A team of PKS teachers, myself included, just came back from the Progressive Education Network conference in Minneapolis. This conference was a twofold opportunity – not only did we get the chance to be “experts,” presenting our perspective on progressive immersion education to educators from around North America, but away from the comfort zone of our SF bubble, we also had the opportunity to learn as our students do – by questioning, exploring, and trying new things.
Advocating for Change
And the Teacher Becomes the Student….
Building a Middle School Community
Movement: The Brain Trainer
Children move in a variety of ways and each time they move, they learn something new. Our bodies are our first point of reference, our own compass, everything we do from birth involves our body moving in some form and from this we learn a variety of gross and fine motor skills. Learn how our movement program helps create a whole body to brain relationship, which helps with reading and learning.
Neighborhood Math: Thinking, Noticing, and Wondering
Back to School Transitions
The new year always brings a lot of changes, but this year is particularly momentous with our dramatic unveiling of the new U-Wing and all the new routines that accompany a rapidly growing community. Each child has his/her own way of metabolizing change, and we can make use of these back-to-school teachable moments to plant the seeds of resilience in them.
Spotlight on Math: The Pentagon Problem
At the beginning of May, we shared the pentagon problem with the PKS community: can you discover or create an irregular pentagon that will tile the plane with no gaps or overlaps? Many students and parents rose to the challenge, and it has been so much fun having conversations about the various solutions and how they found them.
Re-envisioning the Elementary Specialist Programs
A key area of focus this year has been on re-envisioning the specialist programs going forward, and more specifically, how to more intentionally attend to the whole child and create opportunities for students to engage deeply, fully, and frequently with the sciences, arts, and holistic wellness practices.
Reservations at the Tea Tree Restaurant
A Reflection on Wonderworks
Meet Our New 2019-2020 Trustees!
The Board of Trustees is delighted to announce the naming of three new Trustees to the Board, who begin their term on July 1, 2019. Each has shown leadership in our community, and we are grateful for their commitment to PKS, and for their time and expertise, as we continue growing our school together.
Sex, Drugs, and…Thomas the Train
We were pleased to host Charis Denison once again for a recent PKS学习 event. Each year when she visits, we take a moment revisit our approach to what used to be called “sex ed.” Schools like ours base this part of the curriculum on research that shows that “the biological, cultural, and ethical components of ‘sex ed’ must be part of a holistic effort to help each child develop an integrated, confident sense of self.”
Inaugural PKS Robotics Team
Thinking Outside our Classrooms: A Day of Peer Learning
One of our main goals at PKS is to foster a lifelong passion for learning and exploration, not only among our students but also among our parents, faculty, and staff. A few weeks ago, however, the pedagogical team wanted to try something innovative and engaging to provide our faculty and staff with a different type of professional development (PD) opportunity; something we call “Pinterest Live” or “Old School Pinterest.”