Character education matters. If you have any doubts about that, pick up a newspaper or watch a few minutes of the nightly news. We live in a world where teaching children to grow up to be caring, feeling adults is sorely needed.
At Kiddie Academy® Educational Child Care, character education is one of our fundamental principles and we believe it should begin with our youngest learners. “In early childhood education, teaching character education is one part of the larger picture of developing social emotional skills in young children,” said Richard Peterson, Vice President of Education. “These are the building blocks for children’s future success not only in school but in life.”
Peterson notes that studies have shown a correlation between exposure to character education programs and increased academic performance in school, as well as decreased disciplinary problems overall.
Introducing Character EssentialsSM
As the new school year gets underway, we are incredibly excited to introduce our new Character EssentialsSM curriculum. This is an important development in our ongoing commitment to incorporating the latest research and trends into our educational programs.
Character Essentials is a completely revised and comprehensive program for infants through school-age children. We will begin implementing the program throughout our Academies in September.
Character Essentials brings several new elements that will help teachers develop learning experiences that provide a solid foundation and prepare the students in our care for school and life. There are individual programs for each of the seven age groups, infants through school-age children. Instead of one trait per month, we now offer a monthly theme that focuses on four traits. Throughout the year, children will be introduced to 48 individual character traits that support the overall monthly themes in the Preschool through School-Age programs.
The monthly character themes are:
- January – We Get Along
- February – We Are Unique
- March – We Are Patient
- April – We Are Good Citizens
- May – We Are Responsible
- June – We Are Leaders
- July – We Are Proud
- August – We Are Strong
- September – We Are Friends
- October – We Have Feelings
- November – We Are Thankful
- December – We Are Kind
“Character Essentials® teaches common values and character traits to children with the intention of helping them develop into moral, caring and responsible citizens,” Peterson said. “These programs help children navigate relationships with others and shape their attitudes and actions in society.”
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