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January 11, 2008
Printable version
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Save the Date: Art for Kids' Sake 2008
Upcoming events 1-11-2008
ALL SCHOOL EVENTS:
• January 16–Board of Trustees, 5:45-8:00 PM
• January 21–Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, School Closed (no childcare)
• January 28–Staff in-service -No Classes, childcare by reservation
• January 31–Dialogue Circle - Childcare by reservation - 6:00-8:00 PM
Click here for a downloadable calendar of events for January 2008.
Click here for a downloadable 2007-2008 School Year Calendar
Announcements 1-11-2008
Ordering School Pictures
DEADLINE FOR ORDERING SCHOOL PHOTOS IS JANUARY 25, 2008
If you are interested in ordering school photos, please make sure to order them before the deadline of JANUARY 25.
http://photographicproof.com/projects/presidio-hill-school
Click on the gallery you want to view and then click on the icon of the lock. Enter the password (it is the same as the password for the community part of the website - email Tania at tania_hurter@presidiohill.org if you are unsure of the password).
Average order time for prints and specialty items takes approximately 4 to 6 business days. Specialty items include, Calendars, Photo Mouse Pad, Photo Puzzle, Key Tag, Refrigerator Magnet, Apron, Tote-bag, Coasters, Luggage tag, Photo Button. Please contact Michael Angelo directly if you have any questions about ordering: http://photographicproof.com/contact
From the Director 1-11-2008
Funny, You Don’t Look That Old!
Brian Thomas, Director
While going through the historical archives at PHS, which is very limited due to a fire that happened at the school in the early 1970s, a researcher* (not connected with but a new friend of the school) came across an article on the PHS Fortieth Anniversary.
From time to time, I enjoy sharing the school’s history with you. The following is an article written by Art Hoppe, the legendary San Francisco Chronicle writer and alumnus of PHS:
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, April 20, 1958
Presidio Hill School --- Where Curiosity Bolsters the 3 Rs
By Arthur Hoppe
Most institutions of education, by the time they get to be 40 years old, develop an aura of dignified maturity, an impression of ivy-clad immutability.
The first impression given by the Presidio Hill Elementary School is one of cheerful impermanence–as though everyone concerned with the undertaking might strike camp at any minute.
It’s been this way for the past 40 years; it will probably be this way 40 years hence; and the surprising thing to many people is that it’s still in business at all.
The two-story board-and-batten school building at 3839 Washington Street could use a coat of paint. A plank is missing from one of the basketball backboards in the schoolyard. And visitors to the director’s office are often seated on child-size chairs borrowed from the first grade room.
FUN IN LEARNING
This is just as it should be for an institution that has long been dedicated to the ideal that education should be “child-centered,” that learning can and should be fun–for the pupil, the teacher and even the parent.
In this sort of world, poster paint is a better expenditure than exterior enamel and balsa a finer wood than oak.
The underlying philosophy of the school is that concepts are as important as facts; creativity is the equal of scholarship; intellectual curiosity more profitable than the accumulation of data; and that one of the most important things a human being can learn is how to get along with his fellow human beings.
FOUNDING IDEA
These goals were what Mrs. Lawrence Arnstein and Mrs. Ansley K. Salz had in mind when they founded the school back in 1918 in order to “give our own children a little more opportunity than was available in the public schools at the time.”
“Our idea,” says Mrs. Arnstein, who stayed on to teach during the school’s early years, “was that children should learn from experience as well as books; that they should be drilled in the three R’s, but only as necessary tools, not as ends in themselves. Our aim was to keep alive the child’s natural curiosity.”
A good many of those then-radical ideas have since been put in practice by the public schools–over the dead bodies of a goodly number of conservative educators. Today, in the post-Sputnik era, they are once again up for a highly emotional examination. It seems worthwhile, then, to see how they work in practice.
‘CORE CURRICULUM’
“See?” said 5-year-old Nora, pulling out a rack of nursery bottles, each filled with a different color water. “We mix the blue and the red and get the purple and mix the blue and the yellow and get the green.”
“And it always comes out the same way!” she added with the awe of one who first comes up against the inviolability of scientific law.
The present technique applied at the school is the “core curriculum” principle.
“Basically,” explains Mrs. Rheua Pearce, the school’s educational director, “this means that each field of study is related to all the others as much as possible through a unifying theme.”
The current unifying theme is the study of California’s culture, beginning with Indians in the second grade and winding up with tours of the bay in the sixth grade. The teachers bring in studies of other culture as the student progresses to relate the child’s environment to the world around him.
