In late October, the kindergarten students helped care for their lower school campus by picking fallen pomegranates from the school grounds to prevent the fruit from becoming an eyesore and hazard. This campus beautification project began in 2009 and is part of the youngsters’ overall service projects; they also participate in tree-planting each year.
Tags: Featured StoryCapitalizing on the excitement of the recent Harker Family & Alumni Picnic, lower school teacher Shelby Guarino recently treated her grade 5 English classes to a unique interactive balloon activity which served as a fun way to practice grammar skills.
“The picnic is over, yet we are still playing!” said Guarino of the balloon game, held in the morning on Oct.19. “While it is hard to top the fun of throwing darts at balloons, we tried to keep the memories alive through the grammar balloon game.”
With the assistance of some “eager student helpers,” Guarino wrote various examples of different nouns and verbs on approximately 200 balloons which were leftover from the picnic game Dalmatian Darts. The students were then charged with the task of finding the correct parts of speech on the balloons and using them to formulate sentences on an accompanying paper test.
In order for Guarino’s students to complete the activity, they were required to meander through a pile of tiny balloons scattered across the classroom floor. They were steadfast in their mission to find and jot down examples of the five types of nouns and three types of verbs in about 25 minutes. When the last class of the day completed the test, they were rewarded with the job of popping all 200 balloons with a pushpin.
“It was a fun way to practice grammar, and a great way to remember our time together at the Harker Family Picnic!” recalled Guarino.
Tags: Featured StoryAnticipation ran high at Harker’s lower school on Oct. 4 when, just before noon, the grade 3 class assembled on the blacktop eagerly watching for the yellow bus from the upper school to appear, heralding the arrival of their sophomore Eagle Buddies.
Holding signs indicative of their homerooms so that their older buddies could find them, the third graders excitedly chanted “Eagle Buddies!” as the bus finally pulled to a stop in front of the Bucknall campus.
Prior to meeting at the lower school, the buddies had corresponded with letters and pictures, but this event marked the first time they met in person. The buddies will follow one another and continue to bond over the course of the next several years in the successful mentoring program.
“They couldn’t wait for the big kids to get off the bus,” noted Elise Robichaud ’84, a grade 3 teacher. “All morning they kept asking ‘is it time yet?’”
Alumna Robichaud, who is also a Harker parent (Jonathan Schwartz, grade 8; Kurt Schwartz, grade 9), noted that she first started working at Harker “fresh out of college” and recalled having taught some of the sophomore buddies when they were younger.
After the buddies united with one another, they listened to welcoming remarks from Ken Allen, the lower school’s dean of students. Then all the students ate lunch together on the main field and were free to play sports or work on craft tables located at the edges of the turf.
Enjoying their hot dog lunch with their new younger buddy, Brooklyn Cicero, sophomores Ankita Pannu and Shannon Su called the Eagle Buddies program a great way to allow younger kids to get to know older students.
“We had a lot of fun looking for Brooklyn when we got off the bus, we were so excited to see each other in real life!” said Su, recalling how Cicero had previously introduced herself and stated her interests in her letter. An excited Cicero agreed, adding that she also enjoyed playing tetherball with her new older friends.
Following closing remarks on the main field, all the buddies said goodbye and the sophomores returned to the upper school campus. Upcoming Eagle Buddies events for these two grades include a pajama day, service project and book drive. They will also continue to correspond via Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day cards.
Tags: Featured StoryThe first spirit event of the year got off to a great start for the lower school’s fourth and fifth graders. Held on Sept. 19 during second period, the assembly featured an action-packed cup race and oversized word search activity.
During the cup race, students and their homeroom teachers furiously worked to stack cups until the odd color was reached. The word search activity saw students attempting to find as many “paws, jaws and claws” as possible during the game.
Lower school students have spirit assemblies about once a month throughout the year to promote school spirit and homeroom unity. The students compete against one another for spirit points and the homeroom with the highest score at the end of the year wins a party, so the stakes are high!
According to Mel Robinson, grade 5 P.E. teacher who helped spearhead the event, “Our initial spirit assembly went really well. The spirit/service students brainstormed at our first pre-meeting, and came up with great ideas. The students were engaged, in high spirits and are now looking forward to our next event.”
Tags: Featured StoryIn what has become a much-anticipated annual event, grade 1 students from Imelda Kusuma’s and Rita Stone’s classes united for their annual Friendship Party on Sept. 20.
Stone’s grade 1 homeroom joined Kusuma’s class for the afternoon gathering, which included a story about friendship followed by tasty treats and a unique pencil craft project to be donated to a local nursing home.
The party, which launched five years ago, was borne of the idea that the classes could get to know each other better while simultaneously learning about friendship. That initial successful event set the stage for future gatherings, which always begin with a story around the central theme of friendship intended to promote productive discussions.
