St. Mary School curriculum centers first and foremost around the message of Jesus. This message, shared throughout the school's faith community, is reflected in the content of the school's curriculum as well as the teaching and learning strategies used to help students integrate that message into their beings. Our curriculum builds a continuum of learning that makes sense for all students. Knowledge acquired is built upon each year like a scaffolding. The complexity and expectations increase yearly, resulting in the accumulation of knowledge and skills that will serve the students in their future educational pursuits and careers. From K through 4, classrooms are self-contained and interdisciplinary, with the classroom teacher providing the core curriculum including Religion, Science, Social Studies, Reading, Mathematics, Language Arts and Spelling.

Classes in Music, Visual Arts, Technology, Library, and Physical Education complement this strong core. These classes are taught by “Specialists” – so called because they teach in their area of expertise, and have a degree in their subject area.

5th graders also enjoy a self-contained classroom, but add Laboratory Science as one of their specialized classes.

In grades 6 through 8, our curriculum is geared toward preparing students for high school. Like the high school experience, instruction is departmentalized, with homeroom teachers providing Language Arts. Departmental instruction is provided in Laboratory Science, Math, and Social Studies.

At all levels s tudents are challenged daily to communicate effectively and think critically. They learn to solve problems in cooperative group work, class discussions and science and math explorations. They demonstrate through participation in real world activities, such as Student Council, the school yearbook, the Social Justice Fair, the student newspaper and academic contests, that they are able to apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired in the classroom.

As students move from grade to grade, they experience a curriculum flexible enough to embrace life's experiences yet guided by specific standards spelled out for each subject and each grade level. Our goal is that every student will meet or exceed curriculum standards in every subject area. Click below to view curriculum standards in five key subject areas. For a full listing of all curriculum standards, please contact the St. Mary School office.

Language Arts Standards
Mathematics Standards
Religion Standards
Science Standards
Social Studies Standards