Last week Grade 3 participated in habitat restoration at Ocean Beach. Girls worked diligently to clean up the beach, rejuvenating the natural beauty of our Pacific Coast. After the service trip students did reflective writing about their experience.
One girl wrote:
“It felt really good because we were having fun and we were helping the environment.”
As part of a Spanish Unit on el Día de los Muertos, all of Grade 5 traveled to the Mission District to tour the Mission Cultural Center and explore the murals of Balmy Alley. Docent Jesús Tecolotecpatl spoke with students about: indigenous beliefs around the concept of time, the environment, life/death, social justice, and immigration.
The Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts was established in 1977 by artists and community activists with a shared vision to promote, preserve and develop the cultural arts that reflect the living tradition and experiences of the Chicano, Central and South American, and Caribbean people, and to make arts accessible as an essential element to community development and well-being.
For more information, please visit: https://missionculturalcenter.org/
On Tuesday, Grade 7 girls left campus to explore the California Academy of Sciences and volunteer with the nonprofits Glide and City Hope. At the end of the day each group participated in reflective work, which allowed students to process their profound experiences.
The day was designed to help our students inquire as they prepare for their Rise to the Challenge (RTC) capstone project work (taking place in May). For RTC, girls will strive to identify challenges they feel passionate about, then develop action plans to address those challenges, using their knowledge, resources, and collaborative talents. Students will have the opportunity to choose their own topics, do in-depth research, then share their findings, providing short and long-term solutions to various local and global problems.
These excursions allowed our girls to investigate issues facing our environment and learn more about the intricacies of urban poverty.
-Special thanks to Hamlin parent, Bart Shepherd (Senior Director of the California Academy of Sciences) for speaking with our students about the inner workings of the Academy.
On Thursday, girls in grades 5-8 ventured out to various parts of San Francisco. The day provided an opportunity for our students to bond with each other in eclectic off campus locales. Girls were able to challenge themselves physically, and volunteer, while connecting with each other through shared experiences.
Students went to the following places:
Circus Center offers classes for every level of ability in flying trapeze, acrobatics, aerial arts, contortion, juggling and many other disciplines.
Grade 6: Pier 39
Opened in 1978, Pier 39 is favorite location to visit in San Francisco, boasting excellent views of Alcatraz, Golden Gate and Bay Bridges.
Stow Lake is a human-made lake in Golden Gate Park with a rich history that dates back to 1893. The lake has provided San Franciscans with an outdoor escape for more than a century, as they come to enjoy the scenery. Students pulled out invasive plants around the lake.
The Fort Miley Ropes Course offers a fun, safety conscious and positive environment for individuals and groups to work together to develop confidence, trust, cooperation and leadership skills through actions.
On April 9, kindergarteners had the opportunity to explore the California Academy of Sciences. The “Flying Puppies” kindergarten class is focusing their emergent study on bones. Unlike the identity and family units, which are largely pre-planned, emergent units are selected based on student questions, observations, and curiosity. The Academy provided ample opportunities for acquiring knowledge related to bones.
Highlights included:
-Studying fossils
-Sketching bones
-Working on puzzles
-Assembling skeletons
-Watching puppet theater
-Studying the evolution of animals
-Studying animal skulls
To learn more, please visit: https://www.calacademy.org/
Earlier this week Grade 2 visited Chinatown. (This is a guest blog from Mattea, a student who went on the field trip).
Today was really, really fun! We got to go on a field trip to Chinatown. When we got there, we played on a playground until our tour guide, Ms. Lee, came. When she arrived, Ms. Lee gave us a little bit of history on how and why some Chinese people moved to California. She also told us about Chinese medicine and walked us through an herbal pharmacy. I liked all the interesting things that I saw. I never knew that something from a deer leg can help with joint pain!
Next, we saw a building that used to be a telephone company. We found out that Ms. Ching’s mom used to work there! She needed to speak many different dialects of Chinese to help people call or speak to others. She also needed to memorize over 2,000 phone numbers and addresses.
We then walked to the fortune cookie factory. I never knew that fortune cookies could be bought as flat cookies! We actually saw how the workers fold the cookies. I also learned that you only get fortune cookies at Chinese restaurants in America. It’s not really a Chinese tradition and was started by a Japanese man in America.
After, we went through the Stockton Street food markets. We saw a lot of interesting things people buy to eat including an armadillo! I would sort of want to try tasting an armadillo, but Ms. Lee explained that it could carry a disease called leprosy. That changed my mind!
Last, we explored a Chinese temple. The inside was really cool! I loved the decorations. Ms. Lee explained the meaning of the different things on the shrine. People pray to a doll that represents the goddess of the sea. Also, there were fruits that had different meanings. Outside, we found an address that was 20-A, so we took a 2OA class photo in front of it. We ended our day with having lunch at a Chinese restaurant.
On Thursday, girls in grades 5-8 ventured out to various parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. The day provided an opportunity for our students to bond with each other in eclectic off campus locales. Girls were able to challenge themselves physically, and volunteer, while connecting with each other through shared experiences.
Students went to the following places:
Circus Center offers classes for every level of ability in flying trapeze, acrobatics, aerial arts, contortion, juggling and many other disciplines.
Grade 6: Pier 39
Opened in 1978, Pier 39 is favorite location to visit in San Francisco, boasting excellent views of Alcatraz, Golden Gate and Bay Bridges.
Farm2Market is a small, diversified working farm that produces thousands of pounds of sustainably grown produce each year. They are a social enterprise of Alameda Point Collaborative (a supportive housing community), using a passion for food and the environment to support APC residents as they move toward economic self-sufficiency and greater health and wellness.
The Fort Miley Ropes Course offers a fun, safety conscious and positive environment for individuals and groups to work together to develop confidence, trust, cooperation and leadership skills through actions.