At the end of April, the grade 4 class explored nature, California history, and Native American history in Coloma. The three day, two night trip was highlighted by a hoedown with a live performance from the band Slim Pickens, where all of the students danced, and a talk given by Native American speaker Kimberly Shining Star. Around a campfire, Shining Star recounted old stories of the Nisenan tribe and taught the students about her culture.
The students were able to tie in the information they learned in history class about the California gold rush with real life experiences when they panned for gold in the American River. They also had the opportunity to learn about the local flora and fauna as they hiked to the top of Monroe Ridge.
For more information about the trip, contact Kristin Giammona, elementary school division head, at kristing@harker.org.
Grade 5 students are wrapping up their filming of scenes that combine work from their social studies classes and their computer science classes. Under the guidance of social studies teachers Tobias Wade and Jared Ramsey, the students have been researching famous American historical figures. Based on the research they have done, they have written scripts for short movies.
The goal of these movies is to introduce the historical figures and describe them in a creative way. The students are given a month to collect the footage they need for their final movies, which must run between four and five minutes. After recording the footage, the students will use iMovie to edit the recordings and put together the final movie.
The teachers hope the students will gain a solid foundation in multimedia, while reinforcing the information gained in the social studies classes. For more specifics on the projects, email computer science teacher Joe Chung at JoeC@harker.org.
Pat Walsh, lower school math teacher, took an enthusiastic group of about 40 lower school students to the San Francisco Giants game, where, coincidentally, music teacher Jennifer Cowgill was directing a boys choir who sang the national anthem before the game.
Although the Giants lost the game, the students remained hopeful and in great spirits throughout. “They screamed , danced and rallied for a come-from-behind win, but it just wasn’t going to happen,” Walsh said. The students even received compliments from other fans on how well-behaved and spirited they were.
Several parents wrote in to show their appreciation. “It’s a good experience that Michael will never forget,” said parent Sara Chan (Michael Kwan, grade 5). “I still can’t stop him from talking about it all day long.”
“It was Christopher’s first game at AT&T Park and he had a great time!” wrote Maria Gong of her grade 4 son. Gita Banga (Anika, grade 5; Anvi, grade 3) said, “It is experiences like this which the kids treasure and remember, making learning fun and enthusiastic. This spirit amazes us. Anika had a wonderful time today, and an experience which she will not forget.”
The Saratoga campus received a special Earth Day gift – a London Plains tree from the Modern Woodmen of America. Representatives of the group presented the tree because part of the group’s charter is to give back to the community. With the help of the Eagle Buddies (sophomore students and their grade 3 buddies) the tree was planted along the border of Rosenthal Field on the Saratoga campus.
Founded in 1883, Modern Woodmen of America is a fraternal society that provides financial services and other benefits to its members, which number more than 750,000 nationwide.
First and second grade parents, students, teachers and administrators bonded over a delicious spaghetti dinner in mid-April on campus. Administrators hope to make this an annual event and if turnout and fun are indicators, it will be a success. Mustafa Gurleroglu (Emma, grade 1) was head cook and was assisted by more than 30 Harker dads. The menu included tossed salad, garlic bread and pasta with a choice of marinara, meat or Alfredo (cheese) sauce. Dessert was potluck, so many fine tastes were had by all!
The annual fabulous kindergarten Easter hat parade was a spectacular event, as always, in mid-April. Spectators included faculty, staff, students and parents as the youngest Harker students wended their way around the campus. Nothing cuter!
A new face was behind the principal’s desk at the lower school in mid-April. Lauren Beede, grade 3, was principal for a day as the winner of the Harker Family & Alumni Picnic package. She spent time in the office and amongst her peers during her brief tenure.
In early April Pat Walsh, lower school math teacher, had a pair of engineers from IBM and the Harker community visit his classes. Eric Butler ’81 and Dianne Reese, mother of Greg and Phil Perkins, ’05 and ’07 respectively, came to give students a view of what engineering is all about and how math plays a big part in engineering. Here is fifth grader Ben Hyver’s special report to Harker News Online on the visit.
On Fri., April 8, two former Harker students who now work at IBM as engineers visited Pat Walsh’s math classes. Presenting the interesting topic of Mars rovers, Mr. Butler and Ms. Reese used an NXT-bot to model the real machine that would be sent up to different planets. Our experiment in the classroom consisted of a challenging obstacle course in which we would have to program the rover to steer around. To do this, we would measure the distance from here to there, find the circumference of the wheel, then divide the two. This would give us the number of rotations we needed to complete the movement. After, it would turn and continue on with the program. Watching with amazement, Mr. Walsh’s students were enlightened and inspired by these engineers as they practically demonstrated math to work in space technology. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to experience Mr. Butler and Ms. Reese’s Mars Rover model as this provided a beneficial forty-two minutes of learning and fun.
Grade 1 language arts classes had an opportunity to see literature in action when a demonstration of agility dog training came to campus. Led by a Harker mom, Tania Chadwick (Carter, grade 1), the visit tied in with students’ reading of “Officer Buckle and Gloria,” the story of a police officer and his faithful dog who are advocates for safe activities. Students heard a short introduction to the sport of dog agility, the importance of responsible dog ownership, the value of dog training and how to be a good citizen of the community with your dog.
Chadwick brought a variety of dogs, including border collies, golden retrievers and Havanese to show that any size and any age of dog can do agility courses. She talked about how the training relationship and teamwork is the crux of any successful agility team. Students then got to watch the Fortis Agility Team demonstrate their prowess on each obstacle before running through an abbreviated obstacle course including few jumps, an open tunnel and weave poles.
Chadwick has been competing in dog agility since 1996 and started Fortis Agility Sports Training, an agility training school, in 2002. She competes with two border collies, her third and fourth dogs involved in the activity. Chadwick has competed at the dog agility world championships for nine years and was a finalist in 2004; her border collie, Kidd, was ranked in the top ten of agility for four years and attained the highest achievement in the United States Dog Agility Association by earning the Platinum Agility Dog Champion title as well as attaining the Platinum Lifetime Achievement Award.
Hot potatoes, lucky ducks, jigs and shamrock seas, oh my! The lower school celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day by participating in a series of themed events. All day before the spirit assembly, fourth and fifth grade areas were scoured by students looking for hidden shamrocks to exchange for points at the St. Paddy’s Day assembly, which included a number of celebratory games.
In one contest, ten students from each homeroom were selected to play hot potato in separate circles. The students passed the potatoes along as quickly as possible until the music stopped, and whoever was left holding the potato was out! In a game of balance, five students from each homeroom were asked to navigate the Shamrock Sea (moving from one point to another) without falling in.
In the final game, five students from each homeroom ran in the “Lucky Duck Relay.” Each homeroom formed a group at the spoke of a wheel, with the hub being a tub of rubber ducks. Each student would run to the tub and then attempt to balance the duck on his or her head on the way back to the group; if it fell they had to start again at the tub.
The most spirited of the students who dressed up were selected, escorted on stage, and awarded points for their costumes and jigging abilities. All of the students had a great time and enjoyed their opportunity to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day.