Religion
Students learn the principles of living a Christian life and developing values based on their connection to a loving God and the teaching of Jesus. The celebrations of the Church, devotion and prayer, are explored: the place of Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, unfolds; Jesus' teachings on forgiveness, His life and miracles, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the seasons of the church year, are included.
Reading/Language Arts
To facilitate learning to read, students are introduced to initial, medial, and final sounds, rhyming, consonant blends and digraphs. Some of the skills taught include: alphabetical order, capitalization, punctuation, critical listening, identifying the main idea, using context clues, recalling story details, using illustrations, classifying and categorizing, make predictions, sequencing events, recognizing cause and effect, and distinguishing between fiction and non-fiction. Guided reading and individual “book bags” strengthen each student’s individual needs to enhance reading fluency, word recognition, and comprehension skills. Vocabulary words are taught including synonyms/antonyms, and classification. Language development and writing process skills are part of the reading experience.
Writer's Workshop
Students discover what it means to be a writer, using the "Writer's Workshop" method. The students have the creative freedom to choose topics that are meaningful to their own lives. The “Writer's Workshop" method incorporates a guided mini-lesson and independent writing to provide a time for practice. While the students write, teachers conduct individual conferences to build upon each student's specific writing skills. Students also conference with each other.
Mathematics
During these early years students learn various math concepts, develop problem solving skills, and use real life applications to understand how to use math in everyday life. Primary students develop their number sense through counting, comparing, sequencing, reading and writing numbers. Addition, subtraction, two place addition and subtraction (eventually with regrouping), and writing ordinal numbers are skills developed. Through the use of age-appropriate resources, such as manipulatives, students develop an understanding of measurement, weight, length, volume, time, money, fractions, constructing and using graphs, and describing geometric figures.
Science
Using their five senses, students explore the world around them through observation and experimentation. They compare, contrast, and sort what they discover. Some of the topics covered include: animals and their habitats, land forms, water, the earth, weather, seasons, the night sky, magnetism, plants, simple machines and movement.
STEM
Students participate in weekly STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) activities in small collaborative groups. Students design and build solutions to problems. STEM helps to promote critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and creativity.
Social Studies
Students begin to explore the relationships of individuals and groups, and how people structure their families and neighborhoods. A sense of community is developed and the variety of communities is explored: farm, city, and village. Our country of America is examined, map-reading skills are introduced, and a review of holidays and customs are pursued. These objectives are followed by the concepts of government, geographic features, important leaders, justice, equality, presidents.
Spanish
Students are learning Spanish through books, games, songs, art, and other hands-on activities. The children are introduced to colors, numbers, letters, animals, foods, and basic commands. They are learning how to talk about themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods all in Spanish. Culturally, the children are becoming aware of other customs and traditions that exist around the world.