Hello Berlin

Join us in exploration of art and language. Students will engage in a variety of art projects together in the classroom and in collaboration with a German art studio. Over the Internet we will exchange real and virtual art projects with children in an art studio in Berlin called “das kleine Atelier” (you can find it on Facebook). Students will also learn the vocabulary for food items, days of the week, counting, songs and simple phrases in German.

In the spacious North Classroom, students enjoy art activities, circle time and free choice options. Outdoors, we ride tricycles, build forts and create sandcastles. On hot days we turn on the hose for water slides, rivers and volcanoes. Twice a week we venture to Palega Park to picnic and play games. Campers bring lunches, bathing suits, and a change of clothing. The camp will be run by experienced year round San Francisco School staff:

Harald Fröhlich, currently head teacher in our South Class room and Summer Program Director. Harald is fluent in English and German.

Tiphani Russell, currently our Kindergarten art teacher and teacher in the North Class room as well as the Extended Day program.

Shannon's such a Summer

SHANNON SCHNEBLE returns with her unique crafts and cooking to fire-up the imaginations of kids young and old. Shannon's many creative project options are customized for participants. Past favorites include: Pop-Up Puppets, Tie-Dyed T-Shirts, Stained Glass Dazzlers, Animal Banks, Pinatas, Sculpey Vases, Stuffies; Teddy Bear Bread, Balloon Buns, Twisted Pizza, Fabulous Art Tarts, Baby Bagels, Rainbow Cookies and Spaghetti Pie.

The SUCH-A-SUMMER team of experienced teachers and enthusiastic Junior Counselors assure ample opportunities for other kinds of fun indoor and outdoor exploration and interaction, as well. Outings will be planned as appropriate for the group.

Shannon Schneble, currently South Class teacher and Extended Day teacher

Tiphani Russell, currently our Kindergarten art teacher and teacher in the North Class room as well as the Extended Day program.

Kitchen Wizardry

Kitchen Wizardry is where fun and learning meet. We plan menus and write out recipes; visit the farmer’s market and local specialty food shops; learn to use a variety of tools and techniques, and most appropriately, we eat! Each morning we will focus on a savory dish, including some favorites from the school menu, which we will eat together for lunch. In the afternoon we will prepare a dessert from scratch, such as apple pie, homemade ice-cream, or cake with fondant icing, or create edible art such as “stained glass” cookies. We will also leave time for food-related read alouds, and picnics at Palega Park.

Vivian Walz is SFS’s current Fifth-grade Teaching Intern and Director of Extended Day, long-time summer camp teacher, and former SFS Summer Director. Her fifteen-year old son, Brendan, and SFS alum, will make a guest appearance to teach cake decorating.

A $5 charge for everyday lunch is included in this camp fee!

Scrap Art: Mixed Age Camp

Get your kids on board the green/do-it-yourself bandwagon this summer with Scrap Art: Make and Play. Join longtime SFS summer camp and Extended Day teacher Vivian Walz, to recycle and repurpose odds and ends from SCRAP (Scrounger’s Center for Reusable Art Parts), Building Resources, local thrift stores, garage sales, and the recycling bin as we create games, toys, gifts, outdoor play spaces, puppet theaters, and whatever else sparks our fancy. This is an opportunity for kids to work with their hands and stretch their imaginations. Depending on what is available, we may reuse game pieces to make our own board games, build a fort in the South Class garden, design and furnish dollhouses, or create a city on the floor. Campers will experience the fun of turning trash into treasure.

Vivian Walz is SFS’s current Fifth-grade Teaching Intern and Director of Extended Day, long-time summer camp teacher, and former SFS Summer Director and former Co-director of Workshops at SCRAP. She delights in re-purposing objects and helping kids see the beauty and possibility in everyday materials.

River Camp: RIver to the center of the earth

River Camp gets earthy this year! Partially inspired by Jules Vernes’ Journey to the Center of the Earth, young architects and storytellers will work individually and together to create a fantastic underground river landscape. Each child will invent a "land" along the descending water which may be inhabited by animal communities, exotic gardens, lost tribes of humanity, fairy houses, mythological figures or mysterious machines. Real cascading water will flow down through a series of grotto's culminating in a vast underground sea! Along the way campers will learn about architecture, design and a smidgen of biology and geology. The finished 35-foot river landscape will be the centerpiece for a Grand Tour for parents and friends!

NOTE: This camp presumes an interest in developing craft-skill and demands periods of collaboration, creative focus and self-direction. Not a camp for kid’s disinterested in the undertaking!

Gregory Gavin, a visual artist, designs public art and educational projects for schools, museums and public places. He's been commissioned by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the de Young Museum and has piloted summer camps for the Bay Area Discovery Museum and MOCA.

Dolores Elkin has over 27 years of experience teaching (20 of them being at The SF School). She has a CA teaching credential for art, along with a CA credential for teaching grades pre-K-12.

Fearless Writing - Middel School Writers Camp

Discover, explore, express, and apply your writer’s voice among other emerging writers during any or all of the two one-week camp sessions. Each day, you will explore a genre of writing prompted by visual arts, neighborhood fieldtrips, culinary delights, music, film, and crafts. You will sharpen your understanding and practice of the writing process during workshops with your peers.

Taught by Michelle Yi-Martin, current SFS 8th grade Humanities Teacher