Our Programs

Academics & Enrichment

A Strong Foundation

The core curriculum includes programming with a foundational focus on courses in Math, English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science. Teachers meet regularly to discuss and evaluate the curricula across grades and determine whether changes are needed.

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Our Programs

Core Curriculum

We have selected curricular programs that are researched-based and aligned to the common core standards. Students know what to expect and how to engage in learning during a minilesson, partner work, conferences, small group work, and whole-class instruction.

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Dual Language

The Dual Language program at PS20 is a program empowering students to become a global citizen by developing high linguistic proficiency, academic performance and cultural awareness. Some of the goals of the Dual Language Program are:

  • To equip students with listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in both English and partner languages (Mandarin/Spanish)
  • To improve academic performance in all content areas
  • To increase awareness of students’ own culture and appreciate the culture(s) of others.

PS20 Anna Silver offers Spanish Dual Language and Mandarin Chinese Dual Language programs. PS20 is the only elementary school in District 1 to offer both Spanish/English and Mandarin/English curricula, and one of only nine Manhattan schools to participate in the Department of Education’s Citywide Dual Language Initiative. Our teaching staff includes 13 instructors who are certified to teach Dual Language programs. Our Spanish program began in 2015, and our Mandarin program began in 2010.

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Reading & Writing

The mission of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project is to help young people become avid and skilled readers, writers, and inquirers. We accomplish this goal through research, curriculum development, and through working shoulder-to-shoulder with students, teachers, and school leaders. The organization has developed state-of-the-art tools and methods for teaching reading and writing, for using performance assessments and learning progressions to accelerate progress, and for literacy-rich content-area instruction. Thousands of teachers regard the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project as a continual source of professional renewal and education. Well over 170,000 teachers have attended our week-long institutes, and over 4,000 participants return each year to annual Saturday Reunions. TCRWP is deeply engaged in finding reasonable (and sometimes state-of-the-art) solutions to calls for more data-based, standards-based instruction and more alignment with teacher-effectiveness frameworks.

TEACHERS COLLEGE READING & WRITING PROJECT

Integrated Co-Teaching Program (ICT)

Integrated Co-Teaching is a program that offers the same challenging and enriching academic programming offered in the general education classroom and the same class size. The difference is the composition of students and added benefit of an additional special education teacher. This model, offered across New York City public schools, is designed for a student population that is composed of general education students (60% of the class) and children with Individualized Education Plans (40% of the class). This two teacher model enables teachers to further differentiate instruction and develop students social-emotional skills, modeling teamwork for our students. Teachers in this program receive additional training from an ICT coach to meet the needs of their diverse learners.

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Mathematics

Context of Learning (Math in the City): The City College School of Education prepares knowledgeable, reflective and caring educators who are qualified and committed to teaching and leading diverse communities. Implicit in the work of the center is the belief that context, representation, and discourse are critical to learning. Teachers who participate in our workshops are immersed in mathematics themselves and are guided to develop dispositions that will allow them to transform their own students into lifelong young mathematicians.

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Sciences

Amplify Science blends hands-on investigations, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write, and argue like real scientists and engineers.

Each unit of Amplify Science engages students in a relevant, real-world problem where they investigate scientific phenomena, engage in collaboration and discussion, and develop models or explanations in order to arrive at solutions.

Amplify Science includes hands-on activities, print materials, and powerful digital tools to support online and offline teaching and learning. Highly adaptable and user-friendly, the program gives schools and individual teachers flexibility based on their technology resources and preferences.

AMPLIFY SCIENCE PROGRAM

Social Studies

An effective social studies program allows students to make sense of the world in which they live, make connections between major ideas and their own lives, and see themselves as active members of a global community. While knowledge of content is very important, it is equally important to engage our students in historical thinking. This program challenges students to think like historians and encourages them to raise questions, think critically, consider many perspectives, and gather evidence in support of their interpretations through the practice of chronological processing, decision-making, and historical research and analysis. These real-world skills will serve students well as participating citizens of a democracy.

