Religion: We teach students to live the Beatitudes and Corporal Works of Mercy as each class focuses on a service project that helps them connect their faith and the world. Students are taught about building a personal relationship with Jesus, the parts of the Mass, Scripture passages, and more. Second grade is prepared for and participates in their Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion.
Language Arts: Our elementary school focuses on development of students’ reading, writing, speaking, listening, and spelling skills. Daily reading logs, weekly spelling lists, classroom read-alouds and text analyses, novel studies, and grammar assignments are used to support students’ growth in these areas.
Math: Depending on your student’s grade level, they will encounter concepts such as multiple digit addition and subtraction, money and time, multiplication and division, word problems, adding and subtracting fractions, algebraic equations, and classifying shapes.
Technology: Technology is used to support each student’s learning through our 1:1 use of iPads for our students. This enables them to use IXL, Epic, and Google Classroom and apps to further reinforce their knowledge and provide opportunities for differentiation of concepts introduced in our curriculum.
Social Studies: While in our elementary program, your student will be introduced to a wide range of enriching topics. These include, but are not limited to, real-life heroes, basic economic concepts, features and resources of California, Native Americans and their culture, the basic structure of our government, pre-Columbian societies, early U.S. history, and United States geography.
Music: SMMS students partake in an enriching musical experience. Our music teacher, Ms. Zandbergen, leads each class through preparation of songs for Liturgy and music appreciation. Each class has a different musical focus, with some preparing for a Christmas program, some for square dancing, and some for a musical. Students are also encouraged to participate in choir for our weekly school Mass.
Science: Upon completing our elementary program, your student will be familiar with concepts such as living a healthy lifestyle, the motion of an object, plant and animal life cycles, matter and energy, our solar system, the scientific method, the properties of matter, how natural disasters occur, and more! Our teachers use a variety of hands-on-learning techniques and experiments to make learning fun for their students.
Physical Education: Each class’ physical education standards are incorporated into a variety of games and activities. An emphasis is placed on sportsmanship and working together as a team.
Spanish: Our Spanish teacher, Maestra Gonzalez, prepares students to read, write, and speak basic sentences in Spanish. She also teaches them about the language, culture, and traditions of Spanish-speaking people.
Art: Parent volunteers receive training to instruct our students about principles of art. The result is a fun and enriching art program that fosters wonderful student creativity!
