Lower School: Kindergarten through 3rd Grade

Kindergarten

Each child brings a wealth of educational and cultural experiences to kindergarten.

Children have encountered many teachers (parents, siblings, extended family, friends,neighbors and preschool) before they meet their kindergarten teacher.

Kindergarten teachers promote self-discovery and self-awareness. They foster independence and help children to gain and use skills necessary for working in small groups as well as the class as a whole. Children learn how to function well as group members, how to ask for help and to be helpful, how to complete a task and put things away.

Each child is encouraged to move beyond his/her current level of understanding. Kindergarten curriculum is designed to address all areas of development (social, emotional, physical and intellectual) and to meet needs of a diverse group of learners. Children are active learners: touching, trying, moving, talking, writing, drawing,questioning. Throughout the kindergarten day, children have opportunities to explore,investigate, and predict.

The Kindergarten classroom is a safe, supportive and welcoming environment. It provides children with a variety of opportunities to try out new ideas and be challenged with new experiences that engage budding readers, writers, scientists, mathematicians and artists.

Teachers help children to be empowered, to feel valued, to be listened to, to be competent and successful in school.

Grades 1-3

School of the Blessed Sacrament uses the New York State Common Core Standards in English Language Arts and Literacy ( including literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects) as well as Mathematics. Building on the excellent foundation of standards states have laid, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are the first step in providing our young people with a high-quality education. It should be clear to every student, parent, and teacher what the standards of success are in every school.

Teachers, parents and community leaders have all weighed in to help create the Common Core State Standards. The standards clearly communicate what is expected of students at each grade level. This will allow our teachers to be better equipped to know exactly what they need to help students learn and establish individualized benchmarks for them. The Common Core State Standards focus on core conceptual understandings and procedures starting in the early grades, thus enabling teachers to take the time needed to teach core concepts and procedures well—and to give students the opportunity to master them.

With students, parents and teachers all on the same page and working together for shared goals, we can ensure that students make progress each year and graduate from school prepared to succeed in college and in a modern workforce.

The standards were developed by the following criteria:

Aligned with expectations for college and career success
Clear, so that educators and parents know what they need to do to help students learn
Consistent across all states, so that students are not taught to a lower standard just because of where they live
Include both content and the application of knowledge through high-order skills
Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards and standards of top-performing nations
Realistic, for effective use in the classroom
Informed by other top performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society
Evidence and research-based criteria have been set by states, through their national organizations CCSSO and the NGA Center.