This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
On a recent visit to the preschool campus, Harker Quarterly caught up with an enthusiastic group of 4-year-olds during recess, who shared what they are most passionate about at school. When asked to name their favorite part of the school day, students cited everything from climbing high on the monkey bars to having yummy snack time to playing superheroes with friends. Enjoy this special feature highlighting how preschoolers say they love to spend the day!
“I have fun playing with Rescue Bots and making fire trucks out of clay.” – Connor Todasco
“I mostly like to play super fighter with my friends. I also like to make pizzas out of playdough.” – Caden Walker
“I love using the easel in art class and climbing way up on the monkey bars!” – Maya Akunuri
“My favorite thing is playing and eating yummy snacks. And doing something fun.” – Kabir Bhatia
“I like everything!” – Daniela Bonomi
“Monkey bars!” – Elsa Wick
“The best thing about school is playing with friends. Oh, and climbing up trees and sliding back down.” – Pasha Heidari
“When I’m outside I like to ride the bikes. Inside, I like to build things. That’s what I like to do at home, too.” – Colin Campbell
“I like to play with building blocks and make stuff. I especially like to build houses.” – Aaron Lau
“I like to make things in art. I like to make anything!” – Navya Maddipudi
“Art is really fun. You can make a lot of stuff for your mom.” – Sophie Shen
“Science projects are really fun to make. In science class we learned all about rainbows.” – Tvisha Singh
“I can’t wait to go outside and play on the monkey bars!” – Julie Hu
“Making a big fire station out of building blocks is really fun.” – Liam Halback
For the third year in a row, the Arts LIVE for Three to FIVE! Harker Preschool Concert Series has brought talented middle and upper school performing arts students to the preschool to conduct music and dance programs.
This year’s concert series kicked off in January with an interactive program called The Human Voice, at which preschool students learned all about voice ranges, thanks to a visit by members of the upper school choir. The choir, along with their instructor Susan Nace, upper school performing arts teacher, performed vocal selections and demonstrated the differences between high and low voices in boys and girls, as well as what is meant by loud and quiet voices.
Then in February, the preschool students enjoyed their first dance performance when upper school dance teacher Rachelle Haun and her junior varsity dance team visited. Looking ahead, toward the end of May, the preschoolers will be visited by the middle’s school’s chamber music ensemble group, directed by Dave Hart.
Mara Beckerman, the preschool’s music and movement specialist, recalled that several years ago, Hart was the first teacher to accept her invitation to visit the preschool with some of his students. Beckerman came up with the idea for the concert series when the preschool opened its doors in fall 2013. Since then the concert series has grown each year.
During Hart’s first visit, the preschool students were enthralled to hear and touch a French horn, saxophone, harp, flute, violin and an enormous tuba, Beckerman recalled. “The student musicians each spoke about their instruments and played lovely selections for us that morning. The performance ended with a short ‘instrument petting zoo,’ where our 3- to 5-year-olds were guided by the student musicians and allowed to touch each instrument,” she said.
The students and staff could not stop talking about this concert for weeks, added Beckerman. “The students all shared which instrument they were going to play someday. The most petite girl in the school was very definitely going to play the tuba!”
Last year the grade 6 choir came for a concert, at which they sang a story and led the children in some movement activities. Another time, when Beckerman discovered that the father of one of her students sang with an a cappella group called Hookslide, she invited the group to perform at the preschool. “That day we heard some truly amazing harmonies and even learned to beat box,” she said.
Throughout the years, the preschool students have responded enthusiastically to the various concerts, repeatedly telling Beckerman that they look forward to having “the big kids” come out to perform. “They love it!” she said.
Harker Preschool is proud to announce the release of its first musical album, “The Songs We Sing,” which was recorded in-house at the end of the 2014-15 school year. With the debut CD – featuring songs performed by the preschool students and their teachers – the children enjoyed learning what it is like to become a recording artist.
Andrea Hart, preschool director, and Kelly Espinosa, director of summer and preschool programs, got the ball rolling for the project, according to Mara Beckerman, Harker Preschool’s music and movement specialist. The two asked Beckerman if she would be interested in recording some of the songs she had taught the students in her specialty classes.
“’Of course,’ was my reply!” recalled Beckerman, who for the past 25 years has worked with children of all ages in both private and public schools. The music and movement class is one of several beloved specialty classes offered at Harker Preschool. Each week, preschoolers of all ages attend the interactive sessions.
Beckerman included the voices of students from all of the preschool’s cottages on the CD. “I wanted to include all the children in some way. I also wanted to have ‘classic’ children’s songs (such as, ‘The Wheels on the Bus’); songs that every Harker preschooler learns (‘Come On In,’ ‘Friends 1-2-3’ and ‘Flowers & Grasses,’ which was sung in STEM class); songs that individual classes had worked on (‘Polar Bear,’ ‘Sarasponda’ and ‘I Am A Pizza’); and finally songs that the children had a particular love of (‘Guong Xi,’ ‘Hey Dum Diddley Dum’ and ‘If I Could Write One Song’),” explained Beckerman.
