This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
This year’s lower school dance concert, titled “T.V. Time!” had students moving to the music of classic television shows from multiple eras. Songs were suggested by lower school faculty and staff, and the chosen songs were choreographed by our great faculty dance team!
Students danced to songs from iconic shows such as “Hawaii Five-O,” “The Simpsons, “Friends” and “Modern Family,” with each routine paying homage to the settings and characters from each show. Technical director Danny Dunn provided voice-overs and slideshow images relevant to the shows to which the production paid tribute.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Emotions ran bittersweet on the afternoon of June 4, when members of the Class of 2021 officially ended their journey as lower school students during the grade 5 promotion ceremony, held in the lower school gymnasium.
The ceremony opened with a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance by grade 5 class president Ashley Gauba, and continued with Chris Nikoloff, head of school, greeting the students, parents and faculty in attendance. He congratulated the students on reaching this important next step in their academic careers.
The grade 4-6 dance group Dance Fusion, led by Gail Palmer, delighted audience members with an exciting performance called “We Danced All Night.” Then, a special slideshow recapping the entire school year was shown, with narration by Cathy Hsieh, lower school science teacher. Excited students then walked up to receive their promotion certificates.
Kellie Binney-Smart, lower school choral music teacher, led the newly promoted students in singing songs (including “The Harker School Song”) before incoming middle school ASB president Kelsey Wu, grade 7, gave a special welcome speech to the students who will be starting middle school in the fall. Kristin Giammona, elementary division head, gave a heartwarming closing speech.
This story was submitted by Harker lower school math teacher Stephanie Woolsey.
For the seventh time, third grade math students have earned first place in the region in the Continental Mathematics League contest. The region includes 15 U.S. states as well as the countries of Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Held in a series of three meets, students individually complete six different questions at each meet, earning one point for each correct answer. The top six scores for each meet become the team score for that month, with the “team” members fluctuating based on who scores the highest each time. This year, two Harker students, Brian Chen and Saavi Kumar, earned perfect scores of 18. Both students earned a medal for being the top-scoring students at Harker, as well as an additional medal for being national winners. Certificates went to Connie Jiang, Michael Pflaging, Stephen Xia and Sally Zhu, each of whom earned scores of 17, missing just one question over the three meets.
Hanging paper lanterns blew gently in the breeze as the lower school’s gymnasium doors swung open on April 28, kicking off the campus’ much-anticipated art show. The annual exhibition, which began that afternoon with a well-attended reception in the gym’s foyer, ran until May 21. It featured selected academic and after-school works of K-5 students.
Refreshments were served in the main gallery (the gym lobby) as exhibiting students once again demonstrated an impressive range of artistic abilities. Artwork on display included monochromatic pencil drawings, watercolor paintings, collages and ceramics.
There was an interactive feel to this year’s show, which wound its way from the lobby into the gym, up the stairs and all the way to the top-floor classrooms – even extending into the kitchens and art rooms. Parents, faculty members and students slowly meandered through the event, viewing the wonderfully artistic and often whimsical pieces, which were arranged by theme and grade level.
“The art show was a great success. We had many parents and students come by not only to find their own personal pieces, but to also view the wide selection on show. We even had a family who had gone home to get ‘dressed’ up for the event; it was very sweet,” recalled Gerry-louise Robinson, Harker’s lower school art teacher.
“The highlight for me was the vibrancy and color that was in the displays, with first grade work displayed comfortably next to fifth grade work. We also had a wonderful display highlighting the Japanese wood coasters which were made during a visit from Maruko, the Japanese exchange teacher from Tamagawa this year,” she continued.
Back in the winter, Maruko Ishigami, an art teacher from Tamagawa Academy K-12 School & University – Harker’s sister school in Tokyo, Japan – helped teach art classes for grades 2-5, showing the second and third graders how to make traditional Japanese wood coasters and instructing the fourth and fifth graders in various painting techniques used in her country.
Grade 2 students Emi Fujimura, Shayla He and Shareen Chahal agreed that the best thing about making the wood coasters with Ishigami was “building it” from scratch, noting that the process reminded them of putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Classmate Vivek Nayyar said he especially enjoyed having a “visiting teacher” come to the classroom.
Another highlight of the art show was the collection of winter-themed illustrations, with pictures of trees drawn in black against a sky-blue backdrop, amid delicately falling white snowflakes. Among the various drawings were “Winter Trees,” from the after-school art program, using watercolor and white pencil; “Worm View Winter Trees,” made by students in grade 5 using construction paper and tempura paint; and “Camouflage Winter Scene,” by grade 4 students working with colored pencils.
