact of plastics on ocean life and then built a sculpture to draw viewers' attention to the issue.

The resulting artwork, featuring a leatherback turtle and jellyfish—all crafted from plastic collected from our own recycling bins—was prominently displayed.

SCAN to see our arts coordinator

provide an overview of the Belmont Day program.

Community Service At Belmont Day School, we teach children to take responsibility for themselves, each other, and the world around them. Beginning in pre-k when they harvest potatoes from the school garden, students take pride in contributing to their school community. Students in every grade implement projects to make a difference beyond our campus, and students can also join our Roots and Shoots service club. In addition, the entire school participates in our Community Service Day each spring.

Athletics • FALL: soccer, field hockey, flag football, cross country • WINTER: basketball, fencing, volleyball, wrestling • SPRING: lacrosse, tennis, track and field, ultimate frisbee

SCAN to meet our athletics director

and enjoy highlights from previous seasons.

Our student athletes reach for the stars, and they stay “grounded because our faculty coaches emphasize fitness,

resilience, sportsmanship, and team spirit. As a result, every Belmont Day graduate embraces the word ‘athlete’ as part of their identity—whether they are learning a new sport or are celebrating a varsity championship.

”

—John O’Neill, Director of Athletics

Grade 8

Realize Your Possibilities Eighth grade is the culmination of the Belmont Day experience as a learner and a leader. Our graduates have a strong sense of self and know what they want from their high school experience. As a result, they are welcomed by future schools as students who are academically prepared, confident self-advocates, and purposeful community contributors.

W H AT WO U L D YO U L I K E TO B E CO M E AN EXPERT IN? WHY?

Capstone Project Every eighth grade student completes an ambitious project that revolves around a personal passion. Students research and write a 10-page paper; they produce an original work or experience; and they deliver a 20-minute presentation, followed by questions from the audience.

Mentors provide support for a full year of growth in critical thinking, creativity, communication, and organizational skills.

Schools that our graduates have recently attended include: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Arlington Catholic High School Beaver Country Day School Belmont Hill School Brooks School Boston College High School Boston University Academy Brewster Academy Brimmer and May School Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Cambridge School of Weston Chapel Hill Chauncey Hall Commonwealth School Concord Academy Dana Hall School Dexter Southfield School Gann Academy Governor’s Academy Groton School Holderness School Hotchkiss School

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Kimball Union Academy Lawrence Academy Lexington Christian Academy Malden Catholic High School Maret School Matignon Catholic High School Meridian School Middlesex School Milton Academy Minuteman Career and Technical High School National Cathedral School New Hampton School Noble and Greenough School Northfield Mount Hermon School Phillips Andover Academy Phillips Exeter Academy Pingree School Proctor Academy Putney School Rivers School

• • • • • • •

St. George’s School St. John’s Prep St. Paul’s School Suffield Academy Thacher School Winsor School Public schools in Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Cambridge, Concord, Lexington, Somerville, and Winchester

SCAN to see why four eighth graders are glad they came to Belmont Day School.

Grade 8

Realize Your Possibilities Eighth grade is the culmination of the Belmont Day experience as a learner and a leader. Our graduates have a strong sense of self and know what they want from their high school experience. As a result, they are welcomed by future schools as students who are academically prepared, confident self-advocates, and purposeful community contributors.

W H AT WO U L D YO U L I K E TO B E CO M E AN EXPERT IN? WHY?

Capstone Project Every eighth grade student completes an ambitious project that revolves around a personal passion. Students research and write a 10-page paper; they produce an original work or experience; and they deliver a 20-minute presentation, followed by questions from the audience.

Mentors provide support for a full year of growth in critical thinking, creativity, communication, and organizational skills.

Early Birds, After School, and Enrichment Classes Families can drop students off as early as 7:30 a.m. for supervision until school begins. The after school program, available for a fee until 5:45 p.m., provides a fun and engaging environment to support children’s social, intellectual, artistic, and physical development. Activities include art projects, sports, nature activities, and unstructured supervised play.

We also offer an exciting slate of fee-based enrichment classes. Popular offerings have included: Martial Arts, Parkour, Chess, World Drumming, Hogwarts Academy, Reverse Engineering, and Modeling & 3D Printing.

These classes are often taught by our Belmont Day faculty and are used to develop new curriculum or project ideas. Our programs make full use of the innovation studio, Erskine Library, Palandjian Arts Center, the Big Blue playground, playing fields, tennis courts, surrounding woods, and the gym.

Honoring Differences At Belmont Day, we have an active and responsive commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Incorporated throughout our curricular and cocurricular offerings, faculty lead students in explorations of identity, culture, values, and justice. At the heart of this work is strengthening student voices and cultivating empathy as students expand their understanding of themselves and their community. This work is closely integrated with our social-emotional learning and health and wellness initiatives. Our comprehensive approach to DEI work also includes ongoing professional development for faculty and staff, affinity groups for students and families, and parent forums for the broader community.

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Financial Aid Spacious Campus and Convenient Location Students make use of our beautiful, 11-acre campus during classes and extracurricular activities. Easily accessible within the I-95 beltway, Belmont Day is just 11 miles from downtown Boston and 5 miles from Cambridge. Our students come from 30 communities throughout the metro area.

The Annette Raphel Scholarship for Leadership and Diversity

Belmont Day looks case-by-case at family circumstances to provide need-based financial awards that bring the cost of tuition within reach.

Each family must file a financial aid application to determine eligibility.

This full-tuition merit scholarship is awarded annually to a new, incoming sixth grade student.

All applicants who live in the Greater Boston area and identify as African-American/Black or Hispanic/Latinx are eligible to apply.

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Our strong school community truly lives up to its core values: excellence, responsibility, caring, honesty, respect, and joy.

Come See for Yourself!

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Also learn about the application process and important dates.

An elementary & middle school | pre-k to grade 8 617-484-3078 | www.belmontday.org 55 Day School Lane | Belmont, MA 02478