Mandarin Immersion Archives - Page 3 of 4

Family Profile (The Speta Family)

For Kyle, a clear highlight has been the Wonder Works project in 3rd grade. She found a topic (how to stop child mining) that she was really passionate about and pursued it independently. The support from the school and the community in this has also been terrific and has empowered her tremendously as she pursued this project.

Elementary

Kindergarten: Field to Table

In this engaging unit, teachers helped children answer a few essential questions: Where does food come from? How and why do we grow our own food? How do people organize the environment to produce and distribute food? How does knowing about our food help us make healthy choices? The unit was based on four basic premises: First, all living things have basic needs. Second, plants and animals have life cycles. Third, some foods are regional and/or seasonal. And fourth, gardens require care and attention. Through these lenses, students dove deep into lessons about geography, environmental science, math, and non-fiction vs. fiction.

Mandarin Immersion

Teacher Profile (Mei Ying Tzeng)

There is no instruction manual on how to teach children. Children don’t need to follow anyone to explore the world. Instead, we focus on children’s learning processes and experiences, not on pushing children to remember all the academic material. Teachers and children observe, find questions, search for the result and solve issues together; building knowledge and gaining new experiences while learning from each other.

Elementary

First Grade: The Building Unit

The first grade blue class is in their third week of their building unit. There is tension in the air as students fly around the classroom putting the finishing touches on their projects before the final exhibition on Friday. Some projects boast tall towers made of cardboard, while others are short, squat structures secured by wooden columns, but they all have one thing in common: they were handmade and designed by a first grade student with the intent of learning about buildings.

Mandarin Immersion

A Conversation with Mike Levy

We’re a global family. My wife grew up in Hong Kong and speaks Cantonese and Mandarin. My brother is a Judaic Studies professor in Norway. I studied in the U.S. and Israel and served as a Peace Corp volunteer in China (I taught at Guizhou University in the southwest of the country). My wife and I met at Cornell. Ines is a Wall Street banker—I’m a Panda dad. Our daughter will start preschool at PKS in the fall, and we have a one-year-old son and a rat terrier named Tudou. He’s very handsome.

Mandarin Immersion

Introducing Mike Levy!

We are delighted to share some exciting news — PKS now has a Head of Middle School! Our Middle School will open for 6th grade students in August 2018. Mike Levy has recently accepted our offer to join PKS as the founding Head of Middle School, starting in July 2017.

Mandarin Immersion

Learning with Sock Puppets

This kind of natural evolution is a planned accident. “We don’t have a curriculum for the whole school year planned out,” says Daisy. “We have basic skills and goals that we want to develop, and we follow the children’s interests.”

Mandarin Immersion

Teacher Profile (Carol Kao)

Children learn a new language productively and efficiently in an authentic environment. First and foremost, encourage your child to have a positive attitude toward learning Mandarin.

Elementary

Opening Soon: Presidio Knolls Middle School

Presidio Knolls School embraced our first children and families in 2008, launched our elementary school program with visionary Pioneer families in 2012, and will make history again by welcoming our first middle school students in 2018. We believe middle school is a unique and critical time of development for students to explore and develop a strong positive sense of self through meaningful relationships and real-world connections. Our graduates will be lifelong learners with the mindset and skillset to make an impact on the world.