Elementary Archives - Page 6 of 7 - Presidio Knolls School

Second Graders and “My City” (我的城市)

The two PKS second grade classes kicked off the year with an exciting dive into their own habitat: San Francisco. The 我的城市 (“My City”) unit of exploration encouraged them to ask and answer big questions: What is a city? What does it take for people to live together and get along? What infrastructure is critical to keeping a community peaceful? What are the biggest problems in San Francisco?

Elementary

Music at PKS

Orff Schulwerk is an active child-centered approach to music education where you take what the kids are already doing when they're born, playing, singing, dancing, speech, games, drama, and beyond. You use that to teach the concepts and the skills in music, which makes so much more sense than anything. Also, music class is not just about teaching students to be great musicians, we are teaching them to appreciate beauty, work cooperatively, and use creativity, while developing their motor skills and often performing tasks requiring independence and higher order thinking skills.

Community

Formal Lunch

On a typical day, every student at PKS brings or buys their own lunch, and each student brings their own culinary and cultural traditions to the table. About four years ago, a PKS parent saw a golden opportunity for learning and sharing. Could we create a regular occasion to share family traditions with classmates? How would students react to sitting down together for a joint “Formal Lunch” — could they even motivate each other to learn and practice table manners?

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Elementary

Generosity

Last week, our students began their next Habit of Character study. In November, we are focusing on being generous (乐善好施).

Elementary

Art at PKS

Art fits naturally within the progressive model; it is the product of experiential learning. When I develop the art curriculum, I don’t just look at what children should know about art and where they should be developmentally. I try to incorporate projects that allow for personalization and inquiry. Art should do that.

Elementary

Social-Emotional Learning at PKS

We all know that “education” is more than the gathering of facts and knowledge (and in the case of PKS, two languages). Social and emotional development are equally fundamental, and multiple studies demonstrate that integration of social and emotional learning (SEL) programs in school pave the way for better academic learning: they teach children skills that are intimately linked with cognitive development, helping them be focused, attentive, motivated, engaged, and confident in their learning.

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Elementary

Independence

October’s Habit of Character focus was Independence (独立自主). In order to develop children’s independence, we must trust them. Sometimes they will make mistakes and experience challenges both socially and academically.

Elementary

Fourth Grade Migration Presentation

There's presentation fever at Presidio Knolls School as the different classes wrap up their units of exploration.

Elementary

Second Graders Celebrate San Francisco

One important aspect of a "progressive" approach to education is giving students the opportunity to showcase their work. Today, PKS second graders had such an opportunity.