Academic Excellence
We hold true to all that Catholic school have always done best; continuing to provide our students with strong foundational skills while blending in today's best instructional practices and integrating techology in ways which support learning.
Programs
Students in grades K-2 participate in Music, Art, PE, and technology during all
three trimesters.
Students in grades 3-5 participate in Music, Art, PE, technology, and Spanish
during all three trimesters.
In grades 6-8 our students participate in a different exploratory class each
trimester. These course offerings are Theology of the Body/Health,
Coding/Consumer Education, and World Language Lab.
Students in grades 6-8 have PE class three times a week.
In grades 6-8 we offer math classes Course 1 through Geometry. These classes
are sixty minutes long and offer our students an opportunity to spend more
time immersed in math concepts and their application.
We also offer a ninety-minute English Language Arts and Social Studies class.
This block of time is designed to support an interdisciplinary approach to
instruction. Our students are immersed in Social Studies topics which are
connected to rigorous non-fiction and fiction reading materials. Writing
assignments across all writing genres are connected to these topics with
grammar and writing traits lessons embedded into the writing component.
This class allows our students to go deeper, think critically, and engage in
content from multiple perspectives.
instruction
Instruction is driven by content area standards as well as student data. We provide our students with both whole group and small group instruction and work to meet the needs of all students. We are growing in our interdisciplinary instructional approach (STREAM) as we seek to immerse students in topics from multiple perspectives through project-based learning and assessment. Daily instructional learning targets with connected assessments provide our students with an understanding of the instructional goal and its outcome.
Over the course of the last few years we have implemented project based learning in science. In grades K-5 we utilize Project Lead the Way modules for our core science content and Project Lead the Way computer science modules are embedded into technology class instruction. This approach allows students to work collaboratively and engage in the scientific process as they apply their content knowledge while problem solving.
assessment
Our school uses a variety of assessment tools in order to assist us in creating learning experiences that best support the needs of all of our students.
The Iowa Assessment is administered annually in March. Our students in grades 3-8 participate in this assessment which provides us with feedback which demonstrates student growth from year to year. The tests cover reading, written expression, conventions of writing, vocabulary, mathematics, and computation. In grades 4-8 science and social studies are also included and in grade 3 students take a word analysis and listening assessment.
Students in grades 3-7 participate in the Cognitive Abilities Assessment. This assessment helps us understand how students learn best and measures their ability in verbal, non-verbal, and quantitative batteries of tests.
Three times a year we administer benchmark assessments to all of our students using Iowa Flex. These assessments demonstrate a student’s growth during the school year in the areas of reading and math.
We also utilize the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment. This tool allows the teacher to sit with a student one-on-one, listen to them read, and engage in a comprehension conversation which allows the teacher to determine a student’s reading level.
We use all of this information along with daily formative assessment to create learning experiences to support the needs of all of our students.
Differentiation
Differentiation takes place in all classrooms as teachers utilize daily ongoing assessment as well as benchmark assessment data to form instruction. Here at our school we are also blessed to have support resources available for our students to ensure that all students meet their goals. We have a reading specialist, learning interventionist, speech pathologist, school counselor, and school nurses. All of these staff members work in concert with the classroom teachers to develop and implement instructional practices which support student learning.
technology
In grades 3-8 our students are 1:1 with Chromebooks and in grades K-2 are 2:1
with Chromebooks.
Students learn to use their device as a tool to support their learning. In grades
K-5, students receive instruction in Google so that they can use these skills
across the curriculum. Devices are used in a variety of ways such as during
daily English Language Arts rotations, for research, to create presentations,
for webquests, and math practice.
facilities
We are blessed to have spaces in our school which support and enrich our students’ learning experiences.
We are blessed to have spaces in our school which support and enrich our students’ learning experiences.
We are blessed to have spaces in our school which support and enrich our students’ learning experiences.
We are blessed to have spaces in our school which support and enrich our students’ learning experiences.
We are blessed to have spaces in our school which support and enrich our students’ learning experiences.
We are blessed to have spaces in our school which support and enrich our students’ learning experiences.