Category Archives: After School Academy

McQuadle: Hamlin’s Very First Zoom Play

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Students in our After School Academy Theater Production class (Grades 3 and 4) never wavered in their commitment to make a first historic Zoom play happen. Creating McQuadle took an enormous amount of hard work, persistence, and flexibility from everyone who was involved, including parents. Many hours of filming both inside and outside of Tuesday classes made this play possible during a very challenging time. It took about 30 minutes per page to film (24 pages total). Every scene was filmed at least 2 times after being rehearsed, and then the best video was used.

More about McQuadle:

You’ll find tons of silliness packed into this charming comedy that has a little something for everyone and even a nice moral.  McQuadle is a dragon who wants to know his purpose in life, and he will go to almost any length to find it out — even if it means visiting an Evil Queen who lives in a castle on top of the hill.  When he arrives, McQuadle learns that the Queen has lured him there for her own secret purposes, and she doesn’t intend on letting him get back home at all.  But McQuadle promised his mother he’d be home for dinner!  Two storytellers with crazy personalities of their own lead the audience through this fun adventure.

-Special thanks to Meher (’20), Alayna (’21), Kate (’16), Mr. Louie, and of course Ms. Abbott, who all helped make this production possible.

ASA Drama Presents Global Folk Tales

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Hamlin students in our dynamic After School Academy (ASA) performed the eclectic and upbeat Folk Tales for Fun in front of two audiences this week.

Let the Navigator from Folk Tales for Fun take you on a magnificent tour of Germany, Egypt, Turkey, Liberia and more with entertaining, universal folk tales both new and familiar to children.  With the help of Decipher, the play’s foreign language translator, and I Don’t Know, a character who surprisingly knows it all, you can bridge the gap between cultures by experiencing these six stories from other countries.

Hamlin Performs “Life is Like a Double Cheeseburger”

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Students (Grades 4 and 5) in Hamlin’s After School Academy (ASA) recently performed the humor-filled play, Life is Like a Double Cheeseburger.

“Life is like a double cheeseburger,” a father explains to his son at the start of this compilation of 6 individual scenes. All loosely centered around this delicious metaphor meant to represent the many layers of human existence, this play is both comedic and contemplative.  Played before an assortment of restaurant backdrops, we meet families, couples, friends, and waitstaff facing major life changes, following — or failing to follow — their dreams, and gulping down helpings of humor and humility along with their life lessons. And for every “order up,” there’s more proof that life, it turns out, really is like a double cheeseburger: full of endless possibilities, often messy and complicated, but always worth savoring.  

Our students had a wonderful experience putting on the play, with thoughtful guidance by our in-house theater guru, Heidi Abbott.

To learn more about our excellent after school program, please visit: https://www.hamlin.org/program/extended-day

Hamlin Girls Are Surfing

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This year Hamlin students are surfing as part of our After School Academy (ASA). ASA offers many exciting enrichment classes that emphasize the arts and movement. Class sizes are limited to ensure one-on-one attention, and that students collaborate and develop friendships with girls in other grades. We use a trimester system that gives students several opportunities to try out something new throughout the year.

On Fridays, girls surf with the organization RobinHood Adventures at Muir Beach in Marin County. The core curriculum is surfing technique and water safety, in addition our students are introduced to the practices of Noble Speech, Accountability, Perseverance, and Leadership. RobinHood Adventures provides “an open space for our youth to unwind from the school day and connect with nature through the magic of surfing.” Friday is a (All Girls) group led by Leona Seney. Girls of all ages and skill range get a chance to have a session of their own.

To learn more, please visit: https://robinhoodadventures.org/