The colors of many other illustrations took on a decidedly playful theme, such as the charming, colorful penguins clad in scarves called “Chilly Penguins” made by kindergartners. These were made of construction paper collage. Brightly drawn fall pumpkin scenes were also a big hit with various grade levels, including kindergartners, and first and third graders.
Particularly unique to the show was an exhibit called “Perched Owls” from the kindergartners, which comprised glazed ceramic owls sitting in rows perched atop the branches of a tree made out of construction paper. Meanwhile, at a display table nearby, grade 4 students showcased pencil drawings titled “Monochromatic Castles” as well as sculpted versions (made out of ceramic, glaze and mixed media) simply called “Castles.”
According to Anoushka Khatri, grade 4, the best thing about the art show was “the chance it gives you to not only see your work represented, but all your friends’ work, too.”
Nathan Wang, grade 5, agreed. “Everybody has at least one thing in the art show,” he added.
Wang’s classmate, Alex Baeckler, said she had actually made an art piece that was intended to be a surprise for her dad on Father’s Day, but had to let the cat out of the bag when he happened upon it during the art show. “He was still really surprised and happy to see it … and I’m still going to give it to him after the show!” she said, smiling proudly.
“The students really demonstrated their talents and creativity. What amazing students we have!” enthused Robinson.
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, held annually, 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 and event fundraising.
Spring was in the air at the lower school on April 18, as hat-happy kindergartners showed off unique and colorful headwear during the annual Spring Hat Parade and Egg Hunt. On that Friday afternoon, the children proudly wore festive hats they had decorated at home. Marching in a fun parade, the students wound their way through campus, stopping in various classrooms to model their fabulous attire.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
The beginning of March officially heralded Jump Rope for Heart season at the lower school. On March 7, K-5 students took to the blacktop in an annual effort to raise money for the American Heart Association.
Students had been collecting donation pledges for some time, and spent the day on a variety of stations set up to celebrate their efforts. They had a field day jumping rope, high jumping onto soft mats, doing the limbo, leaping over makeshift hurdles, crawling through obstacle courses, shooting baskets and participating in other fun activities. Some teachers got in on the action, too, by helping to turn a rope, supervise the jumpers for a class period and jumping alongside them.
Donations were still rolling in after the jumping activities ended. As of press time, $4,012 had been raised, with Rohan Gorti, grade 3, responsible for $1,610 raised in online donations.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
The annual Pajama Day assembly on Jan. 17 was special for the Eagle Buddies of grades 3 and 10, who met at the lower school gym and shared some of their favorite books with one another. It was also a special day for Rishi Narain, grade 10, who started Harker’s pajama program while he was a student at the lower school.
The program collects and distributes pajamas, books and other goods to underprivileged children all around the world.
The Eagle Buddies program was started during the 2010-11 school year as a means of establishing a bond between the students of the lower and upper schools. The program matches up grade 3 students with grade 10 students, who then meet periodically until the sophomores graduate and the third graders move on to the middle school.
This story was submitted by Harker parent Heather Wardenburg (Frederick, grade 5; Amy ‘13) and originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Hundreds of families’ Thanksgiving feasts were made better by the generosity of the Harker community. The grade 5-sponsored food drive, under the leadership of longtime Harker math teacher Pat Walsh, collected 400 bags of food and $4,332.77 for the St. Justin’s Food Pantry. St. Justin’s Community Outreach Program serves about 2,900 people each month. Harker’s donations helped fill Thanksgiving baskets for 750 families. Walsh, who has been organizing the annual event for 30 years, was thrilled by the donations from the lower school community. “I never cease to be amazed by the generosity of the Harker Community,” he said.
Many thanks to the grade 5 student council for promoting the event, the grade 5 teachers and administration for their support, grade 4-5 division head Kristin Giammona for her help and support, lower school dean Ken Allen for his help in loading, unloading and driving the truck, and the wonderful parent and student volunteers.
Walsh’s enthusiasm and dedication to this program inspired all involved to make the Thanksgiving of these 750 families even better!
Heather Russell, lower school English teacher, was recently named a finalist in the Next Vista for Learning Super Thoughts video contest. Next Vista For Learning is an online library of useful videos produced by teachers and students. Russell’s video, made after her visit to Japan for this year’s teacher exchange with Tamagawa Academy (K-12) & University, briefly covers some of the things she learned about the similarities and differences between the cultures of Japanese and American students. For example, though Japanese students learn how to read and write English, gather for story time and use computers, they also exercise as a group every day, practice Japanese calligraphy and keep Legos in their desks. “I received a $50 gift certificate and am now going to help my students submit some videos they are making for the next contest,” Russell said.