Kusuma and Stone also thought it would be meaningful for the students to extend a friendly hand to others, so they came up with the idea of having them make a craft project to give to residents of a nursing home, another continued and beloved party tradition.
“This event is always a delightful time. At this gathering we were lucky enough to have a couple of BEST helping hands pitch in. We also had some wonderful parents providing assistance with the craft project and bringing in the treats,” recalled Stone.
For the craft project, students used florist tape and added a lovely flower to a pencil, which Stone said was “not as easy as it might sound!”
According to grade 1 student and party participant Ryan Barth, the best part about the gathering was making the craft for donating because he likes to help other people. He also said he liked making it because he “likes to twist things.”
The Harker School’s lower campus filled with the happy sounds and delicious aromas of an outdoor barbecue during two separate events held to welcome students and their families back to school.
On Aug. 24, Harker’s newest students – its kindergartners – took to the lower school’s playground for their own special, mouth-watering and fun-filled barbecue. That event was followed on Sept. 7 with a larger, combined barbecue for grades 1-5 held on Rincon Field.
At both events students and parents alike enjoyed the warm summer air and friendly atmosphere, as well as tables filled with a range of tasty barbecue offerings, veggie and regular hamburgers, the always-popular hot dogs, chips, and plenty lemonade and water. Many parents also generously brought dessert and fruit which, as one participant happily noted, went faster than the cookies!
At the grade 1-5 barbeque, while the students continued their after-school romp, parents and younger siblings lounged on blankets on the grass in the shade. Administrators, including Chris Nikoloff, head of school; Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs; Ken Allen, lower school dean of students; Sara Leonard, primary division head; and Kristin Giamonna, elementary division head (Gr. 4-5) all circulated among parents to answer questions and just shoot the breeze on a beautiful, warm, sunny evening.
The barbecues are a recent innovation to welcome new and returning students and families to Harker in a casual, fun, atmosphere.
Tags: Featured StoryBefore school even began, Harker’s newest lower school students in grades 3-5 were made to feel welcome at a couple of buddy parties held in August.
The idea was simple: to introduce the newcomers to their classmates, allowing them to make new friends while gaining insight into what elementary school life at Harker would be like.
Nicole Brink, counselor for this age group onsite at the Bucknall campus, noted there was a pool party for the new grade 4-5 students and their buddies, and an arts and crafts project event for the third graders.
Brink, who supervised the grade 4-5 party, said, “They did a scavenger hunt to learn how to navigate the campus and then we had the pool party where they splashed around and had fun getting to know each other. We ended with some yummy popsicles and popcorn.”
For each group, buddies are specifically trained on how to mentor and help make their new classmates feel welcome.
Additionally, there were other start-of-the-year welcome events affording new and returning students the opportunity to get to know one another, including an elementary school-age barbecue and welcome to kindergarten barbecue held on the playground.
Tags: Featured StoryFencing
Jerrica Liao, grade 7, is now ranked second in the U.S. in women’s foil age 12 and under and is ranked 16th in the U.S. in age 14 and under, following stellar results at the U.S. Fencing National Championships in Anaheim in July.
On July 3, in the Y-14 event with 123 fencers, Liao started out going 3-2 in pools and seeding 56. She won her first elimination bout handily 15-6, then weathered a very tough bout against the 25th seed, winning on time 6-5 (Y14 and older fencers fence to 15 touches or for nine minutes), an exhausting way to win! Then Liao ran into some luck. She would normally have faced the number one seed, but that girl had been eliminated and her path hijacked by the 33rd seed, who lost to the 48th seed — and that’s who Liao (seeded originally 58th) faced in the quarter finals. Liao triumphed 8-3, then hit a hard spot, facing the number four seed, to who she succumbed, finishing in third place, for an outstanding result in a bracket above her age group. This finish upped Liao’s competitive rating from E12 to a B12, putting her among the top fencers in her age bracket.
The next day, July 4, Liao fenced in the Y-12 bracket finishing 18th of 135. She seeded third out of pools, winning all her bouts and being touched only three times while delivering 29 touches, to give her a +26 indicator. She won her first two matches easily, then ran into a toughie in the table of 32: Y-12 fencers fence for best of three five-touch bouts and Liao lost the first bout 2-1, won the second 5-1 and lost the third 2-1 to finish 18th and locking her into the number two spot in the country.
Squash
This summer Sunya Siddiqu, grade 6, played a lot of squash, coming in first and taking two seconds in three August competitions. She is ranked 14th in the U.S. in her bracket, girls under age 11.
In late August, Siddiqu competed in the San Diego Gold tournament in the girls under 11 (GU11) singles category and won all three matches to come in first. With six participants, players compete in boxes: three participants in each box do a round robin, then the top two finishers play for the championship. Siddiqu won her box, then lost to the other top finisher to take second.
In early August, Siddiqu competed in the Decathlon Junior Open Junior Silver. Siddiqu won her boxes in both the GU11 and GU13 events, but lost in the final to take second in both events.
