Dear Horizons at GSFS Community,
It is hard to believe that we are already finished with our summer 2022 programming. While it did not end the way that we wanted it to, we still had a wonderful summer filled with learning, enrichment, and fun! We want to take this time to highlight some of the best parts of our summer and send along this photo collage.
Our students went swimming 2-3 times a week every single week for the entirety of the program. They had swimming lessons twice a week, and participated in free swim once a week. We were thrilled to be able to have our students participate in swimming again, as we missed it the past two summers. A special thanks to Germantown Life Enrichment Center and the Germantown Cricket Club for hosting our students this summer.
We began having off-site field trips again this year. Our students were able to learn all about animals when they went to the Philadelphia Zoo. Students also learned about art and the history of art when they went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art together. We were sad that we could not go on our last field trip of the summer, but look forward to continuing off site trips next summer.
We held a lot of fun events on site this summer. We hosted Karen Smith Drums where students experienced drumming, storytelling, dance and a stiltwalker. Los Bomberos de la Calle also came and shared their music, dance, and history from Puerto Rico. Treehouse Books came to visit us, and students in PreK through 6th Grade were able to take a free book home with them. Quiver Farms came and brought their animals to come and visit - our students were able to feed and pet a calf, pigs, chickens, and learn about taking care of animals. Briar Bush brought their planetarium and showed our students the night sky as they learned about constellations and outer space.
We had fun too when Jason’s Jumpers came on site, and students spent the day in an outdoor bounce house jumping and playing together. We held our annual Horizons Talent Show and had students from every grade participate. It takes a lot of courage and confidence to stand up in front of your peers and share your talent - we are so proud of our students who participated in our show and for our other students who were respectful and kind audience members.
This year we had so many fun and exciting enrichment experiences. Students learned karate, which was a new and exciting special class. We once again had yoga, music, and art class as well. Learning about mindfulness, breathing exercises, and calm really helped our students. Our new, and one of the students favorite classes, was our STEAM class. The instructor came to us with an extensive background in STEAM including a partnership with NASA and receiving STEAM training in Italy this summer. Some highlights from her classes with our students include:
- Building robots with our Sixth Grade
- Introducing Third Grade to chemical reactions
- Creating slime with First Grade
We are looking forward to next summer with great anticipation, and in the interim are making a lot of plans for the school year. Thank you all for your continued support!
