Adding an international flair to summer at Harker, students from countries around the globe have come to the lower and upper school campuses to participate in Harker’s increasingly popular English Language Institute (ELI).
ELI provides overseas students with an opportunity to learn and practice their English skills. Many participants go on to attend top American and international schools. This summer, 57 students enrolled for the secondary division and 42 are attending the primary division.
First-time ELI student Hui-Hsuan (Maggie) Cheng, a rising grade 6 student from Taiwan, said that the best thing so far about the program has been “going to visit the tide pools and making new friends.” Cheng recalled that in a lesson prior to the field trip, her teacher had explained the importance of gently handling the tide pool animals.
ELI initially began as a year-round boarding school program, which closed in 2001 due to Harker’s upper school expansion. It evolved into the current summer program, which launched in 2004.
New to the program this summer is an optional “Very Interesting Places” (VIP) tour. Available to all ELI students (ages 6-16), the six-day VIP tour will take place at the conclusion of the program’s regular five-week academic session. The trip promises to take learning on the road, with California as the classroom. Come mid-August, 21 students will board a classic yellow school bus, setting off for an adventure. After visiting local theme parks, museums, various school campuses and tourist attractions, the trip will culminate with an overnight stay in Yosemite National Park.
According to ELI director Anthony Wood, all destinations have been carefully chosen to elevate historical and cultural awareness; allow students to create closer relationships with their peers and teachers; and provide enormous opportunity for continued English language development.
Additionally, older students interested in attending American boarding schools or universities will have the opportunity to visit and meet with staff at some of the area’s best schools.
Highlights of the VIP trip will include whale watching in Monterey, a Jelly Belly factory tour, educational visits to UC Berkeley and Stanford University, a Giants (versus Chicago White Sox) game, a scavenger hunt at Huddart Park and a day of fun at Great America theme park.
In Yosemite National Park, ELI students will view the majestic Yosemite Falls as well as visit the area’s museum and cultural center, with educational activities led by a park ranger. A short hike to the lower falls will provide inspiration for a writing assignment and picture journal.
“A specially designed instructional component will make each day’s adventure a learning experience catered to individual proficiency levels. Students will write, speak and read about their destinations, learn new vocabulary related to each new site, and have daily challenges involving English interaction in real-life situations. A travel journal will be kept to document their learning … and of course all the fun!” said Wood.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Lower school English teacher Heather Russell had the great opportunity to travel to Japan as this year’s exchange teacher with Tamagawa Academy K-12 School & University, Harker’s sister school in Tokyo. While at Tamagawa, she observed several classes and taught English to students in grades 1-3. She also used her English lessons to teach the Tamagawa students about the American “Wild West,” including lessons about desert plants, wildlife, cowboys and how farm animals make sounds in English. Students from each class also contributed to a mural that followed the “Wild West” theme.
Russell was impressed at the sense of community among Tamagawa students. “From the start of the day when the whole school would gather on the field for morning exercises, singing the school song and marching to class together, there was a sense of community,” she said. “Teachers would gather in a circle to sing, share announcements and then gather by grade level to connect before the day began.” Russell also was inspired by the community effort to keep the school campus clean. “This act of service also showed great care for their school, teamwork and independence as students cleaned their school grounds together.”
In addition to her time at Tamagawa, Russell also visited a shrine in Tokyo and saw a traditional Japanese wedding procession, stood atop Tokyo Tower to take in the wonder of the city’s skyline, attended a kabuki play and enjoyed a wide variety of Japanese cuisine.
One of the highlights for Russell was a tour around the Tamagawa campus with a teacher nearing retirement after 45 years at the school. “We hiked through the gardens where the students would harvest vegetables. We saw giant spiders, a variety of trees and sculptures, as well as the original and new buildings on the sprawling campus,” she recalled. “Seeing the school through his experienced eyes gave me a new perspective of the history and culture of an amazing school.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Grade 1 students recently completed their annual community service project for the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. The class worked to improve the lives of the shelter’s displaced rabbits, dogs and cats by collecting monetary donations, as well as buying needed supplies and making toys for the animals.
