Forming Strong Parent – Teacher Partnerships

A Critical Component of Intentional Teaching  Raising Small Humans is Not Easy… Strong Parent and Teacher Partnerships Help. Relationships are important to all human beings. As adults we lean on our significant others – whether they be a spouse, friend, sibling, or colleague. Those people serve as a foundation that helps us to navigate life: […]

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Guide to Your Middle Schooler

Most importantly, remember and acknowledge that your kids are experiencing their middle school years in the midst of a pandemic. They have not had a normal school year since 2018-2019. For our 7th and 8th graders, that was in 4th and 5th grade, respectively. For some, the anxiety of just being around other people has become a normal way of life. There may still be some trepidation in getting together with friends and socializing like we did in 2019, and that is okay. We are extremely lucky to have been in person last school year, and we have had a successful opening to our current school year. Some students may still be adjusting to a more normal school year. It is helpful to create opportunities for conversations about day-to-day experiences to help them through this time in their lives. It is also important to know when to push the pause button and give ourselves and our kids the time they need when life becomes too overwhelming. We often hear that kids are resilient. As adults during this pandemic, our resiliency may seem to have waned from time to time. If this is true for adults, how can we expect our kids to be resilient? Resiliency is something that is taught. It is more than opening a math book and memorizing the times tables. It is being aware of the needs of your child. It is talking with your child about his/her needs and how to overcome them. With time, they begin to recognize and use those strategies on their own. There is no set curriculum to teach kids how to be resilient but continue to be patient and do what is best for your child. With time, our kids will not only learn to be resilient, they will thrive. 

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Investing in Us

This past summer, in my role as Head of School, I spent a great deal of time reflecting on the previous school year and planning ahead for this one. I thought about the herculean effort of our faculty and staff to open and sustain in-person learning, the gift of trust our families gave us to […]

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Wait Until 8th

Smartphones, access to social media, and today’s fast-paced environment threatens our attempts to keep our children younger longer. There is a growing movement to empower parents and families to hold of on getting their children smartphone until a older age.

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Parent-Teacher Conference Tips

At BCD, we believe that Parent- Teacher Conferences are essential to educational achievement. Remember, you and the teacher are a team—working in a partnership together. Here are a few tips to help you be better prepared for parent teacher conferences. Plan to discuss the “whole child”.  Your child’s social and emotional development is just as […]

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Schools as Parent Partner in the Social-Emotional Wellness of Children

Students spend much of their days at school and it is increasingly understood that those hours greatly influence their lives in ways that go beyond academics, including their social-emotional well-being. Schools that approach their impact on student social-emotional well-being with intention, and in partnership with parents, can help children develop a social-emotional toolbox that can […]

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Buttons and Zippers and Self-Esteem, Oh My!

Winter is here – and so are all of the zippers, laces, buckles, jacket sleeves, snow pants, gloves, and mittens that create a unique type of “snow-clothes-storm” in our hallways. At first glance, this part of our day might feel a bit overwhelming. And, I’ll admit there are those moments that make dream of summer… […]

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