The Campus
Our elementary school classrooms are found in the main school building on the lower and main levels. Each classroom has an door that exits to our beautiful courtyard reminiscent of an old-world convent garden. Being surrounded by this peaceful, enclosed space truly lends to a spirit of safety, and calm in our classrooms. Recess is an opportunity each day for students to run and play on our large blacktop area and our field and multiple playgrounds. Our separate gym building provides an amazing space for P.E. Class as well as a safe play area during inclement weather.
Small Class Sizes
Our class sizes in the lower school really enable our teachers to hone in on students strengths and weaknesses, and to carefully cultivate and grow their minds, hearts and souls toward the good. Each student is known by the teacher, and appreciated for who they are – the child of a good and loving God. This outlook informs our personal approach to the education of our students. No child slips through the cracks. Teachers are acutely aware of each student’s progress, and when gaps are identified, they are quickly remedied. Small class sizes are a proven benefit to both quiet students, in that they are afforded the opportunity to participate in classroom discussion, as well as more gregarious students who learn the virtue of patience and respect for others.
Homeroom Teachers
Students in the Elementary School have a homeroom teacher, with whom they spend a large portion of their day, which allows for the personal, and individualized relationship that we know enhances the educational outcome of a student. Additionally, students participate in P.E., art, music, library, Spanish and IT classes with specialized teachers multiple times per week, expanding their experience and offering more opportunities to see models of faculty who love their specialties!
Academics
In our Elementary School, students are taught traditional phonics, which is proven to increase literacy and is the way most of us were taught to read. Sounding words out phonetically is a tried and true method that increases students ability to spell and infer the definition of a previously unknown vocabulary word. The benefits are clear when it comes to middle school. Students who benefited from a traditional phonics approach outperform those taught by sight word and word recognition strategies common in public schools.
Additionally, our small class sizes enable teachers to work with even smaller groups for reading and math, which improve the educational outcomes of our students.
Our second graders learn cursive, another important skill that commonly falls by the wayside in modern public school settings. Students who are deprived of this instruction miss out on the establishment of certain neurological connections, increased legibility, writing speed and increased retention, not to mention the ability to read documents written in cursive!
Our students daily recite the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as a variety of traditional Catholic Prayers such as the Daily Offering, The Angelus, and other memorized prayers. Rote memorization has its place in a well-balanced education, developing increased capacity for memory and better recall of information.
Our students go on to excel in Middle School and beyond. Our students are accepted to the most highly ranked high school programs in the area – including the foremost Catholic High Schools and Public Magnet Programs through Montgomery County Public Schools.