Early Childhood Education
 
St. Andrew’s Academy Early Childhood Education (ECE) Program is comprised of grades prekindergarten-3 (prek-3), prekindergarten-4 (prek-4) and kindergarten. The goal of our ECE program is to engage children joyfully, physically and intellectually in meaningful learning experiences that help each child develop a positive self-image and instill a passion for lifelong learning. Learning reflects hands-on experiences where the children have the opportunity to be engaged in activities that are relevant and meaningful to them.
 
Our ECE program looks at the whole child. It addresses key goals in all areas of child development – social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language.

Program Standards

Our ECE program strives to implement best practices in the classroom and follows the guidelines of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). NAEYC’s book Developmentally Appropriate Practices, 3rd edition identifies key components of quality early childhood programs and provides specific guidance for teachers. Developmentally appropriate practice means teaching in ways that meet children where they are and contribute to their optimal learning and development.

Our program uses Massachusetts Department of Education Early Childhood Program Standards. These guidelines provide a framework to help educators create and implement a program that will provide children with age-appropriate experiences. These guidelines are divided into individual content areas, but should be used in an integrated way for curriculum planning and teaching.

Curriculum

A well-planned program will encourage children to learn about the world around them. Our programs' curricula integrate ideas and content across disciplines and respect the different ways children learn. The curriculum is taught thematically. Connecting content areas (language arts, math, social studies, science, the arts) using a theme-based approach allows children to make meaningful connections in their learning.

Prekindergarten: Our prekindergarten programs use The Creative Curriculum. Designed for children ages 3 to 5 years old, this meets all of the standards put forth for effective early childhood curricula by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS/SDE).The Creative Curriculum is a comprehensive curriculum that guides teachers in designing a prekindergarten program in which children learn important skills and content, and develop social competence. The Creative Curriculum shows teachers how to set up a classroom and structure a day, what kinds of experiences to provide for children, how to work with children at different developmental levels, and how to involve families in the program. It shows teachers how to guide learning in all content areas including literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts, and technology, while also supporting children’s social/emotional development.

Kindergarten: Our kindergarten curriculum provides students with a comprehensive balanced literacy program as the basis for literacy instruction. Balanced literacy provides and cultivates the skills of reading, writing, thinking, speaking and listening for all students while recognizing and respecting their cultural, ethnic, and academic diversity. A balanced literacy program includes: modeled reading (reading aloud), shared reading, guided reading (small group setting), independent reading, modeled writing (teachers “think out loud” to demonstrate proper writing habits), shared writing, guided writing, and independent writing.

In addition to our balanced literacy approach, our kindergarten program uses Wilson Fundations, a phonological/phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling program. Fundations provides the research-validated strategies that complement our balanced literacy program. A daily 20-30 minute Fundations lesson is implemented in the language arts instruction each day. Fundations lessons focus on carefully sequenced skills that include print knowledge, alphabet awareness, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, decoding, vocabulary, fluency, and spelling. This program also has a handwriting component to instruct students in proper letter formation. Kindergarten is also the grade level at which we introduce Singapore Math, a curriculum created by the education ministry in Singapore for use in Singapore schools. To read an overview of the Singapore Math curriculum, click here.