Basketball
Benjamin Soraire and Levi Sutton, both grade 4, played in the Silicon Valley National Junior Basketball summer season and the boys met when their respective teams played each other in the championship game. The Bulldogs (Soraire’s team) and the Ballers (Sutton’s team) set a new record with the championship game going into five overtime periods and, finally, to sudden death play. In a tough struggle for the win, the Ballers sank one for the win. Both boys plan to play for Harker this year. Congratulations to both boys for their efforts this summer!
Summer camp time: academics or outside activities? Harker has both for youngsters.
During the summer many parents wonder whether to provide their children with a learning-based or play-based camp experience, so Harker offers Summer Camp+, where students in K-6 have it all: a full morning of morning academics followed by fun, action-packed afternoon activities.
Located on Harker’s lower school campus, the program affords parents the chance to choose sessions by their preferred format, with full, partial-day and morning-only options. Students have the choice of enrolling in either CoreFocus or LOL (Learning Opportunities in Literature). Both programs conclude at 11:30 a.m. to make room for an afternoon activity program. Core Focus is a three- or four-week math and language arts-focused program. LOL is a two-week integrated curriculum centered around a literary theme.
This year, a spirited four-way game of “color clash” kicked off the beginning of Summer Camp+. The traditional event, held in the Bucknall gymnasium, saw team groups yellow, red, green and blue competing in an array of activities coached by enthusiastic camp counselors.
Wearing hula skirts, capes and silly hats, counselors kept the huge room filled with enraptured campers. It was all part of an effort to unite and welcome Harker’s youngest summer camp participants as a group.
Standing near a door leading out to the gym’s lobby, the camp’s art specialist Arwen Lange explained, “This was an easy way to bring all the campers together in one spot, to unite them as a group and raise the camp spirit.” Lange, who also works as assistant director of the lower school’s BEST staff, said this is her second year working at the summer camp, an endeavor she plans to continue.
Officiating at the event was Joe Chung, director of Summer Camp+, who took center stage, flanked by colorful balloons and banners celebrating the teams. Decked out in yellow and sporting a bright hat adorned with a huge slice of cheese, he held timed contests for the enthusiastic campers. During one event, the pass the hula hoop activity, there was a four-way tie … a first time in camp history!
Kindergartners stayed for the beginning of color clash before wandering outside to the lawn where they had their own special activities, including art projects. First-time camper Sophie Grace, aged 5, said her favorite thing so far has been “making hearts.” Demonstrating her artistic talent, she proudly showed off a visor adorned with her pretty heart decoration. Grace, who is not a Harker student, said she is enjoying making new friends this summer.
During the regular school year Chung serves as Harker’s elementary computer science teacher. He said that in addition to the kickoff color clash game, several other big events marked the first session of camp, including numerous field trips, a patriotic games bash, a water carnival, an on-site sleepover for older campers, a presentation for parents, and a birthday celebration for the camp mascot, “Ray.”
New this year, under the rubric of morning academics, were expanded music workshops open to instrumental students entering grades 2- 6 with at least one year of experience playing violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, French horn, trombone, guitar, piano or percussion.
These two-week workshops offered exposure to music theory and composition, improvisation, ear training, singing, ensembles and full orchestral playing. A concert was performed at the end of each session and a recording and printed score given to each student.
“Making music can be isolating,” said Louis Hoffman, Harker’s K-5 instrumental coordinator, who started the program with the goal of keeping his students playing over the summer. “Often what happens with learning an instrument is that kids work hard all year, then stop during the summer, and have to start over or even worse, get frustrated and quit. My goal is to keep students engaged.”
Indeed, noted Chung, keeping young students engaged over the summer, no matter what camp option they ultimately select, is the overriding goal of Summer Camp+.
Tags: Featured StoryFor many children warmer weather means campouts – sleeping under the stars – but the outing is a bit sweeter when it’s in their teacher’s backyard as it was for six students, all entering grade 4. Complete with s’mores, the campout for six boys was a teacher package offered at last year’s 61st annual Harker Family & Alumni Picnic.
This past spring, grade 3 teacher Heather Russell hosted six of her students (Jonathan Chao, Nikhil Gargeya, Ryan Tobin, Chance Hewitt, Brandon Coulter and Nicholas Coulter) and all had a night to remember.
Chao and the Coulter twins were the lucky bidders of “Mrs. Russell’s Backyard Campout” and each invited a friend to share in the overnight experience, the first sleepover away from home for some of the boys.
“They enjoyed swimming, a backyard barbecue, a bubblegum-blowing contest, silly string wars, making s’mores by a fire pit, and watching a movie in their sleeping bags in a tent,” said Russell, noting that the event was made further complete with flashlight tag and a pancake breakfast in the morning.
Plenty of memories were made for both the boys and their innovative teacher. And, rumor has it, the backyard campout will be up again for bid at this coming year’s picnic!