“It was pretty sweet to get Ziploc bags filled with dollar bills and coins. Every bit made a difference. … We also collected over 50 bags of food, toys, rabbit hay, treats, collars, leashes, blankets, sheets and towels. We also raised over $1,250. A new record!” reported Cindy Proctor, a grade 1 homeroom teacher who helped oversee the project.
To learn as much as possible about the Humane Society – an 80-year-old independent, nonprofit animal shelter – the children toured the Silicon Valley facility. Following the fun and informative outing, the students decorated a bulletin board with photos of themselves and their animal friends. They also made pet blankets and toys for donation. Parents played a role as well, as the children were encouraged to earn extra money for the Humane Society by doing small jobs around the house.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Girls Volleyball
Junior Varsity B1 (grade 5), coached by Laura Wolfe, went 7-0 and were league champs in the WBAL! MVP: Michelle Ning; Eagle Award: Santoshi Tirumala and Julia Yusupov; Coaches Award: Alexandra Baeckler.
Junior Varsity B2 (grade 5), coached by Miles Brown, went 1-6 overall and took seventh place in the WBAL. MVP: Advika Phadnis, Eagle Award: Pramiti Sankar; Coaches Award: Anika Fuloria.
Intramural (grade 4), coached by Ellie Crane and Vanessa Rios, enjoyed a few months of learning the game of volleyball. Eagle Award: Anishka Raina; Coaches Award: Uma Misha.
Baseball
Junior Varsity B (grade 5), coached by Jon Cvitanich and Joe Mentillo, went 2-2-1 overall. They did not report final league standings due to the grade 5-6 crossover play. MVP: Levi Sutton, grade 5; Eagle Award: Kishan Sood, grade 5; Coaches Award: Eric Zhu, grade 5.
Intramural (grade 4), coached by Jim McGovern and Tobias Wade, enjoyed developing their baseball skills in the spring sunshine. Eagle Award: Jack Hayashi and Arnav Dani; Coaches Award: Kaden Kapadia
Theresa Smith and Karriem Stinson would like to thank all who have supported the Harker lower and sports program over the 2013-14 school year. GO EAGLES!
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
In early May, Grandparents’ Day events were held at Harker’s lower school and, for the first time, at the new Harker Preschool. On this charming day, grandparents and grandfriends visited the campuses to tour and participate in activities with the special children in their lives.
“Grandparents’ Day is already a wonderful and long-standing tradition at Harker’s lower school. Now, preschoolers on the Union campus have joined in on the fun!” enthused Andrea Hart, director of Harker Preschool.
The captivating morning of exploration and play for students and their honored guests served as an opportunity for preschool teachers and specialists to provide a glimpse of all the incredible happenings at Harker Preschool, according to Hart.
“On hand was a variety of displays and interactive activities from the preschool’s talented staff, including the art instructor, music and movement teacher and STEM specialist,” she said.
At the lower school, the event was marked by an elaborate circus theme.
During the day, students and their special guests were treated to entertaining demonstrations by an array of circus folks, including hula-hoopers, stilt walkers, jugglers, clowns, balloon artists and face painters. The entertainers walked throughout the lower school campus, interacting with participants.
“Our goal was to entertain and also to create awareness about the abuse of circus animals. We had more than 450 visitors,” reported Teré Aceves, director of preschool-5 volunteer programs.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Every day is “library day” at Harker’s lower school campus, where daily checkouts have skyrocketed to an all-time high.
From its humble beginnings as a place used primarily for storytelling in Harker’s former K-8 program, the Bucknall library has evolved into a bookworm’s paradise and 21st century research space for K-5 students.
When Harker’s lower school relocated from the upper school campus to the Bucknall campus in 1998, library development had been identified as a top priority during many in-depth long-range planning sessions. Improvements to the newly purchased lower school campus included the conversion of the multipurpose room into a library, which then benefited greatly from the school’s annual giving campaign for the purchase of books.
Today, a wealth of materials are available in the library, from DVDs and videos to books on tape and downloadable titles for e-readers. There are also professional and parenting resources, graphic novels, fiction and non-fiction books – more than 19,000 items in all.
“No student on the Bucknall campus should ever go home to an empty nightstand!” enthused Kathy Clark, lower school librarian, who has been working at Harker for the past 19 years. “There are a total of 1,200 items in circulation as of right now,” she reported, adding that several hundred books could be checked out on any given day.
