Curriculum Overview

Saint Juliana School provides an excellent program of academic and extracurricular activities that combine to prepare students both intellectually and spiritually for a life-long love of learning. We focus on the intellectual, spiritual, physical, social, and emotional development of our students, from preschool (age 3) through eighth grade.

Faith and Religion

Sacramental instruction is provided for Reconciliation and First Eucharist in second grade and Confirmation in eigth grade. Students in grades K–8 attend Mass together weekly and participate in the liturgical preparation and celebration.

Technology & Digital Citizenship

Ready access to our wide variety of technology tools, including our state-of-the-art STEAM lab, serves to increase student engagement, enhance learning and produce superior outcomes. Interactive SMART Boards are present in every classroom.

Younger students are introduced to the digital world through structured sessions in the lab, supplemented by classroom use of SMART Boards and iPads. Intermediate and upper grades apply lessons learned in the lab through the use of SMART Boards, and Chromebooks in their classrooms.

Standardized Testing

i-Ready is an online program that helps students in kindergarten through eighth grade improve their reading and math skills. It uses a diagnostic test to identify a student’s needs and then provides personalized instruction. I-Ready also helps teachers plan instruction, set goals, and monitor student progress. Students take three diagnostic tests throughout the school year.

Home & School Connection

The Parent Portal is your window to all that's happening with your student and the school. Our faculty regularly communicates homework and class activities via their classroom blogs, SeeSaw, or class emails. Parents are encouraged to subscribe to automatic email updates. Parents can follow students' individual academic and behavioral progress online through the privacy and security of PowerSchool. We maintain an active presence on Facebook and Instagram, too.

English & Language Arts

Reading, writing, speaking and listening are central components to all learning and fall under the core language arts curriculum. Learning how to think logically, critically and creatively, and searching for, organizing and evaluating information are skills critical to student success.

Superkids!

We're a Superkids school!

Superkids, from the Rowland Reading Foundation, is a comprehensive core reading program for students in kindergarten through second grade. The effectiveness of the Superkids program is backed by well-documented independent studies and research.

Superkids provides a clear sequential path of instruction that leads to reading mastery while it simultaneously teaches students to write and spell. At all grade levels the program includes a wealth of online tools for teachers, students and parents, for use at home and in the classroom.

Aligned to Common Core state standards
Built on systematic phonics
Balances all five essential elements of reading
Integrates reading, writing, spelling, and grammar
Combines rigor with fun

Grammar & Vocabulary Series

Published by Sadlier-Oxford, the Grammar Workshop provides students with lessons and practice to help students communicate their written ideas with clarity and correctness. An online component features interactive quizzes for each lesson that are automatically scored.

Vocabulary is the foundation for reading, and Sadlier's Vocabulary Workshop instructs with high-leverage words that are portable across subject areas. Word study skills are developed through reading, writing, speaking and listening activities–both digital and in print.

Words Their Way from Pearson Education supplements fiction and non-fiction reading instruction for junior high students. A comprehensive program for phonics, spelling and vocabulary, students learn to make sense of words on their own terms, by identifying patterns in spelling and sound.

Accelerated Reader

Our school participates in the Accelerated Reader program published by Renaissance Learning Inc (RLI). Students are asked to make reading selections from the Accelerated Reader (AR) list and take quizzes on those books to earn points during each marking period. Your child's teacher will communicate the quarterly point goal.

The AR program is web-based, which allows for frequent updates. The full AR list of over 100,000 books/quizzes is regularly updated at arbookfind.com. Parents can login through the Renaissance Home Connect portal using login credentials provided by teachers.

Special Note to Parents: Students are guided to the appropriate interest level when making their selections but parents are encouraged to be involved in deciding what is acceptable for their child(ren) to read. Students may be asked to obtain parental permission for certain books beyond their interest level.

Mathematics

Students learn best when they solve meaningful problems rooted in real life. Our math programs actively engage students in both hands-on and minds-on activities involving manipulatives, math games and appropriate technology, providing opportunities for students to explore, analyze and apply knowledge.

enVision Mathematics

IXL Math

Science & Social Studies

Children are born with an innate curiosity about their surroundings–the people, places and things of their world. By fostering the desire to explore, explain, inquire and discover we nurture and guide students to an understanding of the natural world and its people.

