Religion
Using the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes, the students understand how to live as moral individuals. Through the study of the lives of the saints, especially St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare, the students appreciate how choices can impact others. Their child-friendly version of the Ten Commandments given as a gift to the Academy’s first communicants is our faith in action.
Language Arts
Students explore the literary elements and techniques as they read novels. Discussions promote high level thinking as they predict, investigate, interpret, and comprehend.
Grammar is learned both in application and isolation as the students use what is taught in all writing applications. Using the process writing, the students write regularly starting with their first major research piece on a saint which is then presented at the All Saints Day liturgy availing them the opportunity to practice their public speaking skills.
The students begin their formal study of Latin and Greek roots which broadens their vocabulary and introduces them to etymology.
Mathematics
The students build on the basic number concepts (mastery of fundamental operations, math facts, and place value) working toward developing higher-order problem solving skills. This allows them to explore fractions, decimals, and percentages, as well as geometry and area.
Science
With the skills of a scientist, the students use the scientific method to assimilate information. They hypothesize, experiment, classify, infer, and observe their world through the study of plants, animals, ecology, the human body, physics, and electricity. Scaffolding lessons has the students integrating material more completely.
Social Studies
Students study the regions and states of the United States of America developing an understanding of how and why the country developed as it did. Using map skills, they travel across this great nation culminating the year with a “Celebrate the U.S.A. Day.”