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SPA's Approach to Curriculum At the heart of any school is its curriculum. While parents send their students to school for many reasons - including social and character development - they usually have a primary interest in seeing their children learn, expand intellectual curiosity, and apply learning to everyday situations in order to develop into fully competent young adults. To facilitate such development is the true task of any academic institution.
The SPA Board, administration and faculty aim to provide a rich and challenging curriculum that will facilitate such development. At SPA, the term curriculum is interpreted as meaning the sum total of a student’s learning experiences; the school structures these experiences to lead to productive, life long learning. The school incorporates several key elements in its approach to curriculum: integration of subject areas, “real life” application of learning and graduated skills development. At SPA, teachers are coaches of student learning and students are encouraged to be active participants in all lessons through inquisitive discussions, self-evaluation and self-motivation. It is the goal of SPA to instill in students a lifelong love of learning. This approach to learning is based on an adopted standards based curriculum, not textbook driven. |
SUBJECT AREAS
Curriculum development is a continuous process with a review and reevaluation of curricula occurring each year. Assurance is made that the classroom curricula is aligned with Standards and Benchmarks
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FINE ARTS
Visual Art is presented as a combination of history, appreciation and practice. The art program, with a focus on the Pacific Arts, has become a vital component of the curriculum, encouraging students not only to develop an appreciation of the traditional forms, but also to develop their artistic abilities and build self-esteem. Students develop perspective and work in two and three dimensional art media through the world of painting, drawing, block printing, sculpting and weaving. In our efforts to include job skills in our high school curriculum, commercial art develops the students’ abilities to design layouts, signs, screen printings, advertising and logos.
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HEALTH/PHYSICAL FITNESS
All students at SPA are required to take physical education classes that encourage a healthy view of physical activity and its benefits to the well being of the human mind and body. The program focuses on healthy nutrition and developmentally appropriate sports and exercises. Through a varied program that stresses individualized fitness goals, we aid students in understanding the benefits of continuing physical activity. Students are encouraged to participate in intramural sports programs.
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MUSIC, DANCE AND DRAMA INTEGRATION
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WORLD LANGUAGES
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The opportunity for children to express themselves through the arts contributes to their intellectual and social growth as well. With this in mind, SPA places tremendous emphasis on the arts and performing arts, culminating in a variety of public performances.
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SPA is very excited to announce the offering of Samoan with the long-term goal of providing the student with an opportunity to communicate effectively in a foreign language. The program emphasizes the relationship between culture and language as students develop grammar, syntax, and vocabulary skills in a second language.
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SAMOAN LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND HANDICRAFTS
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WRITING AND LANGUAGE ARTS
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Offered during alternative years, our Samoan Program has developed into an integral part of the SPA curriculum. In addition to language, the Samoan class will familiarize students with the uniqueness of the Samoan culture, its traditional practices and music, and demonstrate to students the traditional culinary uses of the Samoan flora. The Samoan Studies program culminates in an annual Samoan Night.
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A writer’s workshop approach emphasizes the stages through which writers advance with a writing project: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, proofreading and publishing. Writing skills are integrated throughout all content areas. As students become more fluent writers, they sharpen their skills in the mechanics of spelling, punctuation and grammar. Throughout the years, students have developed skills in literary criticism and honed their abilities to write persuasively, creatively and accurately.
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MATHEMATICS
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HISTORY & SOCIAL STUDIES
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The curriculum stresses computation and a full range of mathematics including data collection and analysis, probability and statistics, geometry and algebra. The core of the math curriculum includes applied arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus.
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SPA’s history/social studies curriculum is project-based and emphasizes the use of literature in instruction. A cross-curricular approach is guided by a multicultural perspective and respect for diversity.
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SCIENCE
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COMPUTER SCIENCE
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Asking questions, making discoveries, gathering data, analyzing explanations and communicating scientific arguments are key ingredients in a classroom where vibrant inquiry is taking place. With a focus on “real science”, our goal is to provide students with an opportunity to observe and hypothesize about the world around them, setting the groundwork for the acquisition of critical thinking and relevant problem solving skills.
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South Pacific Academy offers up-to-date and relevant instruction in computer science, information technology and media. This approach will train students to be digital-age learners and promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) interest. Students in Primary through fourth grade will reinforce their curriculum through computer applications and basic coding. At the upper level academies students become familiar with the foundation of Computer Science and how modern computers work by learning programming languages and algorithms. Instruction in basic electronics/robotics and prototyping platforms like Arduino will be a useful skill in preparing students for science and engineering careers. Students will also develop their creative skills with 3D modeling, photo and video editing using industry standard open-source software.
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"What we learn with pleasure we never forger"
-Alfred Mercier-