Middle school students seized upon a great opportunity to learn about historical analysis through the lens of current events at the Middle School Summer Institute’s class about Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai. The course was taught by Harker history teacher Sara Pawloski, who first heard Yousafzai’s story when she took a class on migrant stories two years ago. “The one that really made an impact on me was Malala’s,” she said. Pawloski believed Yousafzai’s story of fighting for girls’ education in Pakistan was particularly important “because a lot of people, especially … in the Bay Area, don’t think it’s hard for people to get an education anywhere in the world, and it actually really is.”
That lesson was particularly important to student Ellie Schmidt, who will start grade 7 in the fall. “I learned that though we, in the U.S.A., take education for granted, in and around Pakistan many girls get very little education if any,” she said. “I didn’t realize that this happened.”
Students began the class by learning about concepts such as identifying primary and secondary sources. “That’s a skill that’s really important, especially with students this age,” Pawloski noted. The students also learned about bias, which Pawloski said has a negative connotation it does not always deserve, as it can often be important in understanding someone’s perspective.
The class, which is largely activity-based to maintain student engagement, gave students insight about the beginnings of history with regard to the dawn of civilization. “I do a hands-on activity outside where I put water somewhere and they have to hunt for food, and they have to try to build a shelter, so they can kind of get an idea of how history actually began,” said Pawloski.
Yousafzai’s book, “I Am Malala,” is another important piece of the class, as students first discussed what they believe the book will be about, followed by readings and class discussions.
Pawloski also had students investigate the work other activists around the world and make short comic strips about them. “My favorite part about taking the class was learning about all the women activists and what they did and still do to help obtain more women’s rights,” said Schmidt.
Seeing the students learn about the experiences of others around the world was especially gratifying for Pawloski. “I think what I’ve really seen them pick up on is that what they experience is not what everyone else experiences, and I think that’s a great lesson, especially for middle schoolers,” she said. “But I definitely have noticed that they’re starting to realize, we’re here, were lucky, and the outside world doesn’t have everything that we have.”
The Harker Girls Summer Lacrosse Camp, a new offering in this year’s summer program, promises to be a great opportunity for girls to learn and fine-tune their skills in this increasingly popular sport.
This camp is designed for a wide range of experience levels, from beginner to advanced. It will focus on helping players build confidence, improve their lacrosse knowledge, develop key skills and instill solid field strategy. Skills that will be stressed include footwork, stickwork, shooting, dodging, teamwork and defensive concepts. Small-sided games will be played to demonstrate and practice these skills and for just plain fun!
Harker girls lacrosse head coach Alyssa Dunlap will act as instructor along with other coaches and players with division I collegiate backgrounds. Dunlap’s credentials reach as far back as her time in high school, where she was instrumental in helping her team win three consecutive Pennsylvania State Championships and was twice named High School All-American. While at Vanderbilt University, she was selected for the All-West Region team by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association and named to the All-American Lacrosse Conference first team. Prior to joining Harker, Dunlap coached at Stanford University and the Treelax Lacrosse Club.
The Harker Girls Summer Lacrosse Camp is being offered in two sessions, each for different grade levels. The first session, for grades 6-12, will run July 17-20, and the second session, for grades 3-5, will run July 31-Aug. 3. This camp will be held at The Harker School’s upper campus.
For more info and register for this camp and other summer offerings, please visit the Harker Summer website.
For the second year in a row, Harker Preschool will offer a summer camp program, filling its beautiful eight-acre Union Avenue campus with children after the regular school year ends. Campers will enjoy the school’s large sunny cottages, spacious play yards and specialty classrooms.
Preschool summer camp is held in two sessions, each designed to engage and excite young children through familiar summer themes. The program is staffed by year-round Harker teachers, assistant teachers and aides. Students are grouped by age, with families choosing one or both sessions to match their schedules.
When it launched its summer program, the preschool joined the Harker community’s long-running tradition of making summer offerings open the public. Session one will run for four weeks from June 22-July 17; session two begins on July 20 and ends three weeks later on August 7. Full and half-day options are available, with extended care offered in the early morning and late afternoon.
This year, campers will focus on three specialty areas: art, music and movement, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Each classroom will spend a week with a specialty teacher in a workshop format designed for maximum exploration and exceptional fun.
“We are excited to highlight our specialty programs during the summer session,” reported Kelly Espinosa, director of summer and preschool programs. “The partnership between specialist and the children’s regular classroom teachers will ensure a rich balance of activities throughout the summer. It’s going to be great fun!”
To be eligible for Harker Preschool’s summer program, children must turn three by Dec. 1, 2015 and be under the age of six by August 2015. For more information, visit preschool.harker.org.
Harker Preschool’s inaugural summer camp recently wrapped up its first session, which featured a fun, beach theme called “Down by the Shore.”
This year marks the first time the preschool, which opened last fall, has operated a summer camp at its Union Ave. campus. The preschool now joins the larger Harker community’s long-running tradition of offering programs after the regular school year ends.
Summer camp at Harker Preschool is held in two sessions, each designed to engage and excite young children through familiar summer themes. The program is staffed by year-round Harker teachers, assistant teachers and aides. Students are grouped by age, with families choosing one or both sessions to match their summer schedules.
Session one ran from June 23-July 18 with 55 enthusiastic beach campers filling the preschool’s sunny cottages, play yards and specialty classrooms (STEM, music and movement, and art.) Session two began on July 21 and will run until Aug. 8 with the theme “Little Cabin in the Woods.” For the second session, children will be grabbing their backpacks and heading off to the (imaginary) forest.
Highlights of the first session included water fun on “Splash Days,” as well as explorations of both sand and water. At one point the youngsters made their letter of the week “S” in honor of the word sand. They also had a great time using sand sensory tables (playing kinetically with both sand and seashells), comparing the texture of starfish to that of sandpaper and creating sand dollars. Campers also learned about erosion and how sand is formed when rocks are rubbed together.
Four-year-old preschool camper Luca Chan, who also attends Harker Preschool during the regular school year, especially enjoyed the many ocean-themed books introduced and discussed during group times.
Fellow student Miley Liu, also 4, said she liked “making a beach in a box,” an activity in which students filled plastic containers with sand, shells and other items you would see at a beach. “And we get to take them home!” she said.
Meanwhile, in music and movement class, students made ocean drums that really sounded like the ocean, said teacher Mara Beckerman. Then, in her aftercare class, they explored surfing to the upbeat music of “Wipe Out.”
In art class the children enjoyed activities including sea foam watercolor painting, sand sculpture, sea life printmaking, lobster claw still life and shell weaving. “Along with observing and drafting whale shark characteristics with oil pastels, artists were invited to create collages with seaweed, shells, and images of sea life. We also discussed where pearls come from and what they look like at a pearl bead making table,” recalled art instructor Alexandria Kerekez.
The first summer session was filled with surf, sand and sun as the children “soaked in” all there was to see and do around this well-loved ocean/beach theme, explained Andrea Hart, director of Harker Preschool. “Young children really love to learn by doing; together we explored sea life and play through sand and water, singing silly songs and reading stories about friends who live and play on the salty shore. All were inspired by our new pet hermit crab and overflowed with questions about ocean life. There were some excellent sandcastles made, sometimes even from sand the children made themselves by manually grinding rocks!” she enthused.
Now, with session two under way, the children are trekking into the imaginary woods to discover all the wonders of life in the great outdoors.
“They’ll meet new forest animal friends, build with logs, dig in the dirt, pitch tents, create with found objects, explore common outdoorsy tools and enjoy everything nature has to offer. All the fun of a camping adventure without the worries of bears or mosquito bites!” said Hart.