St. Patrick’s Day was a fun-filled day for LS students, who got to share in the cheer with free dress. All over campus, students wore green clothing, hats, face paint and other celebratory decorations.
Kindergarten teacher Gerry-louise Robinson’s homeroom students made special houses in which to house their personal leprechauns, which were actually photos of the students sticking their faces through a leprechaun cut-out.
The kids also heard Irish-themed stories such as “Jamie O’Rourke & the Big Potato,” “Finn & the Fairy of Tara” and “The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day.”
Colleen Lindsay, who also teaches kindergarten, had her homeroom students bring in various types of green gifts such as candy, coins and stickers. The night before St. Patrick’s Day, the kids made “leprechaun catchers” and set them out around campus, which by the next day had been pilfered of their “gold.”
Gr. 3 English teacher Elise Schwartz’ homeroom students were treated to a special Easter celebration on April 10. Upon entering the classroom, the students learned that the conniving Easter Bunny Sneaky Pete had stashed various types of eggs throughout the room. Students were promptly dispatched to ferret out one type of each egg and discover the treats hidden inside. A list of clues was provided that hinted at the contents of each egg. For instance, an egg with a funny face would contain a pencil grip, and the student would be led to the egg with the clue, “Get a grip on your life with a funny face egg.” Because each student only got one of each type of egg, every student was assured to get the same number of eggs and prizes.
To sweeten the morning, donuts and juice were also served after the kids had finished their hunt.
Harker students took five prizes in the 2009 Primary Math World Contest Team Tryouts. Cindy Liu, Gr. 6, David Zhu, Gr. 4 and Shaya Zarkesh, Gr. 3, all took first place in their grades; Aneesh Samineni, Gr. 4, took third place in his grade; and Rachel Wu, Gr. 6, took fourth place in her grade. Zhu, Wu and Liu all finished in the top 10 percent and have been invited to a 12-week training course to prepare them for the next level. “I especially would like to commend David Zhu who is the first fourth grader ever ranked in the top 10 (he was actually tied for first) in the history of this contest for the past five years,” said Ewa Garg of MathEdge, which hosted the event. “Given the highly competitive nature and difficulty of this contest, these students have my deepest congratulations!”
Gr. 1 students spent nearly two weeks in March collecting money and necessities for the animals in the care of the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. More than $92 and 30 bags of goods such as pet food were gathered from March 16 to 27, which were stored in the Bucknall gym lobby alongside pictures of the Gr. 1 students and their pets. The donation was made just in time for the Human Society’s move to its new home in Milpitas.
Grandparents…Shape our World
May 8, 2009
Bucknall Campus
Grandparents’ Day at The Harker School is a long-standing tradition. This is a day when students on the Bucknall campus have an opportunity to welcome grandparents or special grand friends to visit the school for a memorable afternoon in their honor.
Invitations for Grandparents’ Day were mailed in late March, so hopefully if you registered your grandparent or special grand friend they have received the invitation. Please make sure they RSVP to Denise Hayashi (deniseh@harker.org) if they plan on attending. Thank you!
Grandparents’ Day chairs this year are Kathy Richmond, Grace Thompson and Allison Vaughan.
For the second time, the Harker Gr. 3 team, made up of the highest six scorers for the grade level, is a regional winner in the annual Continental Mathematics League contest. Our region includes students from schools in 15 states and 12 countries. A record three students earned scores of 17 out of a possible 18 in the contest this year to push the team to the top with a total score of 103 out of a possible 108. “Worldwide, our total score was in the top three percent of the 481 schools that participated in the contest,” said Stephanie Woolsey, Gr. 3 math teacher and contest advisor.
The test began after the winter break when all students in Gr. 3 math classes began completing a monthly math contest of six questions, earning one point per question. Griffin Ellis and Rishi Iyer, and Rose Guan, who is in Gr. 2 but is taking Gr. 3 math, all earned the almost-perfect scores this year. Each student earned a medal for his or her performance. In addition to the top three scoring students, two others, Adrian Chu and Rajiv Movva, earned total scores of 16, and earned a certificate of recognition. Amy Dunphy, Kaitlin Hsu, Anooshree Sengupta, Sahana Srinivasan and Justin Su were also strong competitors, and earned a total of 15 points each. “This is a difficult problem-solving contest in which students must read carefully and use their logical thinking and reasoning skills, with no rehearsal ahead of time,” reported Woolsey.
“We have participated in this contest for at least five years, and only twice have we had students earn scores of 18. Having three students earn 17 points is impressive!” Woolsey said. Harker also had a record number of students earning scores of six on at least one contest this year, with fifteen different students, or 15 percent of the entire third grade, earning a perfect score on at least one contest. Congratulations to all the students for attempting these problems!
