We are ecstatic to announce that Beryl Z., an 11th grader at our sister school, BASIS Independent Silicon Valley, has entered the Breakthrough Junior Challenge!
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Cast Your Vote for the 2017 Breakthrough Junior Challenge!
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Wellness Week: Mindfulness in Managing Anxiety
One of our BASIS Independent Brooklyn parents strongly recommended bringing Sam Chase to campus to work with students on mindfulness and meditation. She had seen Mr. Chase work wonders with her hedge fund employees who juggle high-stress projects and competing time demands. As part of Wellness Week for our Upper School, Mr. Chase spoke with our students about the use of mediation and mindfulness to reduce academic anxiety.
"When we have high demands on us, it’s tempting, as I say to students, to 'bulldoze,' but we have to insert pauses to think at our clearest and take stock of what we’re doing," said Dr. Cruz, Director of Student Affairs for the Upper School at BASIS Independent Brooklyn after Mr. Chase's session. "In order to learn well (inside or outside of the classroom), we have to pause, breathe, and listen—to others as well as our own thoughts and questions."
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Spotlight on: Folk Dancing with Ms. King
Ms. King integrates folk dances across her Movement Classes for our youngest students in preschool, kindergarten, and grade 1. She wanted to share with our families some of the thinking behind her choice.
I teach folk dances in all my Movement Classes. They are a fun and exciting way to introduce children to cultural movement traditions while learning movement patterns and sequences, listening to and responding to music, and engaging socially and cooperatively with their classmates. These dances and songs scaffold in difficulty as the grades progress from simple Circle Dances/Games to more complex formations and sequences like Square Dancing and Contra Dancing.
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Joining BASIS Independent Brooklyn in Middle School
Our newest Associate Director of Admissions Sarah Ellerton wanted to help prospective families learn more about transferring into BASIS Independent Brooklyn during middle school from the experts—students who had just made the change themselves. Sarah sat down with several recent transfer students and reports back on what she learned.
When I joined the BASIS Independent Brooklyn Admissions Team last month and started leading tours for prospective families, I noticed the same question coming up again and again from parents of middle school students: How hard is it to start at BASIS Independent Brooklyn in middle school?
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Lenore Skenazy Encourages Parents to "Let Grow"
One of our BASIS Independent Brooklyn families worked diligently for months to secure a speaker for our BASIS Independent Thought Series, which explores many different views and perspectives across a spectrum of topics. As a school, we do not promote any single stance but encourage the conversation.
The Dubovs live in Park Slope with their three young children, and Ms. Lenore Skenazy's columns had inspired them to find ways to foster independence in their kids on a daily basis outside of school. We wanted to share some of their reasons behind recommending Ms. Skenazy before recapping her speech and talking about her non-profit organization's "Let Grow" project that would benefit from our community's participation.
What prompted you to allow your children to start taking on more responsibility?
We both were born in the former Soviet Union and there was very little of the overprotective culture witnessed here. We went into the yard (large building, not a private home) and played with other kids unsupervised from a very early age. Once we immigrated to the United States, at 9-years-old for both of us coincidentally, we were poor and our parents were mostly busy, thus leaving a lot of our time free for self-directed play. All this makes it very natural for us to let our kids take on tasks and responsibilities that others may feel the kids are unprepared for.
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Day In the Life: Learning Expert Teacher Ms. Weathers
Unlike the traditional self-contained classroom led by one teacher, or one teacher and an aide, BASIS Independent Brooklyn students in grades 1–4 benefit from the expertise of multiple full-time teachers, including our Learning Expert Teachers (LET), who guide students as they move between classrooms throughout the day. Students thus have two full-time, qualified teachers in each class, resulting in a unique, pedagogically-robust classroom environment.
We wanted to take families through a day in the life of one Learning Expert Teacher named Ms. Weathers to understand more about how this model works and supports both our Subject Expert Teachers in focusing on curriculum and differentiated learning. Below is an overview of Ms. Weathers' day with her students in grade 2 Lithium.
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A Look at Student Service at BASIS Independent Schools Across the Country
The start of the new year is certainly a time for reflection—a time to look back on how the first part of the school year has progressed and also a time for us to think and reminisce on the positive things and loving people we are lucky to have in our lives.
