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| St. John Regional Catholic School is accredited by
the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
We provide a strong academic program that incorporates
Catholic identity in all subject areas. Our curriculum
is based on the Elementary Course of Study as prescribed
by the Archdiocese of Baltimore. It is aligned with
national standards and the regulations of the Maryland
State Department of Education for non-public schools.
Our academic program includes grades Pre-K through grade
8. Each grade level incorporates content and activities
that are developmentally appropriate. |
Religion
The Catholic faith is taught each day to all students
at SJRCS. Students reach a deeper understanding of the
faith through instruction that focuses on each and every
student realizeing their importance as a child of God.
Across the grades students are taught prayers, Bible
stories, how to use a Bible, the parts of the Mass,
the importance of God, Jesus, Mary, and the saints in
their lives, and the basic teachings of Jesus. The students
at SJRCS attain an appreciation for the history of our
faith through a church history course, will create awareness
to the foundations of the faith through examination
of our creed, and continue to grow as Christian individuals
as they examine morality and how to apply it in their
everyday lives. Students regularly participate in service
projects as they reach out to those less fortunate than
themselves to fulfill their obligation to those Jesus
speaks when he said: “Whatsoever you do to the
least of my people, you do unto me.”
Language Arts
In a typical school day, approximately an hour and a
half is devoted to instruction in language arts in each
classroom. The primary students receive two hours of
instruction per day. Developing a strong literacy foundation
is a top priority at SJRCS. With the Saxon Publisher’s
phonics program implemented in grades
Pre K through two, students receive a heavy focus
on letter knowledge and phonological awareness. Students
continue to develop fine motor control to draw and write
while exploring the crucial basics of punctuation and
decoding. Also in the lower primary grades solid fundamentals
in the comprehension of short fictional and non-fictional
text are established.
In the upper primary grades and
middle school, students attain the necessary
skills to become excellent writers. There is emphasis
on grammar structure and paragraph writing in second
and third grade, and in fourth and fifth grades students
define the elements of plot and demonstrate the ability
to write autobiographies and plays. Students in the
middle grades write and
deliver a 4- to 5-minute speech as part of a middle
school competition, write two different types of research
papers utilizing MLA format, and continue developing
basic skills as they recognize qualities or nouns, including
person, number, gender, and case use nouns and pronouns
as indirect objects, subject complements, and direct
address. |
Mathematics
Students in the primary grades
are offered manipulative math programs where children
are encouraged to handle and experience number concepts
before being expected to perform paper and pencil tasks.
Starting in fourth grade,
students are ability grouped by class for math lessons.
This is done using a teacher constructed matrix of scores
and other indicators to determine proper placement.
Movement between the two groupings is designed to be
fluid to meet the changing needs of our students. Students’
math performance is established through the examination
of the standards of concepts, computation, and problem
solving. Each lesson and activity addresses these specific
standards to gain a well-rounded picture of the student’s
progression through our math curriculum.
In middle school, accelerated
students are offered pre-algebra in the seventh grade
and then have the potential to take high school algebra
in the eighth grade. This enables them the option to
move directly into geometry in the ninth grade and complete
a year of calculus before graduation.
Science
Through close inquiry of life, earth, and physical science,
students at SJRCS at are given the opportunity to view
the world in a different light. Across the grade spectrum,
students begin to establish core knowledge in science
topics as they discover various topics such as the food
chain, plant cycle, sources of energy, weather, the
solar system, rocks, land forms, and simple machines.
Students are further able to experience the vast world
of science as they utilize the state of the art science
lab located on the SJRCS campus. |
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