The last two pieces added to the recording were the song, “Rainbow Round Me,” and a story, “Stone Soup,” that she had done with the students and had previously recorded on her own personal CDs. Once the songs were selected, Beckerman contacted Richard Karst of Prema Music Studio, a recording engineer with whom she had previously worked.
“We were very lucky that Richard had the ability to bring his studio to us. We found a quiet room at the back of the campus that we turned into the recording studio,” Beckerman said, noting how impressed she was with the children’s ability to wait for the signal to record, listen to the intro of the song, use their singing voices, and remain very quiet after they finished singing while waiting for the signal that it was done.
The recording sessions happened over two days. The students came in with their teachers and were introduced to Karst, who Beckerman said wore a special hat that “all the children really liked and continued to comment about afterwards.” Each class had the opportunity to do several takes of their songs.
“Their favorite mode of transportation to and from the recording room was by galloping to another song they had learned, ‘Horsey Horsey.’ Perhaps that song will appear on a future CD!” said Beckerman, adding that a few days after the students had recorded their songs, a parent reported that her son had immediately gone home, found a variety of boxes and created his own recording studio to use with his younger brother.
Beckerman’s father, artist Howard Beckerman, designed the cover artwork for the CD. He is a well-known animator who took great pleasure in creating a colorful and lively picture of the children enthusiastically singing alongside their teacher.
The CD is available for $20 and can be downloaded directly to a computer. Also included in the download are cover art and liner notes, which can be printed and trimmed to fit a CD case. Current parents interested in purchasing a copy can visit the parent portal to place an order. Over the holidays, some parents chose to purchase the CD to share as gifts with family and friends.
To read another Harker News story about the music and movement class: https://staging.news.harker.org/harker-preschoolers-are-on-the-move-in-fun-music-and-movement-specialty-class/.
Festive classroom parties and trick-or-treating around the schoolyards marked Harker Preschool’s third annual Halloween celebration, held in the late afternoon on Oct.29.
“Parents were encouraged to attend and participate,” shared Andrea Hart, director of Harker Preschool, adding that treats (non-food items) were passed out by Harker staff members.
Volunteer parents coordinated classroom parties and costumes were worn by nearly all of the students and teachers. “Everyone had a really good time!” recalled Hart.
Children’s book author Shalini Singh Anand and her beloved “Lee the Bee” mascot regularly do book readings at schools throughout California. A recent visit to Harker Preschool was marked by the added pleasure of wearing two hats: one as a guest speaker, the other as a parent.
Singh Anand is the author of the recently released “Lee the Bee: Turn off that TV!” and a previously published book called “Potter the Otter: A Tale About Water.” Her son, Vishal Anand, a 3-year-old student at Harker Preschool, was excited to have his mom lead a book reading, signing and giveaway in the school’s music and movement room.
“Shalini’s first book is already a favorite with our students. She read to them from her newest book and gave a signed copy of it to every preschooler!” recalled Andrea Hart, director of Harker Preschool.
“Lee the Bee” is described as a book about a little bee who learns that outdoor play is the best way to stay healthy and strong all day long. After finishing her reading at the preschool, Singh Anand handed out “Lee the Bee” stickers and gave signed books to the students and teachers in attendance.
“I create my stories for many reasons: to teach healthy lessons, which I hope last because they are being presented in a fun way; to instill a love of reading; and my own selfish reason is just to watch children listen intently and see their cute expressions as I read to them,” said Singh Anand, noting that she created her first book for First 5 Santa Clara County, an agency she worked for two years ago that funds educational programs for children’s first five years of life.
When she created her latest book last spring, she worked with pediatricians at Kaiser Permanente to ensure the health messaging was accurate. Kaiser later endorsed the book and over 50,000 copies are now in circulation throughout hospitals, schools and children’s agencies, all of which have the same goal: to eliminate childhood obesity. She said she hopes to reach as many children possible, teaching them the importance of physical activity and early literacy, “serious topics all while having fun!”
A former on-air news reporter and print journalist for over 10 years, Singh Anand has worked for local stations including Fox and NBC News, as well as the International Channel in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. She left the field of journalism a few years ago, but said she will always have a place for it in her heart.
Nowadays, she shared, motherhood is her most challenging job. Raising her son and finding the time to write, she added, would be impossible without the help of her parents, who watch her son after preschool while she and her husband are working.
