Our School Divisions
Early Childhood Center
The Early Childhood Center at the Singapore American School is an excellent choice in assisting your child to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future. We are pleased to offer young children a dynamic and exciting educational experience.
Preschool and pre-kindergarten children enter an exciting world of educational experience that allows them to develop skills and attitudes that will grow incrementally throughout the program and that will benefit them throughout their lives. The Center’s skilled and talented faculty has created a nurturing environment where children feel safe and appreciated at the level of their own maturity and ability. Children are given the opportunity to learn, grow, and develop in a climate of genuine affection and warmth in their own time and in their own unique way.
| The ECC curriculum encourages students to: |
- |
question, discover, create, communicate and explore |
- |
develop confidence in their own abilities |
- |
embrace new and challenging experiences |
- |
develop a love for learning |
ECC Curriculum
The Early Childhood Center’s curriculum is based on the latest U.S. standards, which were developed by a panel of national experts in early childhood education and reviewed by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. It is an integrated curriculum that introduces meaningful themes that spark a child’s natural curiosity, interests and enthusiasm.
The curriculum also includes art, music, drama, field trips, cooking lessons, guest speakers and audio-visual aids to help promote children’s understanding of concepts and to foster creativity. Students are encouraged to talk about their perceptions, and to develop problem-solving and decision-making skills.
Skills are sequentially taught from preschool through pre-kindergarten, with a goal of encouraging a love of books, a positive approach to all subjects, and self-confidence. In an environment that appreciates that children at this age develop at different rates and with different interest s and ability levels, the curriculum includes:
- Language and Literacy
- Mathematics
- Science
- Social Studies
- Music
- Perceptual Motor
- Mandarin
- The ECC Facility
 |
The newly built Early Childhood Center opened in 2004 as a safe, fun, and inviting learning environment for three- and four-year old children. Professionally designed as a theme-based facility with age-appropriate materials and equipment, it has indoor and outdoor play areas, where creativity and imaginative play abound. The technology-friendly Great Hall, with an optional stage area, has been designed for recreational activities, assemblies, and performances. The ECC Library holds over 3,000 books appropriate for preschool and pre-kindergarten children and their parents, with books rotating in and out of the main Primary School library for variety, and is managed by a certified librarian. A dedicated Perceptual Motor Room in a program that incorporates music, movement and drama, promotes the development of fine and large motor activity and its connectivity to the brain. A Nurse’s Office is equipped with medical and first aid equipment.
The ECC Program
Preschool, for 3-year old children, is a half-day program offered as a choice of morning (8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.) or afternoon (11:55 p.m. to 2:55 p.m.). Three preschool classrooms, all running both a morning and an afternoon program, have a maximum of 12 students with a certified teacher and a teaching assistant in each class.
Pre-kindergarten, for 4-year old children, is a three-quarter-day program (8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.), with a maximum of 16 students in a class with a certified teacher and a teaching assistant.
Administered within the Primary School, the ECC is run by a Director under the guidance of the Primary School Principal and Deputy Principal. Dedicated specialist staff in the ECC teach perceptual motor skills and Mandarin language, and provide speech and language support. The ECC also has full access to the Primary School counselors, psychologist, and school nurses.
|
