All About Kindergarten
at Sacred Heart Academy
Mrs. Maddocks
Kindergarten Supply List
Kindergarten at SHA is designed for children who are developmentally old enough for Kindergarten and age 5 by December 1.
The overall goal of the Early Childhood Development Program is to support families in their efforts to help children develop the competence to function effectively in an ever-changing world. Children between the ages of two and seven are working on several complex developmental tasks. Some of these include:
- A growing sense of autonomy and initiative
- Increasing body mastery
- Developing symbolic thought
- Constructing concepts of time, space, number
- Recognizing awareness of others
The child’s future life-success is predicated on having a firm foundation in experiences related to these milestones.
Our goal is to foster, not force, children’s development. Thus, it is not desirable to try to make a four-year-old into five, or the five-year-old into six. For this reason, the program curriculum focuses on those tasks and concepts, which are most suitable for children at this time in their lives. Throughout each school day, emphasis is placed on helping children acquire knowledge and skills that enable them to learn from, and respond to, many different situations rather than concentrating mainly on teaching collections of unrelated facts.
Most of the activities provided are aimed at developing general problem solving skills rather than rote learning. The object of this approach is to help children learn to think rather than simply repeat the correct answer. The program curriculum provides structure through which these aspirations are realized.
Curriculum domains for the program are intended to help facilitate development of the whole child. An overview of these domains follows.
- Aesthetics – the development of imagination, as well as an awareness, appreciation and enjoyment of music, drama, art, poetry and the wonders of the natural world.
- Affective – the development of basic attitudes of trust, autonomy and initiative as well as a positive self-concept.
- Cognitive – the development of knowledge of the physical world, creative problem solving skills, decision making skills and appropriate social knowledge important to the culture.
- Construction – the development of skills necessary to create a tangible product that represents the child’s own interpretation of an object or an event.
- Language/Communication – the development of auditory discrimination, listening and speaking skills.
- Physical – the development of interpersonal skills, self discipline, empathy and respect for others.
- Spiritual – the development of an awareness of God and Jesus in our own daily lives, through Bible stories and activities.
This program is also based on the premise that play is an essential activity for the well- being of children and should be facilitated at home and in the classroom. Is there more to a child’s play than merely having a good time riding a tricycle, running, jumping, feeding a doll or being a firefighter? Leading researchers, in steadily increasing numbers, are supporting the theory that play is the crucial works of children.
Learning centers, in the classroom, help meet the various developmental needs of children. These centers contain materials and equipment organized to promote certain types of learning such as creative, physical, dramatic, manipulative and communicative.
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