READING, WRITING, SPEAKING AND LISTENING

Literacy Arts

ART, MUSIC, SPANISH AND WELLNESS

Enrichment Areas

Each week students in all classes participate in Art, Music, Spanish and Wellness classes facilitated by dedicated instructors. Curriculum combines domain -specific introductions to the culture, traditions, history and practices of each enrichment area, as well as applicable integrations with the theme of the Integrated Unit.

TEACHING AND LEARNING AT PCS

Project Based Learning

Project-based learning at PCS is a meaningful approach to authentic learning that confronts students with challenging problems, intriguing questions and complex, multi-sided issues related to the theme of our school-wide, trimester-long Integrated Unit of Study. Over the course of each ten- to twelve-week trimester, students and facilitators work together to propose lines of inquiry inspired by student interest, pursue research opportunities, and design interdisciplinary projects that develop deep subject knowledge and engage critical and creative thinking skills, as they craft solutions to the posed problems and issues. When student projects tackle real problems and address actual community concerns, project-based learning helps students build knowledge and insight, not just models.

The project based learning that happens at PCS is hands-on, collaborative, research-based and reflective, connecting student choice and voice with key academic concepts and skills within a framework of real-world activities that makes learning relevant and memorable. Student researchers often venture out into the field to find local experts, consult primary sources and collect first-hand data. In the classroom, students learn to work with design cycles to plan, organize, manage, execute and evaluate projects. Working together on long-term projects, students learn true collaboration: incorporating their individual voices and skills into a shared project that also honors the contributions of others. Reflection plays a crucial role in project-based learning at PCS; students are learning to think not only about what they are learning, but how they are learning, so they can recognize and summon these strengths throughout the course of their learning journeys. As the Integrated Unit unfolds, students utilize multiple media (journals, sketchbooks, research logs, video, artwork, notes and photos) to document the evolution of their thinking, share their learning with their peers and create their own authentic assessments.

Whether students successfully petition their local town board for Turtle Crossing street signs on roads near waterways, or create fully-immersive, multimedia reenactments of the Big Bang to teach their younger schoolmates about the birth of the Universe, or design their own superheroes using current bionic and cybernetic technology to illustrate the positive intersections of Humans and Technology, the project-based learning that happens at PCS is deeply memorable and meaningful because it answers directly to kids. It is learning that matters.

CHILDREN ARE THE HEART OF LEARNING

Learner Centered Education

Children are the heart of learning at PCS, and our curriculum is dedicated to nourishing the whole child, with attention to building strong bodies, honing sharp minds and honoring free spirits. When we know and honor each child individually, developmentally and culturally, we build the foundation for a connected and inspired community of learning.

The learning spaces, routines and practices at PCS are thoughtfully structured to align with the strengths and needs of our students and create a safe and joyful environment where each and every student feels valued, supported and heard. Student voice and choice are integral to building trust and community, and students are a part of everything that happens at PCS. From hanging their original work on the walls and writing their own Classroom Agreements, to addressing community concerns in Morning Meetings, identifying their pronouns, and drafting their own learning goals: students know right from the start that school is a place where their ideas are important, where their identities are valued and where learning answers to them. 

Our shared Community Values (including collaboration, empathy, compassion and perseverance) form the foundation for community building at PCS; students integrate the values into their daily collaborative learning, and we work more explicitly to offer children the opportunity to practice relational, social-emotional, and life skills within the safety of our school community. Learning to put on our own rainsuits, learning to apply sunscreen, learning to communicate online, learning to repair a hurt we’ve caused, or to disagree without losing a friend, to express anger, to make amends, to help a friend in need, to listen to a new idea, to find our voice when we feel scared, to ask for help when we need it – these are all skills that help us grow into better citizens and build stronger communities, and they are skills that we think are just as important as learning to read and write.

Young learners are on the precipice of giant leaps in understanding, perspective and experience, and in order to help these pioneers blaze their own paths, we need to help them feel safe, secure and supported in the face of their widening world.

Learn more about intentional learning design from Responsive Classroom.

COMMUNITY ACTION AT PCS

Service Learning and Social Justice

The community action, service learning, and social justice initiatives at PCS are integral parts of our curriculum that support students’ ability to enact meaningful, positive and compassionate change in their communities – not later, not when they grow-up – but today, and everyday. 

The service learning/community action program aims to immerse students in hands-on, interactive, field-based service learning experiences that meet authentic needs in the community *and* connect students to the realities of underserved populations in our community, so they can begin to understand the societal structures that stress and challenge vulnerable populations. When students begin to problem solve about how they can make positive change in people’s lives and how they can institute change in the community, community service becomes community action.

Students across all grade levels participate in hands-on service learning and community action projects throughout the year (including an annual Day-On of Service in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day), often in cooperation with community outreach groups including Maureen’s Haven, Branches of Long Island, Lighthouse Mission, Slow Food East End Flour Power, and Amseas to address housing insecurity, food scarcity, marine habitat pollution and the climate crisis. Students regularly set up overnight shelters, and make and serve dinner to the guests; they stock food pantries, serve at mobile food drives, create necessity bags for families in temporary housing, clear marine debris from local beaches, and one student even rallied over 100 community members to a climate march she organized in downtown Riverhead!

PCS is an actively anti-racist community. Part of our responsibility as anti-racist educators is making sure that anti-bias work and materials that honestly and responsibily address the realities of racism are incorporated into our daily curriculum. Many opportunities to discuss systemic racism and individual bias present themselves authentically, whether we’re considering recent news stories, recounting personal experiences, uncovering themes in our integrated unit, or discovering historical inaccuracies or mistruths in our research. Facilitators prepare for these authentic opportunities, extend learning whenever possible, and hold safe space for honest student inquiry to emerge. Additionally, some our our anti-racist work is explicit, intentional and prioritized into the daily schedule alongside math groups and integrated unit blocks. Students are offered dedicated time and safe spaces to work through their questions about racism, process their lived experiences, confront new perspectives, and practice new responses.

BE THE CHANGE.