School News

On September 21st, students honored the United Nation’s International Day of Peace by “planting” pinwheels for peace and participating in a variety of peace-related activities and discussions.

We are excited to launch our first official sports team- middle school cross-country! Led by Coach Erin Capps, the team has been practicing on trails in the area and is looking forward to competing in several meets this fall. Go VT Day!

Our school garden thrived over the summer, thanks to lots of sun (and rain!) and to the Vermont Day School campers who helped to take care of it. This morning, our K/1 class harvested 17 cucumbers from the garden beds. Looks like they might have some pickling in their future!

Vermont Day School is thrilled to be kicking off its 3rd school year with an outstanding group of students, parents, faculty and staff! Here is our first day of school photo:

The countdown to the first day of school has begun and we are excited! Our teacher in-service week begins on August 23rd, with our faculty/staff hike up Mt. Philo- a tradition of the new year! Over the next few days, we will be planning and collaborating and getting ready for an inspirational year of learning and growing ahead. We look forward to meeting parents at beginning of the year conferences on August 28th and 29th, and of course, celebrating the new year with all families at the Back to School BBQ. Thank you to our Parent Committee for organizing this fun start of the school year event!

This summer, several of Vermont Day School’s teachers traveled to Ohio to attend the Buck Institute’s project-based learning (PBL) workshop. In addition to learning more about best practices in PBL, they had the opportunity to meet and network with other like-minded educators from around the country who are using PBL approach to personalize learning, engage students and promote 21st century competencies.  They are ready and inspired to put their learning into action with students this year!

 

 

 

This summer, Vermont Day School hosted 4 weeks of summer camp: Day Adventurers and Wilderness Explorers. During Day Adventurers, campers took field trips to Shelburne Beach, LaPlatte Nature Preserve and the Shelburne Museum; they also spent lots of time exploring in the outdoors, playing in sprinklers and socializing with old and new friends!

During the Wilderness Explorers camp, middle school participants learned outdoor skills for hiking, camping and back-packing. The week culminated in an overnight backpacking trip to Branbury State Park. Highlights included swimming in Lake Dunmore, and of course, cooking banana boat s’mores over the campfire!

Our last week of school was a blast! Each day brought a new spirit week themed activity. Highlights from the week included Field Day, a collaborative art project, all school egg drop on Duct Tape Challenge Day, and end of the year party on Lake Champlain. What a wonderful way to celebrate a outstanding school year together!

Last Saturday, Vermont Day School hosted it’s 2nd annual Spring Carnival. It was a resounding success! The afternoon included student-designed Carnival games, tasty bake sale items & home made lemonade, music, photo booth, raffle, dunk tank & more! For many, the opportunity to dunk the faculty and staff was a big highlight! All proceeds from this event go towards the school’s financial aid fund.

A big thank you to our Parent Committee for all their help planning and organizing the Carnival. We would also like to thank our generous sponsors: Gold (Carol Audette Team at Hickok Boardman & Free Press Media), Silver (Antoine Williams and Associates Financial Services, Burnett Scrap Metals, Champlain Lanes, NFP, Stone Creek Construction, Tapia & Huckabay, Vermont Plastic Specialties, Vermont Roads and Fields Excavation) and Bronze (802DJ, Top Hat Entertainment, Barge Canal Market, McKenzie Country Classic, Rise N Shine, The Lighting House, Vermont Federal Credit Union, Mosaic Salon and Vermont Teddy Bear).

As part of an integrated Global Studies & Art unit, the 4/5 class created mixed-media art pieces, along with accompanying quotes, that display their personal beliefs about human and civil rights. The Art Exhibit, titled “Messages of Human Rights” is currently on display at Folino’s Pizza in Shelburne (through the month of May). Be sure to stop by to check it out!

On May 6th, parents and teachers gathered to help green up our school. It was a fun morning of planting flowers, mulching garden beds, raking and assembling a new outdoor shed. A big thank you to all who attended and to our fabulous Parent Committee for organizing this event!

 

As part of our Spring CLIC week, Vermont Day School recently teamed up with Seventh Generation, a mission-focused company that creates sustainable products for families and homes, for an all school project.  To initiate the project, students visited the Seventh Generation headquarters in Burlington, where they toured the facility, learned about the company’s mission, and observed green chemistry experiments in action. On the visit, students also received their challenge from the company’s Marketing Director: to create a line of youth products that are targeted to children and good for the earth. Throughout the week, students worked in small groups to follow the steps of the design process and create their prototypes. On Friday, we returned to Seventh Generation headquarters to present product ideas, which ranged from multi-layered rainbow soap to an eco-friendly kids’ car wash kit. It was a phenomenal week of creativity and innovation. Several of the student designed products are currently on display at the Williston Library.