Introduction

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sand pile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don’t hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don’t take things that aren’t yours
• Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Think what a better world I would be if we all – the whole world – had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are – when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

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Fulghum, Robert. All I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten. Ballantine Books. 1988. Pages 4-6.

Within the Diocese of Superior Catholic Schools, Early Childhood programs are an integral component. Our programs provide a child with their first school opportunities within an safe, nurturing and spiritual environment. Children are introduced to developmentally appropriate curriculums, which will engage their individual identities and foster their love for learning.

These Early Childhood Guidelines have been developed to ensure that there is a consistency within the Diocese of Superior Catholic Schools for spiritual, social, emotional and cognitive growth of pre-school and kindergarten children.

The top outcomes hoped to be established through the guidelines are:

• Learn that God loves them and we are to show God’s love to others
• Excite children about learning
• Kindergarten and First Grade readiness
• Development of values
• Age appropriate developmental skills are introduced and nurtured
• Expose children to new, exciting, “mind-enhancing” ideas, experiences and
• environments

Since 1898, the State of Wisconsin Legislature has permitted schools to establish 4 and 5 K programs. The very first Kindergarten program in the state was begun in 1856 in a private setting in Watertown. The very first public program was begun in 1873 in Manitowoc. It wasn’t until 1973 that the state required public schools to provide 5K programs. By 1984, the state legislature reinstated financial support to public schools for 4K programs. By 1996, there was a spattering of public school 4K programs in the state and by 2006 the majority of public schools had established some type of 4K program.

In the Diocese of Superior, the very first 5K program began in the 1950s in Superior Catholic Schools. Not until 1974 and 1976, respectfully, St. Bridget, River Falls and St. Francis Solanua, Reserve began 5K. By 1997 the last of the Catholic Schools in the Diocese adopted the 5K program. Kindergarten Curriculum was first created, beginning in the 1990s along with all elementary and middle school curriculums.

In 1983, St. Anthony de Padua, Park Falls began the first 4K program in the Diocese. Following in 1986, Our Lady of the Lake, Ashland and Cathedral School, Superior began their 4K programs. Some of the programs to date even include 3 year old children. In 2006, Cathedral School, Superior adopted the Superior Community Preschool program which has provided financial and community benefits for the school. In 2007, St. Mary’s, New Richmond will be adopting their community preschool program.
As of the 2006-2007 school year, of the 2553 students enrolled in our Catholic Schools, 679 of them are in Early Childhood programs – 3K, 4K and 5K. Thus, Early Childhood students make up 26.6% of our Catholic school enrollment.

2007 Early Childhood Questionnaires completed by those listed above
Diocese of Superior K-8 Subject Curriculums
Diocese of Superior Kindergarten Report Card
Holy Rosary Catholic School, Medford Pre-School Activity List
Medford Area Elementary School Early Childhood Checklist/Report Card
Nativity of Our Lord, Rhinelander, Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum
St. Mary Catholic School, New Richmond, Kindergarten Report Card
St. Mary Catholic School, Tomahawk, Early Childhood Curriculum and Report Cards
Wisconsin Model Early Childhood Standards