This week (in photos) at Harley:

Thespians Unite!

The Upper School’s 20th annual 24-hour theater marathon finishes with a bow. It’s a whirlwind of creativity, editing, directing, making props, determining lighting, and learning lines. Congrats to our fearless thea-tah enthusiasts. Kudos also to all the faculty, parents, alums, etc. who make it all possible. 

Our Commons Series kicked off the year with guest speaker, Dr. Genevieve Guenther, presented “The Power of Words: Creating Sustainable Change.”

Dr. Guenther, is the founder and Director of EndClimateSilence.org; lecturer at The New School; affiliate faculty at Tishman Environment and Design Center.

Nursery & the Art of Calming

Have you ever had the opportunity to build a calming bottle? How about use one? Our three-year-old friends in Nursery Red helped build a calming bottle with Ms. B when Ms. Reader popped in to visit this week. They quietly added globs of blue glitter-glue, pinches of green glitter, and warm water. Now all it needs is small hands and some deep breaths.

Into the Drink!

It’s all for a good cause! Our Key Club, along with Student Council, and Brighton Kiwanis held a food truck rodeo with lots of family-friendly activities, including the (pictured below) dunk tank. Upper School faculty member Dave O’Brien is heading down after a direct hit by a student from kindergarten. Proceeds benefit Hurricane Dorian relief.

Why, Yes, this IS Math Class!

From 5/6 math instructor Lee Allen:

53 Tennis balls are marked with the numbers 1-26 (26 black numbers, 26 red numbers). There is also a ball with an X on it. The kids do not know whether red or black indicate positive or negative numbers, so they are not influenced by the colors of the numbers on the balls. In addition, the X ball is worth either positive 25 or negative 25 points. The identity of the colors is revealed later. Eventually, the object of the game is to get more positive numbers than negative. The balls are then thrown in the pool and one team lines up on one side of the pool, and the other team lines up on the other side. The object is to get the balls into the respective gutter but they can’t use their hands to do so. It is challenging and a fun physical activity. After the balls have been collected, the kids have a bit of a free swim and then we return to the classroom to count up the black and red totals. If, for example team #1 has a total on their balls of 46 black (black being positive) and 80 red (red is negative), then the total for that team is negative 34! If team #2 has negative 22, that team wins! The object is to support the lesson on addition of integers—and the children really enjoy the activity!

Sandy Foster’s Industrialization in America class is starting the unit on the agricultural revolution by learning about doing farmwork by hand vs using mechanized equipment. Each class harvested a row of potatoes and they will be prepping and using them for a cooking project later this week. They also planted these potatoes last year in their Grade 9 history classes in preparation for harvesting them this fall. 

Physics in da Halls

Vector analysis in action. In essence, calculating the distance (as the crow flies) between Beckerman and Parson’s art room by measuring the distances down the hallways and adding them vectorially. This involves both geometry and trigonometry.

Fall Sports are in full swing!

Varsity Women’s Soccer muscles down the field. Make a note, their game against SOTA will kick off our fab Homecoming weekend on Oct. 4. Mark your calendars!