As we close the door to 2021 and prepare to usher in 2022 (the second half of our 10th school year at PCS!) we, like many of you, are not quite sure what to expect. But, what we do know with certainty is that this community of children, families, friends and supporters continues to inspire us and bolster our spirits.
Read MoreThanks to all of the Grads/Alums 12 and up who helped us celebrate PCS’s 10th Anniversary school year with a very special Grad/Alum Night! We loved seeing you all together again!
Read MoreGreetings from Year Ten! We write to you today hardly able to believe we are 10 years in! Yet here we are, amidst two vibrant campuses, humming with the projects, inquiries and explorations of nearly 115 students and over 25 faculty and staff …
Read MoreIt seems only fitting that our Integrated Unit on Humans and Technology culminate in this digital Celebration of Learning. Explore below to see how the learning around Humans and Technology unfolded this trimester!
Read MoreWe’re thrilled to present the very first edition of VDN: Very Decent News, a monthly hyper-local news feature, written, performed, filmed and produced by PCS sixth and seventh grade students …
Read MoreFor those who’ve been wondering — our remote learning program is, by necessity, quite different than the in-school PCS learning experience that we’ve worked so hard to build over the past 8 years, and yet in many ways it’s very much the same.
Read MoreThank you, Upper Primary, for organizing and leading such a beautiful, heartwarming and community-building All-School Meeting via Zoom. We are so grateful that you seized this opportunity to bring us together again and remind us just how very much we need and love each other.
Read MoreOver the past two and a half weeks, as we’ve coped with the rapidly-changing realities of life during the COVID-19 crisis, we have witnessed tremendous resilience, determination, flexibility and compassion in our PCS community. And, the spirit of care and connection fostered by our collective efforts to carry on in the face of profound challenge and uncertainty is helping us realize just how much community matters to learning at PCS.
Read MoreWhat happens when you combine learner-centered, project-based learning with a trimester-long Integrated Unit on the human body? Learning comes to life, of course!
Read MoreUpper Primary student, Lea Rodger, organized and led a “Fight for the Climate” rally in downtown Riverhead this past weekend to make a stand for our planet. More than fifty people joined her with signs and songs to raise they’re voices for our one planet.
Read MoreWhen students at PCS reach Upper Primary they are ready to take the lead in their learning, pave their own way, and make their ideas come to life. For a teacher, letting go and letting students lead can be uncomfortable, but Shannon Timoney, PCS’s Upper Primary facilitator, believes this is when the best learning happens: when we’re uncomfortable, when we let go, dive in, ask hard questions and let the answers surprise us.
Read MoreOur end of unit Celebrations of Learning give us a chance to observe a trimester’s worth of shared study in panorama: noting threads, perspectives, connections, and evolving understandings around a common topic. This Integrated Study Unit — Civics: Communities and Citizens in Action — challenged students to discover how citizens organize and act to achieve community goals.
Read MoreDuring the Celebration of Learning culminating the “Civics: Communities and Citizens in Action” Unit, Upper Primary students documented their research about structural racism, the civic activism it has inspired, and the persistence of injustice in our democracy.
Read MoreDuring this trimester’s Integrated Unit “Civics: Communities and Citizens in Action,” Kindergarten used storytelling to figure through the concepts of fairness and equity and to think about how communities and citizens work together to understand and achieve fairness for all.
Read MoreKindergarten is a magical and monumental time at PCS. Children are growing into their backpacks and the longer days and the school routines and their independence. It’s exciting to celebrate their bravery and accomplishments, but it’s also an honor to hold space for their sweet littleness. There’s an ebb and flow of venturing out and seeking shelter that is at the heart of this time of tremendous social, emotional and cognitive development, and we can think of no one more uniquely suited to working alongside Kindergarten students than Paola Flórez.
Read MoreVal Gatz is a people person. Big people, little people, lots of people, one person – Mrs. Gatz loves being with people: talking with them, drawing them in, listening to their stories, making them feel at ease, and enjoying their company. A community-maker a heart, Mrs. Gatz brings people together in a way that honors their individuality and unites them in their commonality. At PCS, she creates a family culture in the Early Childhood classroom that she co-facilitates.
Read MoreIt’s hard to believe, but Upper Primary’s afternoon at The Watermill Center with dancer Alice Heyward was even more magical than it looks. Alice lead students through a movement workshop ….
Read MoreWhat to do when our annual all-school Halloween pumpkin and apple picking trip to the Milk Pail is postponed due to a rainy forecast? An impromptu, surprise all-school MAKER HALLOWEEN PARADE of course!
Read MoreLearning to read is such a monumental transition for students, and being a part of this educational milestone is what draws Ashley Russo to the Lower Primary classroom. “I love teaching kids to read!” she says. “It’s so amazing as they make progress and can turn letters and words into stories. It opens a door for them.”
Read MoreMusic Facilitator Ms. Jeanne Woelker and PCS students treated us to our first Music Share of the school year during this morning’s First Friday Community Gathering.
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