St.Theresa Early Learning Academy
Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii
Curriculum Goals and Objectives
Our pre-kindergarten early learning program adapts to our children’s different learning abilities and uses a variety of approaches to build upon their strengths and interests. Our focused flexibility enables our teaching staff to observe, assess, and plan effectively for each individual child as well as for whole class instruction activities.
Goals:
1. To embrace each child’s learning style through the implementation of developmental, individual, and
culturally relevant preschool experiences.
2. To provide a safe, consistent, and nurturing environment that supports the needs of the children.
3. To guide each child toward independence, self-regulation, respect for others, and a positive outlook in
a Christian place of learning.
4. To introduce children to the world of technology in appropriate and engaging ways
5. To make children aware of their responsibility to themselves, their families, the community, and God
through active outreach experiences.
The classroom curriculum develops in many forms as we plan for and take advantage of teachable moments. Because we believe that guided activities, play, and the development of social competencies is the foundation for future academic learning and successes, we have strategically planned our classroom environment to support a variety of learning styles, interests, and skills levels. The curriculum in both classroom's also incorporate a religious education that provides the children with basic Catholic/Christian concepts that support their developing and on-going relationship with God.
We also use our fully developed curriculums to:
1. Stimulate learning and creativity in all developmental areas.
2. Practice health, nutrition, and safety habits.
3. Provide basic knowledge and skills for school readiness.
4. Encourage independence for all children.
5. Provide choices so children can become effective decision-makers.
6. Explore the subject worlds of math, science, technology, and social studies through hands-on, concept
oriented activities.
7. Provide experiences that help preschoolers relate their everyday lives to the gospel.
Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum
Our academy preschool classrooms actively prepares its students for kindergarten through the use of a comprehensive program developed to meet the learning needs of all children and by creating and managing a purposeful, fun learning environment. We aim to stimulate learning in all developmental areas, provide basic knowledge and skills for school readiness, provide choices that make our children effective decision-makers, explore various subject areas through hand-on and concept oriented activities, and help our preschoolers relate their everyday live to the gospel. The implementation of technology has also elevated our ability to reach out to our students at their individual level of understanding and in ways that are appropriate for education in the 21st century.
Our mixed-aged program provides our youngest students with experiences that appropriately transition them into the daily school routine and prepares them for success as independent learners and thinkers. The thematic curriculum is designed to meet the varying needs of our students by creating and managing a purposeful, fun learning environment. We aim to stimulate learning in all developmental areas, but with a focused attention on social/emotional development. We provide our children with the predictable, consistent, safe, and nurturing space needed to promote independence, self-awareness, and self-regulation. Our curriculum encourages the exploration of a number of subject areas through teacher-directed activities, child-initiated interest areas, and learning centers that prepare our students for the next phase of their early education and beyond.
It is very important to our staff that our students develop a love for books and reading. To foster this love of literacy, our program highlights an "Author of the Month". The students read, borrow books, do story stretcher activities, and learn background information about each of the selected authors. So far this school year, the authors have included Bill Martin Jr., Eric Carle, Stan & Jan Berenstain, Dr. Seuss, Mercer Mayer, and Kevin Henkes just to name a few.
Scholastic's Big Day for PreK
Big Day for PreK is a "program that embraces children's natural curiousity and encourages them to explore, play, and about the world around them." With a focused understanding of social-emotional and language development, this comprehensive curriculum provides integrated learning opportunities for intentional play and responsive instruction while building partnerships with families.
Renaissance Learning
Our academy uses the STAR Early Learning computer-adaptive diagnostic assessment to generate reliable data, assess early literacy and numeracy skills, diagnose difficulties, and plan for instruction. Each 4 year old student's growth is tracked over the course of the school year to monitor individual and class progress. Diagnostic reports are generated to identify the pre-requisite skills students need to acquire as well as the next steps to be taken to maximize their growth potential.
Farm to Keiki Preschool Program (F2K)
This program was designed to "influence early childhood eating habits and increase the availability of local fresh fruits and vegetables" in schools through the implementation of a nutrition and gardening curriculum resourced by The Kauai School Garden Network.
Our school is located in a former sugar plantation town making agriculture a part of who we are as a community. Taking an interest in this program was natural for us and has given our academy a new dimension as we bring our learning experiences outside and beyond, giving our student's healthy living practices for life. Through the F2K monthly harvest, books, learning activities, taste test, and planting, the children have learned so much about healthy living and how they can grow and maintain gardens of fresh produce at home.