We’d like to take a moment out of the hustle and bustle of this time of year to recognize our students in all BASIS Independent Schools for their positive contributions to their communities and the work they’ve been doing to improve not just their knowledge in the classroom, but also their understanding of what it means to be a good citizen.
As an institution, we don’t have any requirements of student volunteering or student service, nor do we participate in parent fundraising. As a result, service in the school and in the community is an authentic expression of what is important to our individual communities.
Let’s take a look at what’s going on in our schools around the country and the pulse on student service in general:
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5 Reasons to Start Your Child in Grade 5 at BASIS Independent Brooklyn
Parent FAQ Series: "I have the option to apply this year for grade 5, or next year for grade 6. What is the benefit of applying for grade 5?" We've had many parents ask this question when they attend our admissions events, and we are excited to explore the answer in depth!
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Spotlight: Literacy & Multicultural Awareness on Campus
Reading is as important a tool as ever in building students' understanding of different cultures and viewpoints. Few media can accomplish as much as a compelling story can. To celebrate the importance of literacy, we have some exciting upcoming reading events planned for our community.
With the help of our own Dr. Lisa Noudehou, Upper School English faculty member, we are celebrating World Multicultural Book Day (WMBD), an annual event that aims to raise awareness for children's books celebrating diversity and to get more of these books into classrooms and libraries.
Dr. Lisa will lead our students in grades 10 and 11 in a reading program with our younger students to celebrate World Multicultural Book Day on Friday, January 26. The older students will choose multicultural books to read aloud to younger students. Dr. Lisa has also encouraged her fellow faculty members in our Early Learning and Primary Programs to highlight and read multicultural books to students on Friday.
On the heels of WMBD, we are celebrating World Read Aloud Day on February 1. We're hoping to extend the reach of this effort beyond the walls of BASIS Independent Brooklyn, and beyond just February 1 by keeping the celebration going at WorldFest.
Keep reading after the jump for more on these events and how you can get involved at home:
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It's Pre-Comp Time!
Next week is an important one in the life of a BASIS Independent Brooklyn Middle School student. It's pre-comp time!
Pre-comprehensive exams (pre-comps), taken by grade 6 and above, are cumulative exams that cover what the students have learned up until the mid-year point of the school year.
The first time a BASIS Independent student takes a pre-comp can feel like a big transition to Middle School, but the guiding principle is that there is no such thing as a high-stakes exam if students are prepared. The past several weeks have been times of review and preparation with faculty in partnership with students.
Showing Support, BASIS Independent Brooklyn Style
It is a BASIS Independent Schools tradition to give students encouragement during the school days leading up to their first exam from faculty, Directors of Students Affairs, Deans, and our Head of School. We decided to take it a step further at BASIS Independent Brooklyn and enlist the cheery support of our primary school students to 'adopt' a middle schooler and write them a heartfelt note of encouragement.
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Spotlight: 9th Grade Perspectives
The BASIS Independent Upper School Program is recognized as one of the most academically advanced high school programs in the country. By the time our students are ready to graduate, they have gone through extensive college preparatory courses of study, including a full year of economics in grade 8, a variety of AP course electives, and in-depth college counseling courses, fully preparing them to excel in college and beyond.
In order to provide insight into a high school program of this caliber, we sought to explore the details on the curriculum, classes, and teachers by getting the perspective of some of our students actually enrolled in the program. Our Associate Director of Admissions Sarah Ellerton sat down with four grade 9 students recently: Kamie A., Elisa C., Ethan H., and Zalan K. Ms. Ellerton wanted to gauge their thoughts and feelings on high school life on our campus.
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BASIS Curriculum Schools News Roundup
BASIS Curriculum Schools is no stranger to making the news—whether its large scale recognition for its academic program or stories of the differences our students make volunteering in and supporting their local community. We make a point to share these stories out with families and readers, but want to highlight some of the most recent news.
