This office in Sproul Hall gives student-led tours to prospective students and their families, international visitors and the just plain curious. Guests can experience walking tours, golf-cart tours and special tours for people with disabilities. Residence hall tours are available by appointment. The website listed features a virtual campus tour with informational videos, text and webcam images.
One of the central programs of the Chez Panisse Foundation, the Edible Schoolyard is an organic garden and kitchen classroom at Martin Luther King Jr. middle school. Students get hands-on experience in the entire food cycle, from growing to harvesting to preparing food so that they might better understand the natural world and the connection between human society and the environment.
Cragmont occupies a gorgeous modern campus in the Berkeley Hills. It has an impressive terraced instructional garden and expansive play fields. The school offers a two-way English and Spanish immersion program whose goal is to graduate students fluent in both languages. Kids in grades 1,2, 4 and 5 get weekly dance/movement lessons, and there is further enrichment in science, music and visual arts. Evelyn Tamondong-Bradley is principal.
Willard Middle School offers a classic school curriculum for students between the sixth and eighth grade. Its classes include math, science, English and history, and it provides a lunch break and advisory period. It also has PTA meetings on either the first or second Monday of each month. Furthermore, it offers tours of the school on Tuesday mornings at 9:45 pm. Please note that you must be a parent and the tours last approximately one hour.
The Chaplaincy Institute for Arts and Interfaith Ministries takes an interfaith perspective to the study of religion. Its approach is to look at world religions and spirituality as a spectrum from which universal truths that reveal the Divine can be learned. They offer an ordination program as well as programs in spritual care and direction. Call the number provided for more information.
Washington Elementary School is in downtown Berkeley, across the street from Berkeley High School, allowing the 353 students access to many programs and facilities. Students can read with buddies from nearby Berkeley Senior Center, and all kids from kindergarten through third grade get swimming and water-safety lessons at the nearby Berkeley YMCA. There are dedicated classrooms for music and science, and an art instructor from the nearby Museum of Children's Art. Rita Kimball is the principal of the school.
Berkeley Technology Academy is the City of Berkeley’s continuation high school for students who need to make up credit deficits or who, for other reasons, prefer the smaller learning environment. “B-Tech,” as it’s often called, offers a wide range of academics and after-school programs, including vocational training and tutoring.
This Montessori school has two campuses: one in Oakland and this one in Kensington, which is housed in Arlington Community Church. The school serves children between the ages of 2 and 8, offering a stimulating learning experience through the use of creative materials, social interaction and a supportive environment. Call the school for class times and enrollment information.
This K - 6 school and Bay Area Certified Green Business offers classes in traditional academic subjects while also focusing on arts, music and drama as essential elements of a well-rounded education. The teachers run the school, ensuring their independence, and each child is given highly individualized attention. Walden Center & School also runs before- and after-school programs as well as a summer camp.
Martin Luther King Middle School is proud of its newly rehabilitated historic wing, computer and science laboratories and new dining commons. The school is located in North Berkeley between Rose and Hopkins streets. Its Edible Schoolyard, supported by the Chez Panisse Foundation, helped to launch nationwide interest in better eating for children. The impressive track and field area on Hopkins Street is open to the public after class.
This independent, alternative K–8 school was once a Montessori school and comes from that tradition. It also incorporates practices based on modern research. It prepares students for the modern workforce by focusing on developing competencies in not just reading, writing and math but also in media and technology. It maintains a diverse student body and employ a wide variety of teaching methods suitable for a range of learning styles.
The oldest bilingual school in the East Bay, the Ecole Bilingue offers a diverse student body an education in English, French, Mandarin, Spanish and Latin. A majority of their students are native French speakers, more than a third are people of color, and nearly half receive financial aid. With more than forty nationalities represented, this school gives preschool through eighth-grade students a real education in multiculturalism as well as traditional academic subjects.