A past presenter at the Harker Teachers Institute, California Association of Independent Schools and Internet Librarian and International Society for Technology in Education, Clark is also a member of several library associations as well as a former Harker parent.
Her son (Daniel Clark ’10) currently works with Harker’s tech and theater departments. He worked on sound and lighting, as well as acted as a microphone handler, during the recent library-sponsored Ogre Awards, which is a beloved annual production and part of the library’s grade 2 curriculum of comparative folklore.
To help keep up with increased circulation, the lower school library’s staff of three is aided by a dedicated group of 18 parent volunteers, many of whom have stayed on even after their children moved on to middle school.
“Without the volunteers, we couldn’t do it. They are the heart and soul of the library,” said Moureen Lennon, a library assistant who also works as the library’s volunteer coordinator. “It’s a huge commitment and ensures that students can check out in a timely manner. All new volunteers are trained on where library items are located and how to reshelve the books,” she added.
Along with expanding the library’s collection, Clark helps students navigate the use of 21st century technology tools for research. Yet, cautions Clark, even though students can research online nowadays, it’s more important than ever to learn basic information skills. To that end, teaching them how to find, evaluate and use information for research, both online and in print, is a primary focus.
“I can still remember a time when we used to ask the students if they had Internet access at home. Now it’s a given. But the question is what’s the best way to search for information online,” explained Clark, adding, “Google is not always the best choice.”
However, Clark stressed that the lower school library offers information in a variety of formats which provide lots of developmental options for students. In addition to the library’s extensive print collections, all Harker students have 24/7 access to more than 90 outstanding subscription databases and thousands of fiction and non-fiction titles through eBook subscription services managed by the libraries.
No matter how they prefer to read books, all lower school students enjoy weekly visits to the library, either for formal classes or free-reading periods. In the primary grades, classes are taught a story-based curriculum, using teaching techniques such as acting, listening and stimulating the imagination. Noting that books were the precursor to television and the movies, Clark said that many folktales heavily influenced popular children’s movies. “I tell the kids, I don’t do Disney … I have the originals!” she said, referring to the impressive collection of international folk and fairytale books available in the library.
Although grade 5 students do not attend formal weekly classes, Clark sees them regularly as she collaborates with their subject teachers to teach important research skills through engaging projects and assignments. Additionally, grade 5 students are encouraged to simply read for pleasure through a library program called the Fifth Grade Reads Project.
“In grade 5, we noticed a drop off in interest (and time) for reading due to increased homework and extracurricular activities. We launched the program to help fight that reading drop-off,” said Lennon, who came up with the idea for the project, in which students are regularly introduced to various authors and their works, but are then free to choose and check out anything they want. They are also given free-reading time in the library.
Another important element of the lower school library is its ongoing collaboration with teachers across subjects and grades to enrich lessons with information literacy skills.
For example, a group of grade 5 students – Emma-Leigh Stoll, Nilisha Baid, Ryan Tobin and Srinath Somasundaram – were recently in the library videotaping a scene for their “Famous Americans Project,” a special cross-disciplinary assignment between their computer and social studies classes. The project relies heavily on library research to ultimately create original short historic films depicting the lives of selected high-profile individuals.
With a gray wig and other props, the group was creating a film about Susan B. Anthony, an American social reformer who played a pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement. The team agreed that the best thing about the project was how much it mirrored the real working world as a truly collaborative experience. The students said they relied heavily on the library’s resources to write their historical script.
Another exciting collaborative effort, new this year, is a grade 4 endeavor utilizing both the library and math lab, which formed from a career project developed as part of the fourth grade curriculum.
“This year we were lucky to embark on collaboration with elementary math teacher Eileen Schick for fourth grade,” reported lower school librarian Katrina Nye. “Students worked on a career project, creating a basic household budget and getting hands-on experience using their online research skills. Every class learned the basics of Web evaluation, gaining an understanding of different sources of information, and using them appropriately in a real-life context.”
Earlier in the school year, fourth graders worked on a country research project in a collaborative effort between the librarian and language arts teacher. Meanwhile, working in small groups, grade 3 students researched the care and habitat of zoo animals. They then created a “virtual zoo” using online project pages for their library class. (To view those results go to: http://library.harker.org/zoo.)