“Vishal is absolutely in love with Harker Preschool. Every morning, in a mixture of skipping and bouncing, he makes his way toward Mr. Joe, who welcomes Vishal with a big smile and high-fives! Vishal continues his skipping and bouncing as he enters Clover Cottage, where he bursts into play with his school friends and his teachers. Both my husband and I are so pleased to know that his first school experience is a positive one,” she enthused, explaining why she felt so compelled to give back to Harker Preschool by coming out to do the reading.
This year, summer campers at Harker Preschool enjoyed three specialty programs: art, music and movement, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Each student had the opportunity to visit the specialty classrooms and join in on fun activities there.
“We were thrilled to highlight our specialty programs during the summer sessions!” reported Kelly Espinosa, director of summer and preschool programs.
In addition to the specialty classes, preschool summer program happenings included a “wheels day,” where the youngsters brought in their own bikes and scooters to ride, and a fun “red, white and blue” party to celebrate the Fourth of July.
Harker Preschool began offering a summer camp program in summer 2014, filling its beautiful 8-acre Union Avenue campus with children after the regular school year ended. Campers enjoy the school’s large sunny cottages, spacious play yards and specialty classrooms.
The preschool’s summer camp is held in two sessions, each designed to engage and excite young children through familiar summer themes. This year the program was staffed by year-round Harker teachers, assistant teachers and aides. Students were grouped by age, with families choosing one or both sessions to match their schedules.
Session one ran for four weeks from June 22-July 17; session two began on July 20 and ended three weeks later on Aug. 7. Full and half-day options were available, with extended care offered in the early morning and late afternoon.
Last year, when it launched its summer program, the preschool joined the larger Harker community’s long-running tradition of making summer offerings open to the public. Harker Preschool’s inaugural summer program featured interactive beach and wilderness motifs.
With just a little bit of water and a whole lot of fun, the students at Harker Preschool celebrated the end of the school year with “Splash Day.” Held on the campus’ large field on the morning of June 4, the event saw parents joining in on the action alongside their children.
The preschoolers came to school dressed in their swimsuits and cover-ups in eager anticipation of the day, which also included an interactive bubble show in the gym. In keeping with Harker’s effort to conserve water, all splashing activities took place on the field where the water would benefit the grass.
The day’s activities featured small pools filled with water and toys for pouring, splashing and squirting; ball pools (with just a little water and a lot of balls); bubble stations (for making big bubbles using a wand and a hula hoop); ice discovery tables; under-the-sea tables; wet sponge block building; wet foam picture crafts; and beach balls and toys strewn around the play yard.
A number of parents helped with setup and cleanup, for which the preschool’s staff was very appreciative. “We think we did a great job providing exciting water activities for the children, while keeping our ‘water conservation hats’ on. The children were all thrilled to be in their bathing suits at school and to run around on the big field. The day was definitely a splashing success!” recalled Kelly Espinosa, director of summer and preschool programs.
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.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
STEM Buddies days at Harker Preschool are always special, with students proudly donning buddy badges and taking turns filing excitedly into the science lab. There they have the unique opportunity to visit and interact with upper school pals, who have come to share their love of all things STEM.
Passing along the joy of science, technology, engineering and mathematics is the goal behind Harker’s innovative STEM Buddies program, which teams the school’s littlest learners with upper school students from the WiSTEM Club for fun, interactive learning through a series of themed workshops. At their first visit more than a year ago, club members presented each preschool student with a special button to wear during their time together.
Anita Chetty, upper school science department chair, and Robyn Stone, Harker Preschool’s STEM specialist, came up with the win-win idea to pair members of Harker’s WiSTEM (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) with the preschool children to meet regularly for hands-on STEM exploration.
Since then, the STEM Buddies workshops, held several times throughout the year for the 4- and 5-year-olds, have been a huge hit. Each activity is focused around a particular topic or strand of STEM. The younger students are excited to have their big buddies come by, while the teens are gaining confidence about sharing and teaching complicated knowledge in ways that are simple to understand.
“This collaborative opportunity is aligned with WiSTEM’s mission to spread the love of STEM,” reported Chetty.
According to Stone, the workshops have proven to be the perfect fit for the preschool’s STEM specialty class, offering a balance between child-directed exploratory learning and WiSTEM-directed activities.
WiSTEM’s stated mission is to foster female students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, to provide role models and mentors in those fields, and to educate the community about gender issues in the sciences. The club, which Chetty advises, sponsors guest lecturers, holds technical workshops for the Harker community led by female scientists, and creates a network of female mentors – including Harker alumnae – working in STEM fields.
On an afternoon in early December, seven members of WiSTEM (juniors Grace Cao, Alyssa Crawford, Shreya Mathur and Chandini Thakur; and seniors Allison Kiang, Daniela Lee and Nitya Mani) traveled to the preschool campus to work with students on a series of STEM activities related to life science and the human body.
