SUMMER PROGRAM

Harald Fröhlich Summer Program Director hfrohlich@sfschool.org

For Summer 2012 our camps offer adventure for every student, from preschool through middle school. This year classes take place in our North and South Class rooms as well as our kitchen, with plenty of time for playing in the spacious North Class yard. Campers have access to our sand areas, play structures, trees, and gardens. Young engineers, architects and builders will have an inside view to the construction of our new Community Center (theater, gymnasium and classrooms)! Campers can also count on taking trips to fascinating and off-beat locations throughout San Francisco.

You can count on our summer programs being interesting and engaging, because we are passionate about our subjects. Build a river; explore art and cultures from around the world; and dice, rice and mince local fare as you concoct creative, tasty and wholesome meals, all while laughing and learning!

It is an exciting time at The San Francisco School as we add a new gym, theater and classroom spaces to our campus, beginning in June 2012! The campus and the academic program will benefit immensely from this new space, as will future summer programs. But with construction comes new routines and necessary flexibility. The school has hired an experienced and highly regarded contractor, Plant Construction, to build the new Community Center. Plant is a firm that has extensive experience working on school campuses across the Bay Area.

To ensure the safety and enjoyment of the summer camps:

• The dirtiest part of the job, the demolition will be done and 100% cleaned up by the time our summer camps open!
• Plywood safety fences will be up and secure, blocking off the east end of the campus.
• Summer camp entrance will be through the preschool gate.
• The Front Desk will be conveniently located in the Conference Room next to the North Class.
• Construction personnel and vehicles will be accessing the job site only through the east side of the campus.
• Constant communication with Plant Construction is already occurring, and will continue, with particular attention to safety, noise abatement, and educational opportunities for the children to understand what is happening behind the safety walls.
• There will be no official nap times for preschool camps this year, however, any child needing a nap will be provided with a comfortable space to rest inside the classroom.

It is going to be a great summer at The San Francisco Schoo!

Click here to register for our 2012 Summer Program.

You can browse the 2012 camp offerings below, or download our full Summer 2012 brochure (pdf) here.

Please note:

• We offer a 5% sibling discount. If you are enrolling siblings we will follow up with you to inform you of your final summer camp fees!
• We require a non-refundable deposit of $50 for each two-week session and $25 for each one-week session.
• The due date for full payment is May 1st and students will be automatically moved to a waiting list if payment is not received by that time.
• If you'd like to be considered for Indexed Tuition, download and complete our application form here (pdf). Deadline to apply for indexed tuition is April 1, 2012.

Email questions to Harald Frohlich, Summer Program Director at hfrohlich@sfschool.org.

Middle School Camps

Fearless Writing

Ages: entering 6th Grade to entering 9th Grade
Session 1: July 30 to August 3
Session 2: August 6 to August 10
Cost: $325
Hours: 9 am to 3 pm

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

Extended Care is available
Hours: 3 pm to 5 pm
Cost: $84 per session

Elementary School Summer Camps

River Camp: River to the Center of the Earth

Ages: Entering 3rd Grade to entering 6th Grade – limited to 18 kids
Session 1: July 9 to July 20
Cost: $703
Session 2: July 23 to August 3
Cost: $703
Hours: 9 am to 3 pm

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 at The SF School). She has a CA teaching credential for art, along with a CA credential for teaching grades pre-K-12.

Extended Care is available
Hours: 3 pm to 5 pm
Cost: $168 per session

Scrap Art

Ages: entering 2nd Grade to entering 6th Grade
Session 1: August 6 to August 10
Cost: $325
Hours: 9 am to 3 pm

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.

Extended Care is available
Hours: 3 pm to 5 pm
Cost: $84 per session

Kitchen Wizardry

Ages: entering 2nd Grade to entering 6th Grade
Session 1: July 9 to July 13
Cost: $350
Hours: 9 am to 3 pm
Session 2: July 16 to July 20
Cost: $350
Hours: 9 am to 3 pm

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!

Extended Care is available
Hours: 3 pm to 5 pm
Cost: $84 per session

Pre/K to 1st Grade Summer Camp

Hello Berlin: Pre/K Camp

Ages: 4 years old to entering 1st Grade
Session I: July 9 to July 13
Cost: $325
Session 2: July 16 to July 20
Cost: $325
Session 3: July 23 to July 27
Cost: $325
Hours: 9 am to 3 pm

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.

Natalie Karet, currently teacher in the South Class room and morning Extended Day teacher.

Extended Care is available
Hours: 3 pm to 5 pm
Cost: $84 per session

Shannon's Such a Summer

Ages: 4 years old to entering 1st Grade
Session 1: July 30 to August 3
Cost: $325
Session 2: August 6 to August 10
Cost: $325
Hours: 9 am to 3 pm

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 is a longtime SFS School teacher and summer camp teacher, currently teaching in the South Class and Extended Day program.

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

Natalie Karet, currently teacher in the South Class room and morning Extended Day teacher.

Extended Care is available
Hours: 3 pm to 5 pm
Cost: $84 per session