Any day at Self Development Academy’s advanced kindergarten program is special. But not like this past Thursday.
It was 7:30 in the morning on Thursday, Sept. 17. Wearing their brand new, crisp uniforms, their hair neatly styled, and their eyes glowing with excitement, the kindergarteners at Self Development Academy – Mesa (SDA) eagerly arrived for their in-person learning. The morning routine was a little different from the past years.
As the cars pulled up to the curb and while still in their cars, their temperatures were taken by the staff. Fixing their colorful masks, one more time, these adorable kindergarteners confidently stepped out of their cars. A true warm and welcoming committee of staff members gave them air-hugs and melodically chanted, “So excited to see you.” The youngsters walked to the gate, while carefully maintaining the social distance among themselves, to be greeted by their loving teachers, including Mrs. Haschke.
This year, not only were their arrival procedures different from the past years, but so were their classroom arrangements. Their seating was further apart; they were not facing each other but arranged in straight rows. Then there were the clear privacy shields, provided for protection, but also served as a reminder that this year, the kindergarten experience may be somewhat different.
Yet, amongst all these modifications of the different facets of a kindergarten day, some aspects of the first day of school remained the same. The kindergarten teachers at SDA-Mesa, including Ms. Kathi Haschke and Ms. Benita Hulbert, and others, warmly greeted their students as usual and then went over the classroom routines. They discussed what kindergarten was about.
Once again, as in the past, Sharing and Caring emerged as a critical component of the kindergarten culture. However, a few new procedures were added, including how to wear masks safely, attend to the clear protective desk shields, and limit the basic school supplies for individual use only — supplies such as crayons, pencil and paper, and Chromebooks.
As educators, we observed the response from these students regarding their onsite learning. It was amazing.
We were reassured that children are indeed resilient, and that they were joyful of their earlier online experience that made their classroom experience that much more meaningful. They were also excited to be in the classroom with their friends and their loving teachers. Our wide-eyed kindergarteners proudly understood the class rules, eagerly raised hands to answer questions, and were ready to show off that they were on their way to becoming successful learners.
While COVID may have inverted, reversed, reimagined, constricted, and constrained, certain aspects remained essentially the same. And while Sharing and Caring may mean something different this year, what has not changed has been the depth of genuine love, the rigor of our program, and the commitment every day to find what makes a child smile and find what makes a child thrive.
Self Development Academy offers a unique and advanced kindergarten program. This program allows children to begin their educational learning experience in a caring and intellectually stimulating environment. The educational program introduces kindergarten and first-grade curriculum goals and encourages concept mastery and academic confidence.
Early education intervention promotes a foundation for academic success. SDA uses multi-sensory phonics instruction, focusing on visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic techniques, which reach each child’s learning styles. Students learn phonemic awareness, sight words, spelling, writing and reading within each lesson.
The SDA kindergarten program prepares children to learn key fields of study and key values of the community that prepare students to promote to first grade. The school’s success focuses on teaching children the advanced curriculum using a structured and methodical approach. The classroom concentrates on mastery of math, reading and writing. This year, our student-centered approach has advanced. We now are able to personalize math and language arts for each kindergartener.
By the end of the year, children are authoring and editing their own books. We ensure most kindergartners read at or above a first-grade level and enjoy writing grammatically complete sentences.
Math facts, word problems, and even abstract algebra are discovered and surpassed. We do this starting with a steady ground floor of fundamentals of mathematical thinking, including number concepts and introduction to addition and subtraction.
Our nurturing, encouraging educators are highly trained specialists, and understand how to teach SDA’s high-level curriculum in a manner that is easily absorbed and greatly enjoyed.
There was nothing like seeing a sea of smiling eyes peeping from their masks as the students practiced distancing, respect of individual spaces, and learning to hold the pencils correctly. When the students prepared to go home at the end of the kindergarten day, the students loudly affirmed, “We had a great day!” They echoed in unison, “We will see you tomorrow.”
For more information regarding Self Development Academy, please contact us at (480) 641-2640. The school is located at 1709 N. Greenfield Road, Mesa, AZ 85205.