North Shore Views

Harper Neighborhood Home Sales – 2011

Sales activity in the Harper neighborhood was down in 2011 vs. 2010. There were fewer listings on the market and 22% fewer sales. Those that came on the market, and were well-priced and well-presented, sold quickly, which brought the average market time to 72 days (2.4 months), the shortest market time of any of Wilmette’s neighborhoods.

Harper Neighborhood Home Sales – 2011

Want to know what your Wilmette neighbor’s house sold for? You can see that here. Want to know what your home is worth in today’s market? Give us a call at 847-881-6657 and we’d be glad to provide you with a complimentary, no obligation, home value analysis. Or you can get a free, quick, over-the-net evaluation.

Tags: Harper Elementary School, North Shore market data, North Shore real estate trends

Harper Neighborhood Home Sales – 1st Half 2010

The Harper School neighborhood is certainly one of the bright spots right now in terms of homes sales. While home sales trends in Wilmette in the first half of 2010 were quite positive (+85% over 1st half 2009), Harper’s trends are even better, with 150% more houses sold this year than last. Even more surprising is the improvement of median selling price. While the median selling price for Wilmette actually decreased by 1%, the median price in the Harper area actually increased 7.4%, from $745,000 to $800,000. We haven’t seen this kind of trend in quite a while!

Before we get too excited, we need to keep in mind that there is still a lot of inventory on the market: 52 active listings in the Harper area alone, and some of them have been sitting for a while. On the other hand, there have been a few cases where the home was in great condition and well-priced and it sold in a matter of days. Yes, it can still happen, even in today’s market.

Harper Neighborhood Home Sales (1st Half 2010 vs. 2009)

Source: MRED, LLC. Single family homes. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

If you’d like to find out what your home is worth in today’s market, you can get a free, quick, over-the-net evaluation here or you can call me at 847-687-5957. If you would like more specific data about home sales on your street or in the immediate vicinity of your home, you can email me and I will be happy to send it to you.

Related Articles:

• North Shore Home Sales Data – 1st Half 2010
• Harper School
• Kenilworth Gardens
• Indian Hill Estates

Tags: Harper Elementary School, Wilmette, Wilmette neighborhoods

Harper Elementary School

Harper School is one of four elementary schools in Wilmette’s District 39 (the others are Central, McKenzie and Romona). It is located at 1101 Dartmouth Street on the corner of  Thornwood Avenue (and catty-corner to Thornwood Park). It is a K-4 school that serves children from Kenilworth Gardens, Indian Hill Estates and nearby homes. After elementary school Wilmette children attend Highcrest Middle School (5-6) and then Wilmette Junior High (7-8) before going on to New Trier High School.

The principal of Harper is Dr. Susan Kick. There are around 440 students and 31 teachers on staff, making the student teacher ratio 14.2. Test scores are consistently high and there are lots of enrichment and after-school activities like chorus, chess club, sports, drama, science and art programs to supplement the excellent curriculum.

Harper is a real gem of a neighborhood school and parents and children alike rave about it. It is walkable from anywhere in the area it serves and kids typically walk to and from school unless the weather is bad. Starting at the end of 2nd grade they are allowed to ride their bikes, after taking a bike safety class. The parents are very involved in the PTO and other programs and the kids make lifelong friends there.

You can watch a slide show of the recent Earth Week Fun Fest held after school.

Tags: Harper Elementary School, Wilmette

Harper School Inaugurates Science Exploratorium

Last fall, principal Sue Kick submitted a grant proposal to District 39’s Educational Foundation for a “Science Exploratorium” for Harper School. Her goal was to provide a dedicated lab that would enrich the elementary science curriculum by facilitating more hands-on learning. At the elementary level, science is typically taught in the individual classrooms.

The Exploratorium was recently completed and, as the first dedicated science lab in our district’s elementary schools, it is serving as a pilot program.

So far, the new Exploratorium is getting two thumbs up from teachers and students.

Teachers love it because they have access to equipment that is too big or too costly to have in each individual classroom. Plus, it’s much more efficient for them to set up an experiment in a separate space where they can leave it up throughout the unit than to try and cram it into a corner of the already crowded classroom.

The kids love it because going to class in a special science room makes science itself more special and more fun. All the equipment and models and collections are out and available to use and explore. The study of science is a lot more hands-on and experiential, so the kids are encouraged to develop their powers of observation and critical thinking skills. They are encouraged to become scientists, rather than just  sitting in class passively absorbing the lesson like so many little sponges.

Yesterday when I visited, a group of first graders were engrossed in a unit about matter, taught by Scientist in Residence, Judy McKee. She was showing the kids how heat or cold changes matter. Things melt or evaporate or solidify. She talked about volcanoes and lava, and then asked the students what they thought would happen to different types of materials when subjected to heat. The kids were bouncing out of their seats trying to share their ideas and hypotheses. Then came the hands-on work where they were able to test their hypotheses by heating up various substances to see what would happen.

It was fun to see how engaged and excited the kids were about science. A lot of it had to do with Judy McKee’s passion and enthusiasm, but the Exploratorium allowed her to make the science lesson come alive.

Tags: District 39, District 39 Educational Foundation, Gripp Grant, Harper Elementary School, Science Exploratorium, Wilmette