Digital Citizenship & Technology

Technology brings both great rewards and risks to our lives and we're committed to ensuring our students are educated, responsible digital citizens. Introduction to age-appropriate themes begins in preschool and continues through junior high.

To support student development across all platforms and devices, every classroom offers multiple Ethernet drops and a dedicated Wi-Fi access point; common areas are similarly equipped. Interactive SMART Boards and desktop computers are in classrooms, in addition to a full technology lab, plus mini-labs in the media center, learning resource and extended care classrooms. Mobile carts of iPads, Chromebooks and Windows netbooks enable 1:1 classroom instruction.

Common Sense Media

Common Sense Media is the leading independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids thrive in a world of media and technology. Parents, teachers, and policymakers are empowered with unbiased information, trusted advice, and innovative tools to help them harness the power of media and technology as a positive force in all kids’ lives.

Common Sense Media helps families make smart media choices. Their Parent Blog helps families understand and navigate the problems and possibilities of raising children in the digital age.
Common Sense Education provides high-quality digital literacy and citizenship programs to educators and school communities.

NetSmartz™

NetSmartz is an interactive, educational program of age-appropriate instruction that teaches children how to be both safe and smart as they develop their digital citizenship. Created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), NetSmartz provides resources and guidance for children ages 5-17, parents and guardians, educators and law enforcement.

Through videos, games, activities and presentations, NetSmartz is designed to entertain while it:

Educates children on how to recognize potential Internet risks
Engages children and adults in a two-way conversation about both online and offline risks
Empowers children to help prevent themselves from being exploited and to report victimization to a trusted adult.

The NCMEC is a non-profit organization and NetSmartz is supported by sponsors ranging from Disney, Microsoft, Sprint, Viacom, Cox Communications, Walmart and Yahoo!

Everfi - Digital Literacy & Responsibility™

Everfi is the leading education technology company focused on teaching, assessing, badging, and certifying students in critical skills. Our junior high students participate in the Everfi program.

Students earn digital badges and certifications as they engage in real-world gaming simulations. An example: While working toward a goal of organizing a concert for their school, students must demonstrate their mastery of digital issues, including creating a blog, managing a social networking site, and working to resolve cyberbullying situations.

Ignition components include:

Digital footprint
Secure identity
Cyberbullying
Healthy Relationships
Good texting practices
Financial Responsibility
Entrepreneurial Skills
Conducting online research
Digital time management
Creating multimedia products
Careers in technology/STEAM

Everfi is in alignment with the International Society for Technology in Education's (ISTE) National Educational Technology Standards (NETS).

A component of the financial education platform created by EverFi, Vault provides our sixth grade students with a solid foundation on which to base sound financial decisions. In today's challenging economic climate and easy access to financial tools, teaching personal financial responsibility at a young age is more important than ever.

Vault's interactive platform incorporates multiple evidence-based learning theories to increase students' knowledge about money. Upon completing a learning group, students "unlock" a game and apply their learning in a variety of story-based activities and simulations that challenge them to practice good decision-making around budgeting and saving.

Each learning group contains assessments that measure student knowledge gains after completing the curriculum. This data can be shared with parents and the community to demonstrate how students have absorbed information about:

Responsibility and decision-making
Income and careers
Planning and money management
Credit and debt
Insurance and risk management
Savings and investing

The STEAM Lab is a hands-on, project-based, self-directed learning environment. Students work collaboratively with a partner, choose a challenge, and complete their challenge.

Our STEAM lab fundamentals are: collaboration, communication, creativity, problem solving, self-direction, and self-reflection. These are twenty-first-century skills that students will use in all areas of their lives.

Curriculum Areas of Technology & Software/Hardware

Circuitry - Ardunio, Digital Sandbox, Snap Circuits, Makey Makey
Computer Graphics - Pixie, Sketch, Tinkercad and various websites
Digital Communications - Comic Life, Frames, Garage Band, Google Sites, iMovie
Mechanics and Structures - Bridge Designer, Engino, Fishertechnik, IQ Key, K’Nex, HomeStyler
Robotics and Control Technology - Code & Go Mouse, Ozobots, Lego Mindstorm EV3s
Scientific Data and Analysis - Google Earth, Stellarium, Vernier Sensors, NASA
Software Engineering - Tinker, Scratch
Sustainability - Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Climate Kids

For information about raising children in the digital age, please visit Common Sense Media.