In addition to an array of year-round programs and projects, every spring the lower school library hosts a popular annual book fair, which coincides with Grandparents’ Day. Held in the Bucknall library, the sale includes a wide variety of books. The proceeds support the purchase of additional library materials, but, said Clark, the greatest benefit to the school is the wonderful sense of community the book fairs inspire.
According to Harker’s library director, Sue Smith, information literacy is the cornerstone of the library program schoolwide. “Students enjoy rich collections of print and eBooks selected to support their interests and passions. We promote reading through book clubs, book talks, author visits, special displays and summer reading programs,” she said.
Reflecting back on her own library lessons, grade 4 student Zeel Thakkar said, “I would use library skills in my career … when I read through work-related information and pick out the information I need to solve a problem.”
For the past few years, grade 3 students in Stephanie Woolsey’s math classes have ended their school year by forming a simulated startup company. In early June, using an internationally known program called BizWorld (BizWorld.org), the students once again worked together to create a business in a real-world environment.
The BizWorld program is designed specifically for elementary and middle school age children, allowing them to engage in hands-on activities that promote financial responsibility, leadership and teamwork skills.
Students are placed into small groups and choose officers, name their company, and then create a design for friendship bracelets, Woolsey explained. Next they manufacture, market and sell them to parents and other students in the culminating “BizWorld Bazaar.”
Like any Silicon Valley startup, however, the new entrepreneurs require funding to get their businesses up and running. “So parents, teachers, and even Sarah Leonard, primary division head, got in on the act and put the company’s CEO and VP of finance through the paces with questions to prove that their company is a good investment,” recalled Woolsey.
Woolsey began using the BizWorld program to give her students practical math experience. She said she continues to use it because it both builds math skills, and provides a great opportunity for teamwork and interaction with parents and students from other grades.
“It gave me a chance to work with people I’ve never worked with before and helped me improve my math,” said student Rachel Ning.
Classmate Rohan Gorti called the program extremely fun but very hard. “Selling things was hard because people are very picky,” he explained.
“It’s fun making bracelets,” peer Claire Chen added.
BizWorld was originally founded in 1997 by venture capitalist Tim Draper, who saw a need to inspire entrepreneurship in children. Since then, the company has distributed innovative programs to teachers in more than 80 countries and has reached over 450,000 students and 8,000 educators.
“Bizworld is really fun to do and it teaches you about teamwork and about business,” said student Laurie Jin.
On a sunny spring afternoon in late May, the lower school’s outdoor field was magically transformed into “middle earth,” complete with interactive goblin slayings and wizard encounters. The annual grade 5 Hobbit Battle, in which students played both imaginatively and collaboratively, was the culmination of an exploration of medieval literature.
“It made the literature we had earlier read in language arts come to life out on our field. We invited a renowned LARP (medieval sword) master to lead the games with the students, and many teachers played along as well,” recalled Annamaria Smitherman, grade 5 language arts teacher.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
In early May, the kindergarten classes of Katie Florio, Kimberly Sandoval, Michelle Anderson and Katherine Chi each performed a special show for morning audiences titled “The Bear Went Over the Mountain.”
Inspired by the popular children’s song of the same name, the show featured kindergarten students dressed up as different animals, each helping their friend Da Bear in his journey over the mountain. The show was directed by music teacher Carena Montany and choreographed by dance teacher Gail Palmer. With each class putting on a separate show, every student got to sing, dance and help carry forward the bear’s efforts to climb the mountain with its friends’ help. The cuteness factor, with all the little ones dressed in furry animal costumes, was off the meter!
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Numerous lower school musical groups performed at this year’s Spring Music Concert, held May 8 at the Bucknall Theater. Spanning many genres and time periods, the concert featured notable performances from the Lower School Orchestra, Lower School Jazz Ensemble, Bucknall Choir and more, with a special appearance by the Guitar Group, which performed a classical guitar piece by Ferdinando Carulli, then skipped ahead a few centuries to play Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”
The concert also featured several stand-out solo performances from Harker students, including Maya Franz, grade 5, who performed the Dave Brubeck staple “Take Five,” and original compositions by Theodore Kratter, grade 1, Angeline Kiang, grade 4, and Paul Kratter and Anika Fuloria, both grade 5.