PASSPORT TO SOCIAL STUDIES (NYC DOE LINK)

Beyond The Core

In addition to the core curriculum, PS20 offers a rich tapestry of Enrichment programs designed to expose children to a broader range of experiences.

Our Programs

Enrichment Programs

A breadth of experience is key to successful development. We believe that the more interesting and varied the exposure, the higher the ceiling for growth and expansion of future ambitions.

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Enrichment Clubs

These clubs are designed to provide challenging, fun and hands-on activities available to all students from K to 5. They run from 1:50 p.m. to 2:35 p.m. every Thursday on a 10-week cycle, with a cumulative showcase during our Enrichment Family Friday. Some of the enrichment clubs are Solar Racers, Knitting, Photography, Chess, Community Service, Cooking, Theater, Scrapbook Fun, Zumba, Lego Building, Harry Potter.

Health & Wellness

This program encompasses a wide range of areas that are interesting and important in ensuring our kids make good choices toward a healthy life:

  • Nutrition & Food Education
  • Environmental Awareness & Recycling
  • Afterschool Sports & Fitness
  • Plants & Gardening

Creativity Explored

A well-rounded and complete education involves the complete mind: the analytical and the creative. At PS20, we believe that specialty programs play a strong part in allowing a child to explore and express their whole self and is a strong complement to the core curriculum.

Our Programs

Specialty Classes

Students attend weekly classes in Art, Library, Music, Physical Education, Science and Technology.  These classes are taught by specialist teachers.

Art

The PS 20 Visual Arts Program encourages students from Pre K to 5th grade to learn more about themselves and the wider world by developing an interest in and the ability for creative expression. Students are given tools and techniques to express what they think and how they feel through independent and collaborative, hands-on experiences. Time in the art room is an outlet for our learners to share their knowledge from other subject areas in new ways. The Visual Arts program is aligned to the benchmarks outlined in the NYCDOE Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Visual Arts: PreK-12.

Physical Education

Physical Education at PS 20 aims to develop students’ physical competence and knowledge of movement and safety, and their ability to use these to perform in a wide range of activities associated with the development of an active and healthy lifestyle. It also develops students’ confidence and skills, especially those of collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking and aesthetic appreciation. These, together with the nurturing of positive values and attitudes in PE, provide a good foundation for students’ lifelong and life-wide learning.

Music

The music program at PS 20 is a skills-based program. Students will be taught singing, instruments, movement, composing, writing, games, performing skills, and the Music and the Brain keyboard program. In addition, students will be preparing for several school-wide performances.

Library

Our PS 20 Library is a place where students and staff have access to a variety of resources. It connects our readers to books that interest them. The library assists children with research and finding information they need. Our main goal is to cultivate reading habits and a love for reading.

Science

The Science Program at PS 20 is based on the NYC Science Scope and Sequence Standards. Our hands-on inquiry-based learning focuses on building our knowledge of the world around us through experiments and observations. In this class, students work in groups and are encouraged to work together, collaborating and problem solving, sharing ideas and learning from each other.

Technology

PS 20’s technology program utilizes platforms such as Google Classrooms, Learning.com, and coding environments such as Scratch, Tynker & Codesters to transform learning. We utilize technology to engage students and help them move from passive learners into active creators. We teach Computer Science For All (CS4All) and provide students with valuable skill sets essential for all students in the 21st century. These skills include problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, curiosity and decision making, while also reinforcing collaboration, leadership, internet safety, and digital citizenship.

dual language programs

After School programs

Languages Spoken

Year School Was Founded

Get In Touch

Location: ​166 Essex St, New York, NY 10002

Telephone: (212) 254-9577

Email: YMO2@schools.nyc.gov 

School Hours: M-F: 8:20am - 2:40pm

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Non-Discrimination Policy

It is the policy of the New York City Department of Education to provide equal educational opportunities without regard to actual or perceived race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, disability, sexual orientation, gender (sex), or weight and to maintain an environment free of harassment on the basis of any of these grounds, including sexual harassment or retaliation.

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Privacy Policy

We do not collect personally identifiable information for commercial or marketing purposes, and we do not sell the personally identifiable information we collect. The personally identifiable information we collect is stored in a secure environment.

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