Affinities Festival

What is an affinity?

An affinity is something that a child feels passionate about and wants to explore outside of a school setting. Examples include dragons, Legos, cooking, fashion, animals, space and writing, among others.

What is expected of my child and me?

Come to the information session on November 17th at 7:00 pm in the Haycock cafeteria, select your affinity, sign up and begin a year-long independent study with your parent(s) as your mentor. You can do as much or as little as you choose. At the end of the year, you can choose to display your newly-gained knowledge at the optional Affinities Festival. (see below for more information on the Festival.)

What are some ways to nurture my child’s affinity?

 Help your child to select books from the library
 Go to a museum, historical site or studio
 Netflix movies
 Find a mentor in the neighborhood
 Plan day trips or vacations
 Clip articles from the paper
 Find another child who shares the same affinity and schedule a play date
 Help your child to gather artifacts to put on the display board

What is the Affinities Festival?

The Affinities Festival is a school-wide celebration of learning. Students have the opportunity to share their affinities and showcase their learning with our community of parents, teachers and students. The Festival will be held on June 14th and 15th. June 14 will be a child/family night from 7 – 9 pm. All Haycock students will visit the Festival on June 15th.

*The Affinities Festival is non-competitive and is a great community building event.*

What are the specifications for an Affinities Festival display?

 36” space available
 Tri-fold foam core display available from Staples
 No live animals
 Display will be unmanned
 Not electrically powered

Here’s what students say about participating in the Affinities Festival:
“I can be true to myself.”
“These projects inspired me to pursue the things I like even further.”
“I can double up my affinity by being inspired and trying different things.”
“I am amazed and thrilled that someone shares my exact affinity.”
“It doesn’t matter what other people like or don’t like. It only matters what you like or don’t like to explore in your own affinity.”

Here’s what parents say about their children participating in the Affinities Festival:
“Great community building event.”
“Non-competitive and open to all.”
“I love that the topics aren’t mandated by the school and are not graded. This approach brings out AMAZING creativity!”
“Celebrates differences and moves students toward tolerance for the appreciation of differences.”
“Forced my son to think about his hobbies and identify his strengths. Then he really started to take pride in himself. Definitely a confidence booster!”
“As a first time parent, I had no idea how much fun it would be to see what all the other kids have done, too!”
“Love the way it encourages kids not for school credit but just for the joy of learning. However much time they put into it, there’s no mistaking the pleasure they take from this.”

What’s the next step?

Attend the Parent/Child Information Night on November 17th at 7:00 pm in the Haycock cafeteria.

Or, click here for an application for the affinities festival. Deadline is December 1st.

If you have any questions about the Affinities Festival, please contact Pamela Huffman at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Parent/Child Information Night Nov 17th presentation