NEW WORDS
While this doesn’t eliminate drills in the three Rs, the attempt is made to show the child their worth. Take the inherently dull scholastic task of memorizing spelling lists.
“We don’t do it that way,” says second grade teacher Katherine Fromer.
“The children are given new words when they need them as tools in what they are doing. For example, if they are writing a story about Indians they may find they need the word ‘bow.’
“We write it down on a card and file it in our ‘word box,’ which is really a dictionary in card file form, easy for the children to use.”
Like many institutions with idealistic aims, the Presidio Hill Elementary School has had trouble keeping its financial head above water for most of its 40 years.
It is currently set up as a non-profit institution owned by the teachers, all of them impressively dedicated, and the parents, most of them professional people including a number of university-level educators. The phrase “non-profit” brings a wry grin to anyone concerned with the school.
As co-owners, the parents find themselves not only in work projects around the building (“Someone will simply have to paint the sandbox.”), but through participation in the festivals that the school holds regularly (“Who’s going to sew the costumes?”)
These festivals–such as the Indian “potlatch” held last January–serve not only as projects in cultural studies for the school’s 50 or so children, but also as a device to raise money for the school’s invariably anemic treasury.
PARENTS’ ROLE
The inclusion of the parents in the school’s affairs, in turn, also serves a purpose other than financial.
“We feel that the school should be a learning experience for the parent, too,” says Mrs. Pearce. “It certainly is for the teachers. In a way, we all learn together.”
Already tacked up on the school’s bulletin board is a detailed chart which will eventually delineate which parent or teacher or child will do exactly what in preparation for the school’s biggest festival yet–the 40th anniversary on May 25.
This chart perhaps illustrates best the basic social principle behind the school–co-operation.
Competition, especially among the students, is avoided whenever possible. Each child progresses at his own pace academically in the small class under individual instruction, and the emphasis is on group projects. No grades are given. Instead the parent is advised of his child’s progress
*The researcher’s work centers around women in Progressive Education, specifically the life of Josephine Duveneck, a former PHS Director from the late Thirties to early Forties, who was also a Quaker. Duveneck’s family also owned Hidden Villa, the sustainable 1600-acre farm and ranch that is still in operations today as a non-profit, educational study center today.
More About Hidden Villa (from their website)
Every year Hidden Villa serves approximately 50,000 visitors from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Core offerings are Hidden Villa Environmental Education Program, which teaches key concepts of ecology and environmental stewardship through farm and wilderness experiences for 20,000 elementary school children; and Summer Camp which builds relationships among over 900 youth of diverse backgrounds, using the natural environment of Hidden Villa as a teaching platform.
Core programs reach into the community through collaborations with local schools and social service agencies. Hidden Villa’s resident intern program provides training for young men and women interested in environmental education, social justice, organic farming, or animal husbandry. Neighborhood shareholders in Community Supported Agriculture partake of Hidden Villa’s organic harvest; domestic and international travelers stay at the Hostel; local businesses or nonprofits rent facility space for meetings and retreats; and thousands of informal visitors explore Hidden Villa’s hiking trails or attend Community Programs.
As a nonprofit, Hidden Villa is supported by the generosity of our donors and dedicated volunteers.
History
Purchased in 1924 by Frank and Josephine Duveneck, Hidden Villa was more than just a family home. It was also a gathering place that supported and encouraged progressive community, environmental, and political activism.
Since 1945, Hidden Villa has sponsored multicultural Summer Camps designed to expose young people to the natural world and to others whose ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds are unlike their own. On Earth Day 1970, the Duvenecks founded the Environmental Education Program, one of the first environmental education school programs in the Bay Area.
The Duvenecks were also instrumental in founding the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club and Friends Outside, a support group for families of prisoners. They sheltered Japanese-Americans returning from internment camps and provided safe harbor for Cesar Chavez as he organized farm workers in the fifties and sixties.
Hidden Villa became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1960 and was gifted to the people of the region by the Duveneck family upon Frank’s death in 1985.
Programs and Activities Include:
- Environmental education
- Multicultural summer camp
- Hostel
- Working organic farm
- Community Supported Agriculture
Workshops, classes and performances for children, adults and families
Art for Kids Sake: What is it?
What is it? FundRaiser? FriendRaiser? FunRaiser?
Art for Kids Sake Auction is our 4th Annual Fundraiser for PHS showcasing Artworks by local & internationally known artists and featuring our PHS Student’s artwork. We debuted in 2005 to create an event that demonstrated our commitment to the arts, showcased our unique school, and brought together our community. Last year’s event was a rip roaring success and a heck of a lot of fun too! This year we’re steppin’ out to the ArtRageous 1920’s.
