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EducationFeatured

The Rigor of Early Childhood and K-8 Grade Education Make All The Difference

by Dr. Anjum Majeed August 1, 2023August 1, 2023
written by Dr. Anjum Majeed August 1, 2023August 1, 2023

If you happen to be at Self Development Preschool between 4:30 and 5 p.m., the time when parents are picking up their students, you will hear the repeated requests which include, “May I stay a little longer” and “I am not ready to go yet.”

 Parents are comforted by the fact that not only are their children in a safe and nurturing environment but they are actually having fun.

 Self Development Preschool (SDP) has been serving the Mesa community since 1988 and the award-winning K-8 Self Development Academy (SDA) was established in 2000. An online school was added in 2021.

Each year the leadership team meets to reassess the successes and experiences of SDA and its community and then incorporates innovative ideas to provide the most rigorous curriculum in a nurturing environment for our students.

This fall, besides focusing on a rigorous accelerated curriculum, the school plans to add an in-depth music program and enrich the experiences of students through art appreciation along with emphasizing logic and reasoning. Additionally, the school culture of respect and responsibility lends itself to incorporating the Four Rs of the SDA community.

RIGOR OF THE CURRICULUM

SDP is committed to an ideal early education by integrating arts, science, music, and math using a thematic curriculum. This coming fall, the four-year-olds at the preschool will be taking kindergarten coursework under the guidance of degreed teachers. We know they will be excitedly learning the readiness skills for school success and some will be reading with fluency and expressions. 

With the emphasis on early literacy, our K-2 program is accelerated and provides enriched experiences at one to two grade levels higher. The pattern will continue as students move to the upper grades. Some of our fifth-grade students will be enrolled in middle school as fifth graders and will have their own classroom taking middle school classes.

Our students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade will have the opportunity to take high-school-level courses with high-school-certified teachers in their subject areas. They can enroll in subjects such as geometry, algebra II, and pre-calculus as middle school students. They will also participate in a service project

FOUR RS OF SDA CULTURE

The Four Rs embedded in the culture of SDA include the following: being respectful, being responsible, being ready, and being resilient. The Four Rs at SDA embody the practice of standards and principles to live a life as a good citizen. 

The characteristics of the culture at SDA include being kind to each other and treating each other with respect. Becoming responsible helps students think about their interactions with their peers and members of the school community. Students become aware of their actions and how they lead to their success, experiences, and how to connect the consequences with their actions. They grow and mature and move toward becoming good citizens.

Being ready or be prepared is a universal message given to youngsters. Being prepared supports the state of readiness of mind and body. Learning to be resilient cultivates in students to accept disappointments and, yet, keep an optimistic attitude about one’s future. Through resilience, students learn to work hard and gain confidence. 

MUSIC ENRICHMENT AND MASTERY

Though many schools are selecting to do away with their music programs, SDA’s goal is to enhance the music program to bring enrichment to students’ education. Besides learning to play an instrument and enjoy music, there are numerous benefits to a good music program in schools

Music enhances language and reasoning abilities along with memorization skills and increases eye-hand coordination. Using memory to perform when using sheet music helps students in memorizing and developing fluency — for example, the memorization of math facts. 

SDA’s music program begins at the preschool level with listening to the works of many classical composers and singing and dancing to familiar children’s songs to a more in-depth knowledge about the composers and their styles, and learning to play the recorder, violin, and percussion instruments. SDA will also have an honors band/ orchestra which will meet three times a week for those students who are committed to learning and mastering the instrument they desire to play

SDA has consistently been among the top-ranked schools in the state and nationally. Last year, SDA was ranked No. 2 based on percentage points earned in state tests (ADE, 2022) and ranked nationally as the No. 4 Best Public Charter School and No. 7 Best Public Elementary (Niche, 2023).

To give your children a strong foundation for developing a love for learning, please contact Self Development Preschool at (480) 396-3522 and Self Development Academy, a tuition-free, K-8 in-person and online public charter school, at (480) 641-2640. We have been proudly serving Mesa for over three decades!

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