Religion

Priority topics for the Grade 1 Religion Curriculum are: God the Creator, grace, and eternal life. Students learn the stories of the two major events in Jesus’ life, Christmas and Easter, and how Jesus won eternal life for us. They begin to discover the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives through grace. They grow to understand the meaning of Baptism. Looking to the Holy Family, (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph) as role models for good living, experiences of prayer, worship, service, and learning encourage and support students in striving to live daily as children of God in their words and actions. Children begin to learn traditional Catholic Christian prayers.

Reading/Language Arts

The reading program focuses on developing independent readers through whole group instruction and small group, guided reading. An emphasis is placed on sight word recognition, comprehension strategies, phonics, fluency, and independent writing. The language arts program consists of handwriting, spelling, and English.  An emphasis is placed on sentences, the parts of speech, and writing.

Math

The math curriculum places emphasis on addition, subtraction, problem-solving, place value, money, time, and measurement.  The children explore all these areas through the use of manipulatives.  Skills are reinforced through daily practice and math activities made available through the Compass Learning program.

Science

The science curriculum focuses on plants, animals, weather, and the planets.  

Social Studies

The social studies program centers on families, neighborhoods, communities, needs and wants, and Our Country.

Specials

Students attend an art, music, library, gym, and computer class once per week. In art the concentration in Kindergarten through Grade 4 is to develop fine motor skills, learn about the art elements and principles or design, color schemes, basic drawing and painting, blending colors, discovering new media and working 3 dimensionally within various material. Lessons are related to the history of art, famous artists and their works, and international, cultural practices and crafts. An Art Show is held in the spring each year showcasing the artistic accomplishments of all students.

In music, they are introduced to reading basic notation of time values of notes (whole, half, quarter) as well as counting beats to a measure and playing simple rhythms with sticks. They enjoy singing songs of different occasions and holidays.

In PE instruction and activities concentrate heavily on basic locomotor skill development (walk, run, skip, jump, hop, etc.) and the development of hand/eye and foot coordination through catching, throwing and kicking.  Simple game play and activities are utilized to introduce and reinforce these skills.

Foreign Language

All students in Kindergarten through Grade 4 receive an introduction to the Spanish language and culture. The curriculum is presented in an active, cheerful manner with never a dull moment! During their once a week lesson, the instructor emphasizes listening, comprehending, and speaking the language. Students learn to speak the basics of Spanish (ABC’s, numbers, colors, days of the week, seasons, months of the year, etc.) through games, songs, and conversations. They also learn about traditions, dance styles, and prayers.

Highlights

Students enjoy field trips to the Labuda Performing Arts Center at DeSales University in the springtime for a play, the Please Touch Museum, a 100th Day of School celebration, a Mystery Reader and a Student of the week program. Our major field trip is usually to the Adventure Aquarium.