At Brightworks, students design and build their own "homes"; spend a lot of time in their stocking feet; explore different themes using multimedia; and incorporate cooking into the curriculum.
Lifestyle Story City Life News and Features
March 27, 2012 |WHAT IT IS: Oakland’s first charter K–2 Montessori/ “design-thinking” fusion, opening its doors in August.
WHO'S BEHIND IT: A host of Teach for America alums, Valley entrepreneurs, and Bay Area public school vets—including Susie Wise, founder and former director of the K–12 Lab at Stanford’s d.school—all of whom recognized a kindred spirit in the Italian humanitarian Maria Montessori, who revolutionized early-childhood education 100 years ago.
WHY THE EXCITEMENT: First off, it’s free, meaning it’s $10,000 to $20,000 less per year than other Montessoris around here. And this style of teaching—where students work with their hands and different ages are taught together, with kids learning at their own pace—is a hit with many parents.
REALITY CHECK: Lumping grade levels together works great for four-year-old prodigies reading second-grade books and older kids playing catch-up. But what about students in the middle?
GETTING IN: The initial round of applications drew 350 for 240 spots (for kindergarten, that meant a lottery). Grades 3–8 will follow at one grade per year through 2018; there are plans to add a pre-K if there’s enough funding.
2111 International blvd., Oakland; urbanmontessori.org; free
CONDUCTIVE EDUCATION CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO
WHAT IT IS: A still-in-the-works private school for young children with motor disabilities, using an approach known as conductive education (CE) that is widely accepted in Europe and Australia.
WHO'S BEHIND IT: Tartine Bakery’s co-owner and pastry chef Elisabeth Prueitt, who was unhappy with the local options for her four-year-old daughter, Archer, who has cerebral palsy.
WHY THE EXCITEMENT: CE schools are rare in the U.S. and virtually nonexistent in the Bay Area. “[Children] do everything they do in regular preschools and kindergarten, with the addition that they learn how to use their bodies,” Prueitt says. For most toddlers, learning to walk is instinctive, but if they have a motor disability, it can be harder. Conductive education, she says, “has unequivocally helped Archer in becoming mobile.”
REALITY CHECK: The center faces a number of challenges to becoming a full-time school (such as finding a suitable patch of real estate) and has no projected opening date. But it does offer a six-week summer camp.
GETTING IN: The camp currently has openings; go online to find out details—and to make donations to help the full-time school get off the ground.
conductivelearning.org
Related Stories:
The new, (hopefully) improved, totally DIY school
Not home, not alone
Virtually one-on-one
Photography by: