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PITISUKSA CLASSES
Pitisuksa School is divided into five programs:
Toddler (1.6 - 3 years)
Kindergarten (3 - 6 years)
Lower Elementary (6 - 9 years)
Upper Elementary (9 - 12 years)
Middle School (12 - 15 years)
High school (15 - 18 years )
Pitisuksa School is an English program school that has embraced both the Montessori curriculum and the Thai National Curriculum. Classes from kindergarten through middle school are based on three-year age groupings. Younger students observe and learn from older students while the older students develop nurturing behavior and leadership qualities. A balance of individual instruction, small group activities, and unstructured time encourages each child to work on selected tasks. This approach develops competence and a love for learning in all four programs.
Toddler level (2 – 3 years old)
The Montessori Toddler environment is carefully prepared to aid the toddlers in achieving independence. The curriculum includes activities that allow the young children to develop fine and gross motor coordination and visual discrimination through the senses and learning materials. This curriculum prepares for advancement to the kindergarten. The areas of curriculum are
Sensorial
Practical life
Language
Kindergarten Level (3-6 years old)
Children at this age are real explorers. They explore their environment through their senses and absorb the information through their experiences. A carefully prepared environment with order and consistency is important. The areas of curriculum are:
Practical life: Children learn how to care for themselves and their environment through "practical" work.
Sensorial: The sensorial activities help the children to discover the world through their senses
Math: Children learn to identify the numbers 0-9 using sandpaper numbers. When they have mastered addition and subtraction, multiplication and division are taught, depending on the interest and ability of the child.
Language: Children are introduced to letter sounds through the sandpaper letters. They trace each letter as they say its sound ("sssss" for "S"). Later, they start putting these sounds together to form words. Even children that have trouble writing can spell words with the moveable alphabet, if they have learned the letter sounds.
Cultural: Here the children are exposed to the world. They learn about other countries (geography), animals (zoology), time, history, music, movement, science, and art.
Elementary Level (6-12 years old)
There are 3 main elements in the core-curriculum of the elementary level.
1. Learning of the fundamental skills and the basic core knowledge.
The children explore the realm of Mathematics, Science, Career and Technology, English, History, Geography Civics, Economics, Arts and Music, Physical Education, Scouting, and the basic organization of human societies. Their studies cover the basics found in traditional curriculum such as the memorization of math facts, spelling lessons and the study of vocabulary, grammar, sentence analysis, creative writing and library research skills.
2. Inspirational lessons and experiences
These experiences include stories, field trips, themes and projects, as well as additional activities reflecting on culture and peace education. These lessons are designed to inspire appreciation, compassion, and interest in the students.
3. Individually chosen research
Children are encouraged to explore and research topics that capture their imagination and self-interest, using the teacher as a guide throughout the process. These research projects encourage the student to be a self-directed learner, with the freedom to create their own path of discovery.
middle school (12 - 15 years old)
Our Middle School program offers a plan of study and work which enables our students to build upon the knowledge and theories that they learn in the classroom and use them in real-world scenarios. Within the school community our students will practice life enhancing skills such as constructing social order, shared space maintenance and cleaning, and self-organization and time management responsibility that will help them to grow into young adults who are fully functioning members of society. The program provides students with regular opportunities for them to hold a ‘Group Seminar’ to discuss notable items of culture, such as a book, documentary, political movement or event. These seminars enable our students to develop key skills such as critical thinking, self-confidence and debating. A key feature of our Middle School program are the ‘production and exchange’ activities that encourage our students to follow their own interests to produce items such as foodstuffs or crafts that that can be sold at school and other places within the local community. These activities will help our students to develop key characteristics such as identity and self-esteem which are important for them to understand the meaningful roles they can play in society. Our Middle School educational syllabus has three main concepts that offer a structured approach to learning that helps our students to develop as individuals who can play an active part in improving the wider community.
Self-expression enables our students to communicate what they cannot yet clearly articulate, such as anxiety or desire, and make connections with other humans. Self-expression develops identity that leads to self-awareness and empathy for others.
Psychic formation supports the Human Tendencies to order, to communicate, to abstract – tendencies, learned through subjects such as Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science to support the development of human intelligence and the connections between people. This helps our students to organize and develop their personality, strengthening them emotionally and psychologically.
Preparation for adult life invites the adolescent into the human story as it presents collective human culture. Through subjects such as World History, Geography and The Arts, our students are provided with the chance to see connections between all peoples as humanity has developed in different places and times.
APPROACH
At Pitisuksa, each child's unique learning style and developmental progression is taken into account during our individualized approach. The child is given opportunities to manipulate the learning tools and repeat exercises until the targeted concept is internalized. Lessons are presented to the child individually, in small groups or in larger groups depending on the content and the student's needs.
Of equal importance to academic concepts, the development of social and emotional skills is emphasized in every part of the school day at Pitisuksa. Through modeling and instruction, the child learns how to manage their behavior and emotions, take responsibility, and become a contributing member of a learning community. The student learns to lead and follow. The goal at Pitisuksa is that the student demonstrate inner discipline; the satisfaction that comes from accomplishing a task is the reward they receive. The student does not need any external reward or punishment.
EVALUATION
Each child is evaluated using authentic measures and observations. At the end of each term, parents will receive a written progress report on their child’s performance. Parents are also encouraged to attend a parent-teacher conference at this time to discuss the development of their child.
At Pitisuksa, we value communication and cooperation between the school and parents to support the development of the child. Parents are always welcome to schedule a meeting with the lead teacher to discuss concerns or to seek suggestions for their child. In addition, parents can also schedule a time to observe their child in the classroom environment.