What Do I need to Do?
Donate/Solicit: Each family is asked to donate or solicit at least 2 items for the Auction (with $100 minimum total value)
Volunteer: Your help is greatly appreciated & needed. Find your niche and what you enjoy doing. Volunteering is a great way to meet & work with old and new friends. Sign Up sheets are in the lobby.
Spread the Word: Tell your friends and neighbors about our must see Art Event. What Items should I Get?
AFKS is all about Art but its also more than just ART.
Here are some ideas:
• Art: Photographs, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, sculpture, etc.
• Art Experiences: Like a Private walk thru MOMA, Private tour with Artist, Chef, Performer, Private Concert, etc.
• Gift Certificates for dinner, lunches & brunches
• Hotels, Bed & Breakfast Inns, Vacation homes, Getaways
• Limousine, airplane, train, and hot air balloon rides
• Tours and trips: Skiing, whale watching, sailing, oceanic expeditions, etc.
• Gift Certificates for Clothing stores, flowers, toy stores, housewares, etc.
• Wine, Gourmet Baskets, Chocolates, Truffles
• Group Dinners, Activities. Try putting things together in your neighborhood like a lunch and movie on Sacramento Street, Museum Tour at MOMA ending with Spa at Bliss, Dinner and Shopping on Union Street
Who should I ask? (Donor forms, Solicitation letters available at PHS lobby)
Start with your favorite local businesses. When you’re out dining, shopping, taking class, ask merchants if they can donate. When you’re visiting your hair stylist, dentist, Auto Garage, etc. ask if they would like to run an ad in the Auction Catalogue.
How do I ask?
Introduce yourself as a Parent at PHS. Keep it short and sweet. Ask if they can support the Auction by donating (Certificate, Services, etc.). Explain that Donors get premium placements in our Auction Catalogue and are bid on by over 200 Attendees. Add that their support will help us reach our goal of increasing our Financial Assistance Program by 30%. Donations are Tax Deductible.
Where do I take Completed Donor forms and Donated Auction items?
Please bring them to the Auction Drop off box at the Art for Kids Sake Auction Table in PHS lobby. For larger and fragile items, please leave them with Martin or Namrata. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact Grace Angel 415 994 8009(cell) email: grace.e.angel@comcast.net or Namrata at PHS ext 106.
Curriculum Spotlight: Art 1-11-2008
Friday Letter from the Art Room
Rebecca Magill (7-8)
Welcome back! I hope your time away from school allowed you to rejuvenate and prepare for the remainder of the year.
As the first part of the year came to a close the 7th graders were finishing their still life work.
They have now started work on Oaxaca style wood sculptural creatures that connects w
ith their Latin American studies. So far the creature structures are impressive and I look forward to seeing the end results, fully painted and decorated!
The 8th graders are busily finishing their family portraits that they have worked hard to complete.
From Adra Valentine (K-6)
It is so exciting to be back in the hubbub of the art room. We are gearing up for Art for Kids’ Sake, which is always so much fun! The class art projects will really be something special, and I can hardly wait to see the class books.
One of the things that I find so special about Presidio Hill is the deep understanding of the role of the arts in education. The fact that our major school fundraiser is based on art is a reflection of both the historic role of art at our little school as well as our current culture. Why is art so important here?
I think part of the answer lies in the expertise of our teachers, who see the importance of students building their own knowledge. I would argue that activating creativity unlocks our potential to truly understand a subject, and is key for true learning. At PHS teachers strive to create flexible learners, and are keenly aware that concepts may be learned and expressed in a variety of ways. While in graduate classes at Teacher’s College (Columbia University) last summer I spent time delving back into the philosophical and practical roots of education. While educational philosophies have swung back and forth like a pendulum, it is clear that Presidio Hill has remained true to many of the enduring concepts in education such as a commitment to the arts.
But enough talk! Here are some pictures from recent work in the art room- See you at Art For Kids’ Sake!
Curriculum Spotlight: 1st grade 1-11-2008
Friday Letter
First Grade
January 11, 2008
In first grade we have been studying symmetry. Symmetry itself seems like a pretty sophisticated word, and yet the kids grasp the concept so easily. This shouldn’t be too surprising since symmetry is everywhere, and the kids had a great time brainstorming a list of symmetrical images (faces, butterflies, squirrels, etc.).
In these photos the children are working with a partner (always a good challenge in and of itself) to use Tangram puzzle pieces to create symmetrical images.