The 2008 edition of enlight’ning continues to rack up awards. In late March, the literature magazine beat out two others for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s (CSPA) Gold Crown Award. This is the second year in a row the magazine has won the top award. Among other specific compliments paid the issue, the CSPA noted in its CD-ROM, “2009 Crown Winners,” the following enlight’ning strengths: “From cover to cover, staff branded this publication an exceptional literary journal, visually professional in appearance, format, use of color and illustration throughout. Purposeful choice of color palette and use of white space further distinguish this publication. The clean lines of this publication exemplify the fact that each visual and written piece was tightly edited. There is an acute attention to detail in the editorial process.”
Of one page in particular, CSPA reviewers wrote: “The stark quality of the poem ‘Algebra’ is paired with the proportional design of ‘Quilt Squares’ – two works of art that do more than share space. Together, they provide a unique perspective.”
“Needless to say we are really proud!” said teacher Stacie Newman, who, along with Michael Schmidt, advises the staff. “We owe a great debt to all the middle school students whose work was offered for the magazine; their contributions were outstanding, and without them we couldn’t create a winning publication!” she added.
A group of Gr. 4 students took a special trip to the Exploratorium in San Francisco on April 14, seeing a wide variety of exhibits to help them expand on their classroom science education.
Students watched dry ice move around in water, which exemplified the ways comets move through space. They also got to make a six-foot-by-six-foot soap film that, when light shone on it, made a variety of ever-changing color and wave patterns. “My group enjoyed blowing on the film and seeing the changing colors and waves,” said publications coordinator Desiree Mitchell (parent of Lyndsey, Gr. 4), who served as one of the chaperones on the trip.
The real attraction for the students, however, was the dissection of a cow’s eye. “The kids were lined up and waiting for the demonstration to begin,” Mitchell said. “They were very interested in the inner workings of the eye and asked many questions.”
Students from across the Bucknall campus took full advantage of the beautiful weather on March 19, which luckily coincided with the annual “Jump Rope For Heart” extravaganza.
The kids had been collecting donation pledges for the American Heart Association since January, and spent the day on a variety of stations set up to celebrate their efforts.
In the glow of the midday sun, students jumped rope, shot hoops, limboed, navigated miniature obstacle courses and even enjoyed a run through sets of small hurdles.
The Bucknall gym also provided some fun recreation, with more room set aside for jump rope activities. Some students got creative and set up a challenge in which students had to run back and forth under the twirling jump ropes.
Students also had the option to take a quick break and enjoy some healthy snacks over by the lunch tables. Nearby was the “Heart Wall,” where students could attach small paper hearts adorned with special messages for loved ones or others in need.
Donations were still rolling in after the day ended. When all donations were accounted for, exactly $7,000 had been raised.
The 13th annual Ogre Awards on March 26 were a typically fantastical affair, featuring Harker’s entire Gr. 2 class portraying characters and creatures from the folklore of cultures worldwide which students spent the year exploring with library director Enid Davis.
Before the show got underway, MS librarian Bernie Morrissey and US librarian Susan Smith warmed up the crowd by singing “In Your Folk Attire,” a parody of the Irving Berlin song “Easter Parade,” one of many songs reenvisioned by Ogre Awards director Davis.
Other faculty guest appearances included a singing cameo by Laura Lang-Ree, K-Gr. 12 per forming arts chair; Brian Larsen, K-Gr. 12 production manager, appearing as the giant from “Jack and the Beanstalk”; and LS Spanish and creative writing teacher Anita Gilbert singing “Life is Just a Bowl of Porridge.”
This year’s story relayed the plight of three princes, each in search of a wife. They discover their mates by firing an arrow from the castle and traveling to the location wherein it landed. The first two princes have no problem finding the ideal partner, but the third arrow happens upon a swamp, where the final prince finds a frog waiting for him.
Each of the potential wives is charged with three special tasks to impress the royal family, and the pure-hearted third prince allows the frog to carry them out. To his delight, the frog is more than able to meet his family’s expectations, and upon deciding to keep the frog as his wife, she magically transforms into a beautiful princess.
After the play, the year’s awards were eagerly handed out to characters hailing from various folk tales. The favorite was the Russian folktale “Czar Ivanovich and Grey Wolf.” Grey Wolf accepted the award on behalf of this story.
This year’s Special Ogre Award was presented to Head of School Chris Nikoloff in recognition of his support of the K-Gr. 12 library program.