Units of Exploration Archives - Presidio Knolls School

Reconsidering What We Know About Native American People, Culture, and History

As we read this story, we had one burning question – how can we replace our collective imagination of Native Americans with authentic experiences that increase our understanding? As students realized from the story above, good intentions are not enough. If we allow ourselves to remain ignorant, we can end up causing embarrassment at best, and trauma at worst.

Community

Learning and Growing through Volunteering

As PKS teachers, we are always seeking new ways to practice our Habits of Character (respectful, responsible, resilient, collaborative, globally minded, caring and reflective) and bring them to life for our students within and beyond our school community. My own journey took an unexpected turn this past August as a result of an amazing and transformative professional development experience, an experience I want to bring to my students in the classroom.

Curriculum

A word, as a dad and an administrator, on the Kavanaugh story

As many of you know, I have a P3 student here at PKS, and a 2 year old son whom I hope will join us when he is old enough. Both kids were in the car with me on Thursday morning as I tuned in to the Judiciary Committee hearings in which Dr. Christine Blasey Ford courageously told her story. I found myself feeling confused, and a bit helpless, as I tried to balance my civic impulses and my fatherly impulses.

Curriculum

PKS Selected to Present at National Chinese Language Conference

The proposal on Project Based Learning in Upper Elementary School was selected for presentation in the Curriculum and Instruction breakout session of the annual National Chinese Language Conference (NCLC).

Curriculum

Structured Word Inquiry: Understanding How English Works!

Progressive education is built on the premise that learning is an active and inquiry-based process. Understanding is better than memorization, and with this in mind we are excited to share Structured Word Inquiry with our students.

Elementary

First Graders are Community Planners!

Last week, our PKS first graders continued their discussion on "community." Students read the mini-book I Love My Community and used the Chinese names for libraries, parks, toy stores, restaurants, and soccer fields. The mini-book ended in an open-ended form that invited students to think about what other places could be added to a community to make it even better.

Community

Exciting Head of School News

Chris Livaccari, a distinguished language immersion educator, Mandarin scholar, Mandarin speaker, and author, has been named our next Head of School by unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees. Among the highly talented candidates who visited the school in recent months, Chris stood out for his commitment to educational excellence and his deep knowledge of and involvement in Mandarin language learning on an international scale. Chris’s bright vision for PKS’s future and his inquisitive, warm, down-to-earth style made him the ideal match for our school.

Community

A Year of Service Learning

Teachers weave in opportunities to integrate service learning into the units of exploration that they develop with their students. For example, as a part of the first grade’s work learning about habitats, they partnered with the San Francisco Parks and Rec department to work on a habitat restoration project in Golden Gate Park. Learning matters more when we get to apply and extend our knowledge and have a positive impact on our community.

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.