Thinking About Improving Sustainability
Sustainable Systems Thinking is a project-oriented class centered on addressing sustainability-related issues at Harley. This trimester, students identified that Harley’s rooftop garden is underutilized (and has a water management issue).
In order to improve the situation, we built a gutter system and installed a rainwater collection barrel. Our next step is to design a layout for the garden that can take advantage of the water collection.
Pictured: Rain barrel installation on our rooftop garden.
Important Skills, Meet Technology Class
If you want to communicate and use technology, then you need to have mastery of…typing! Grade 3 spends time learning this necessary skill rather than just bumbling through on their own. After all, keyboarding is, perhaps, one of the most essential of all 21st-century skills. As typing becomes the primary method by which students engage with digital curricula, record lecture notes, complete homework assignments, and even take standardized tests, the importance of learning to do this well is essential..
Pictured: From Jeanne Weber, our K-Grade 6 technology teacher:
Grade 3 typing/keyboarding, using the QWERTY Touchtyping method, and a program called Typing Jungle ( https://www.typingclub.com/sportal/program-3.game). Students are learning how to use all 10 digits and not look at the keyboard.
Starting the Week Right, Middle-School Style
On Mondays the entire Middle School joins together for their community gathering.
During this time, the following takes place:
1) Affirmation: A positive statement we all say out loud together.
2) Greeting: Used to make everyone feel welcome and to acknowledge their presence.
3) Sharing: A quick way to connect with peers and build relationships.
4) General Announcements: A way to highlight various things happening in our community.
5) Activity: A way of getting students to physically or mentally engage in something fun.
6) Intention: A positive statement we all quietly reflect on to help us have a great week.
Pictured: At the close of the meeting two students came forward to remind people of this week’s intention and to play the mellodic singing bowl as everyone stopped for a moment before beginning the day.
Key Club: These Do-gooders Strike Again
The Harley School Key Club is supporting two winter holiday giving opportunities this year.
The first is our yearly Tag Tree benefitting Happy Birthday Cha Cha Cha, where you choose a gift to give to a child in need for their birthday this year. This tree will go up after Thanksgiving.
The second is gathering items for the Urban Choice Charter School Holiday Store. This has already begun and you can bring new or very gently unused items for children at UCCS to ‘buy’ for their families gifts. Collection boxes are all around the school.
Goin’ to the Dogs!
Nursery Yellow has been following their interest in dogs lately! The class was inspired by a recent Lower School author’s visit with Peter Catalanotto—and his storybook book character, Ivan, a terrier who interrupts classic stories. They were also given a beautiful handmade dog from Yifan, a literacy student who spent some time in their classroom. (A great example of what our teachers can do because they are not tied to a specific curriculum and are able to follow student interests!)
The students were journeying around the Harley campus visiting with faculty members’ dogs as one part of their “dog explorations.”
Pictured: Making dog ears along with Scarlett, a 10 year old wheaten terrier mix owned by Mrs. Vallone, an Upper School SSP teacher.
Smile for Posterity
Multimedia Journalism’s Upper School students are roaming the halls, courtyards…and pretty much everywhere capturing imagery and video for The Comet.
This student production class, which is responsible for the physical yearbook and online content about life at Harley, is led by the student editor with faculty support for curriculum, content, and technology education. Students learn interviewing skills, production schedules, collaborative working, and Adobe Premiere, Photoshop, Lightroom and InDesign. In addition the class meets monthly with students from RIT’s Digital Humanities and Social Sciences regarding web-based production and distribution of the The Comet, our online companion to the physical yearbook.
Pictured: The Grade 9 class and the immediate burst of energy directly following standing still for their official photo.
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