Dear Harbor Families,

This afternoon, we are hosting the second session of our five-part series, called Navigating Big Topics and Intentional Parenting in 2022. It’s an honor to be collaborating with two experts in the field of parenting and education, Jen Cort and Jackie Beach, to offer this series to families in our Harbor community and beyond. Led by Jen Cort, today’s session will explore the relationship between curiosity, empathy, and identity in child development. We’ll explore the ways in which young children are making sense of the world around them while developing concepts of their own identity and simultaneously practicing empathy for others. The topic hits right at the heart of our mission at Harbor - to recognize the uniqueness of each young child and teach them to celebrate this in themselves and each other. By aligning our intentional parenting at home with this mission, we can best support our children as they develop concepts of identity and empathy through these critical developmental years.

We are honored to have Jen joining us today - and throughout the school year - as a consultant at Harbor.  An educator and consultant for schools in thinking about diversity, equity, and inclusion, Jen recently published a book entitled Help Us Begin: HUB strategies and mindsets for meaningful conversations with Kids, especially when you are challenged by the topic. Since last spring, Jen has been working with our faculty, Board, and families to further our DEI Goals and better realize our DEI Philosophy through a number of strategies. We look forward to seeing many of you for this afternoon’s session in the Social Hall this afternoon at 2 PM! If you are not able to join us in-person, feel free to Zoom in to the event at this link (password: Harbor).

And speaking of curiosity, drum roll please… 

Next week, we look forward to seeing you as we showcase our students’ inquiries into The Animal Kingdom at our Spiral Celebrations! Please plan on joining us after school on the date(s) below to be guided through a school-wide celebration of learning about our topic. As you know, Spiral has been a tradition at Harbor for over 30 years and uniquely represents our student-centered, inquiry-based, interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning.

As an extension of our year-long curriculum of inquiry-based units, Spiral provides students in all grades the experience of learning about one topic as a school community. Following the children’s diverse interests, the students have been learning about underwater animals, mythical creatures, animals around the world, animals in fables, biomes, and baby animals, just to name a few!

After picking up your child on the day of their Spiral Celebration, please drive around to the front parking lot to park, and join us at the second entrance at 3:30, to give the teachers a moment for final preparations. (Students who are enrolled in enrichment that day will miss that day’s class - which was built into the pricing of our enrichment program.) You are encouraged to bring the whole family! Please plan to stay for about an hour to spend time taking in the displays of learning in both your child’s classroom and in the other classes in the building. 

And finally, tomorrow, your child will be bringing home a Spiral tee-shirt - please set it aside to be worn next week on their Spiral Celebration day! We look forward to a wonderful celebration of curiosity and learning, Harbor-style!

Warmly,

Leah Musico
Head of School