“Today we are going to learn all about the human body,” Chetty informed the youngsters, welcoming them to the science lab and explaining that the WiSTEM Club members had planned various stations for their visit.
The first station covered the integumentary system, allowing the preschoolers to use a proscope (digital microscope) to examine things like hair, skin and freckles. The second station was on the skeletal system, where the youngsters met “Mr. Skelly” and participated in a “bone dance.” The third station, on the muscular system, allowed them to use a sensor to squeeze a muscle and determine how much force it exerted, as well as examine the muscles of a chicken wing. For station four, on the cardiovascular system, the children used a stethoscope to hear how their heart sounds before and after jumping, and were also able to view a dissected pig heart. Station five, on the digestive system, provided useful nutrition information as well as coloring pages of the digestive tract. The respiratory system was covered in station six, allowing students to work with a sensor and graph to determine their lung volume. And finally, station seven on the senses was all about optical illusions and refractions.
Wearing a white WiSTEM T-shirt, club member Cao was working in the muscle station, measuring and graphing her younger buddies’ grip strength. She said she found the STEM Buddies event to be very enjoyable and the children to be outgoing and active participants. “I feel that the program is going really well. Teaching and interacting with preschoolers is a fun experience!” she added.
Lending a helping hand was parent volunteer Tiffany Tuell. Her daughter, 4-year-old Lexington, said her favorite station was “the breathing one.” The preschooler especially enjoyed being able to use the lung volume sensor and spending time with “the big kids.”
Coming up in April, the next STEM Buddies event is slated to revolve around chemistry. Other prospective programs might cover such topics as environmental science, space science, explorations in light/dark, human physiology, anatomy and mathematics.
Previously, the WiSTEM Club put on a short musical for the preschool students about composting using worms (to reduce waste on the preschool campus). They also made posters about what worms eat. The children had the opportunity to hold and explore worms together during the session. Other stations included making recycled newspaper pots, planting pumpkin seeds, petting the rabbits in the Farm, and making corn husk dolls. Since that lesson, Stone and her students have been diverting food scraps to the worms, and even have a small worm “condo” in the STEM lab.
“The buddies program is such a clever idea,” said parent Tuell. “It makes STEM learning fun!”
This article originally appeared in the winter 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Students, parents and teachers agree that the area affectionately known as “the farm” at Harker Preschool is a very special place. This spacious, tree-shaded area on the Union campus enables the children to spend quality time in nature.
The preschoolers take pride in maintaining the farm, which is home to two adorable rabbits and boasts a garden filled with vegetables, herbs and fruit. In the farm’s center is a circle of tree stumps, providing the perfect outdoor classroom. During visits to the farm, students engage in such activities as rabbit feeding, gardening, water pumping, leaf raking and sweeping.
The farm is supervised by the preschool’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) specialist, Robyn Stone, who is also a science/math instructor for the University of California, Santa Cruz Extension. Stone explained that the farm is regularly used by all the students, from the 3- and 4-year-olds in the cottage classrooms to the older children in transitional kindergarten (TK).
“Farm work enables the children to see their own impact on the environment,” said Stone, noting that some examples of learning by doing include the children saving vegan lunch scraps to feed to the rabbits and worms, helping them grow.
“Our newest cool thing is a piece of technology: a pump that enables the students to draw water from a well for the garden, helping them understand that water is precious and not to be wasted in a time of drought,” Stone noted.
The children notice change and make observations about size color, texture and quantity as the plants grow from sprout to flower to fruit, explained Stone. “It is my hope that, in seeing, touching, smelling and tasting the results of their work, the students will develop respect and reverence for nature,” she said.
While all the preschool classrooms have frequent opportunities to use the farm with their teachers, Stone added that her STEM lab makes further use of the area for specific hands-on science lessons. For example, chickens were incubated in the STEM lab. Now the children are enjoying watching the chickens change and grow on the farm.
Stone believes that having both chickens and rabbits onsite provides youngsters with opportunities for learning responsibility and empathy through animal care. Indeed, taking care of the farm’s bunnies has already proven to be a huge hit for both the cottage and TK students.
Three-year-old Charlie Kalko said he likes to “put carrots in the bunny cage nice and gently.”
His classmate, 3-year-old Aila El-Charif, added that during a recent visit to the farm she “ate tomatoes and snap peas and pet the bunny and rode a (pretend) pony.”
Meanwhile, 5-year-old Avi Gupta said he enjoys outings to the farm because “I like the rabbits.”
“Whether as part of an outing during STEM time or during a routine visit with their classroom teachers, all of the preschoolers look forward to spending time on the farm,” said Andrea Hart, director of Harker Preschool.
In addition to the STEM lab, other specialty classes include art studio, music and movement, and library. All of the classes are rich with activity centers and educational materials, offering a balance between child-directed exploratory learning and teacher-directed activities.