The past several weeks have been particularly exciting for our schools—with our Silicon Valley campus’ full profile in Business Insider, a piece announcing the newest Thailand campus, and CNBC’s profile of the best high schools in the country (surprise: BASIS Curriculum Schools occupy the first three spots as well as #5 and #7). The stories are exciting in perpetuating the high performance of legacy at BASIS Curriculum Schools campuses and signify a carving out of a path for new, exciting traditions of excellence.
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Oui, C'est Vrai! Filming a Netflix Series in Paris
Instead of spending his summer sleeping in, going to camp, or taking family vacations, Kaeden R., one of our most theatrical rising 6th graders, spent the summer months doing something highly unusual: he flew to Paris to co-star in season 2 of a new Netflix series called "Seven & Me"!
The second season premiers October 2018, and we were fortunate enough to sit down with Kaeden and his parents and ask some questions, now that he has settled back into BASIS Independent Brooklyn with his buddies. His parents also shared some photos from the set that we got permission to use, so enjoy the sneak peek!
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High School Fed Challenge Begins
Today we publish the first of hopefully many blog posts written by students for our school community! Middle and Upper School students interested in covering events or activities can submit blog posts for consideration and review to their Dean, who will share with our Director of Communications.
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19 BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Students Named National Merit Scholarship Finalists!
We are incredibly proud of the following nineteen students from our sister school, BASIS Independent Silicon Valley, who have been named 2018 National Merit Scholarship Finalists. The students are:
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MATHCOUNTS Team Wins Regional Championship!
Our BASIS Independent Brooklyn MATHCOUNTS team won the Brooklyn Region Chapter Competition, which took place on February 13 at our campus. The team, Soren D. '22, Syun D. '24, Liem E. '22, and Max. S. '23, have now qualified for the New York State MATHCOUNTS championships on March 17.
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All About Mindfulness
Ms. King is a trained yoga and dance instructor who brings mindfulness into her Movement Classes for our youngest students in the Early Learning Program and primary school. As the parent of a middle school student, she realized the techniques could benefit all our families and decided to draft the following blog post outlining information and exercises to use.
Mindfulness– What is it? How does it show up in the classroom? How can you use it at home? Mindfulness comes in many forms and practices, but the results are the same: the activation of the para-sympathetic nervous system, which naturally stimulates the body’s healing and de-stressing systems. Below are a few ways to classify mindfulness practices and some simple things to try. The key is PRACTICE. Make a clear time and place for your practice and commit to this time and place over time. A little goes along way. Even a minute of mindfulness has been shown to have a positive effect.
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Excellence On and Off the Ice
The sports program at BASIS Independent Brooklyn is growing with our championship volleyball team and new programs underway for Ultimate Frisbee and even competitive co-ed soccer and basketball this spring. However, many of our students play on teams outside of school. One such student, Murphy K. in grade 8, just qualified for the New York State Championship with his travel hockey team, the New York Cyclones.
The New York Cyclones started playing together six months ago and wrapped the season up this past weekend in Buffalo at the New York State Championship. While the team won’t be moving on any further, they fought all the way until the final buzzer of the season. As a defense man, Murphy (#71) was proud of his play during the Championship Tournament, limiting goals scored against his team to only one while he was on the ice.
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2018 Senior Projects at BASIS Independent Schools
Fall 2018 will bring the first senior class at BASIS Independent Brooklyn. A very exciting part of the senior year experience involves Senior Projects, so we wanted to look ahead with a blog post from BASIS Independent Silicon Valley detailing the Senior Projects underway there right now. Please note the post below is republished with minor edits from BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Blog.
It is with optimism and pride that we support our seniors as they complete their final trimester as BASIS Independent Silicon Valley students. Now past the huge milestone of applying to college, our 67 seniors have so much of their education behind them, but are, in many senses, faced with one of the biggest growth experiences in their education to date: the Senior Project.
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BASIS Independent Summer Enrichment
Our summer 2018 program will focus solely on enrichment classes for both BASIS Independent and non-BASIS Independent students entering grades 5–12 in the fall of 2018. Create your own BASIS Independent Summer experience—choose any individual week for each program, or try them all!
We've compiled answers to the top questions that we're hearing, but if you have questions of your own, please do not hesitate to contact us, or check out our summer website.
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