St. Paul Academics

Sacramental Preparation

Religion is taught on a daily basis. Students in second grade receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the first semester and the Eucharist is the second semester. Confirmation will be received during the students eighth grade year. Service projects/hours are required for Confirmation.

Liturgical Celebrations

Children participate in the celebration of the Eucharist each Friday. Parents are invited and encouraged to join in this celebration with the children. The entire school celebrates special feast days and commemoration of special events.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Students are given the opportunity to receive this sacrament during school hours at least twice a year, usually during Advent and Lent.

Prayers and Para-Liturgical Services

Daily prayers in the classroom, and special prayer and Para-liturgical services are part of the religion program.

St. Paul students learn math in a pleasant, challenging and positive Catholic environment. They are encouraged to appreciate the usefulness, power, and beauty of mathematics at school, in our daily life, and in our world.

The study of numbers, ways of representing and relationships among numbers and ways to represent data using graphs and tables are integral to our math program. Speed drills as well as solving real life mathematical word problems are included in our curriculum for all grade levels. Our math lab provides extra attention and tutoring as needed by our students.

For all grade levels, math is incorporated into a variety of activities. The primary hall uses holiday activities to incorporate weighing, measuring, counting and sorting. Middle school brings pumpkins to class in the fall and uses them to discover “Pi” and at Christmas the children create and decorate a geometrical tree. In spring time, Middle school participates in the Dallas Stock Market Game and also visits the “Enterprise City” in Richardson. During lent, our students participate in the MATH-A-THON Project where students do extra math that becomes a fundraising program for Saint Jude Hospital. Math speakers are also invited to different math classes. Cross curriculum activities are an important part of our curriculum at Saint Paul.

The SMART BOARD ® is used extensively in our middle school math and science classes also in our 5th grade class. The students and teachers interaction with the board is an integral part of our math classes. We also use interactive math textbooks.

Our students have the opportunity to participate in the PSIA competition and have a chance to practice and prepare for the competition by joining our Saint Paul Math Club. ISEE prep classes are offered to all of our 8th graders. All of our Saint Paul students are signed up in the IXL Math program, and they actively practice and improve their math skills with this the best educational and interactive math site available on the web.

We are proud of our strong Math program at Saint Paul School. Different learning needs of students are met through differentiated instruction, a variety of teaching strategies, creative methods and use of our math and computer-labs as needed. Enrichment program are also available on a daily and individual bases. To have the most successful math program at Saint Paul, we recognize the importance of parents’ involvement in their children education.

Middle School Social Studies

Our social studies program integrates the study of social sciences and the humanities to promote civic competence. Our primary purpose of social studies is to help students develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. As technology makes our world smaller, it is more important that students become culturally, economically, and historically aware of the world. The four main strands of standards in social studies are: History, Geography, Civics, and Economics. The strands are integrated with technology to promote an atmosphere of learning for all students.

Geography and Technology are incorporated into all aspects of the class material.

6th Grade - World History

• Egyptian Day includes Hieroglyphic cartouche, Egyptian feast, Pyramid building, Egyptian music and dance, and Bartering Area.
• Explore Medieval Culture and take a field trip to Medieval Times.
• Construct an ABC Book of Russia to share with Care Bears
• Photo Safari of Africa, exploring cultures and traditions of Africa
• Celebrate Cinco de Mayo and Hispanic Heritage Day

7th Grade - Texas History

• Reconstruct and present The Alamo.
• Immigrant Groups impact on Texas in 1800’s.
• Reenact the Dinner at Brazoria Inn with Stephen F. Austin right before the Texas Revolution
• Explore Texas History by visiting the Texas State Capital and Visitor’s Center in Austin, Texas.
• Civil Rights T-shirts
  

8th Grade - American History

• Become a Famous Person from the 1800’s
• Visit a Presidential Library and Museum (either George H. Bush or Lyndon B. Johnson).
• Civics in Action – Research and discuss goals of the Constitution, why it is the most important document; and the principles that forms the basis of the Constitution.
• Reenact Civil War with in-depth analysis of North and South’s advantages/disadvantages, resources, economy, and life on the home front.

Grades 4-8 participate in our school wide Spelling Bee. The winner of the Spelling Bee represents St. Paul at the Diocesan competition. For the past four years, our representative has placed in the top six.

6th Grade-

• Introduction to paragraph writing
• Exposure to friendly letter writing, narrative writing, creative stories, opinion paragraphs, thank you notes, and a final paper focusing on the five paragraphs
• Diagramming the eight parts of speech weekly
• Focusing on the eight parts of speech in grammar lessons
• Vocabulary workshop level A
• Focus on the writing process, which includes graphic organizers, editing, rewriting, and utilizing editing checklists
• End of the year activities include creating calendars to commemorate their first year of middle school and writing and illustrating alphabet books for kindergarten
  

7th grade-

• Writing five paragraph essays using the five traits of writing
• Various writing activities focus on unique gifts, favorite seasons, favorite holidays, comparing and contrasting, persuasive, descriptive, Catholic School’s Week, mini research paper, and newspaper activities.
• Diagramming exercises weekly
• Eight parts of speech in grammar
• Vocabulary workshop level B
• End of the year activities include writing narrative books for first grade and grammar idol
  
  

8th grade-

• Writing five paragraph essays which focus of the five traits of writing
• Focus is on graphic organizers, rough draft, editing checklist, peer editing, and final draft.
• ISEE prep
• Dr. Pepper Diagramming Day which is held on the last Friday of every month
• Vocabulary workshop workbooks level C
• Participate in Patriot’s Pen essay contest in fall
• Bio Poems in May for graduation
• Research paper using MLA format on a history related topic
• Reflective final essays **top six essays are chosen to be presented at graduation ceremony
• Time capsules
  

Middle School Literature is a forum for students to explore and understand the past, present and future through literature and writing. By reading various genres of literature such as historical fiction, non-fiction and plays the students will be able to relate to and share others perspectives and apply that knowledge to the world in which they live. We will enhance our reading through discussion, teamwork and writing. Through encouragement, support and fun, literature will successfully educate and encourage enthusiastic reading.

The novels and activities that are planned for the year follow:

6th Grade -

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor

The Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens –

• Field Trip to Dallas Theatre District to see the stage production
• Re-enact with groups
  

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, by Rudyard Kipling

• Re-write the story for kindergarten Care bears
  

Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls

• Gift of Age project with Grandparents

7th Grade -

The Pigman, by Paul Zindel

• Responsibility essay
• Eulogies for Mr. Pignati
  

The Diary of Anne Frank, dramatic version by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett

• Re-enact story in groups
  

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

• Aunt Alexandra’s Tea
  

8th Grade -

The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom

Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare

• Power Point Presentations on the Elizabethan Period
• Comparison with West Side Story
  

The Odyssey, by Homer

• Myth Research activity
• An Eighth Grade Odyssey project
  

The Science program at Saint Paul School promotes a basic knowledge of science and its processes to appreciate the wonders of the universe, analyze the problems presented by life, and develop morally responsible solutions to those problems. The students will demonstrate awareness of science in society and appreciate its usefulness in our daily life and in the world. They will design and conduct experiments that show the use of the scientific method. The students will demonstrate the knowledge of concepts from these three disciplines: Physical Science, Life Science and Earth Science. Scientific tools and technology (Smart Board) will be properly and accurately used in the classroom. Self-directed learning through questioning, independent research and integration of other subject areas are a major parts of the science curriculum and can be used to support valid conclusions.

• Care bear Science – 7th and 8th grade students teach 1st and 2nd grade students the use of various science equipment using candy, etc
• 3rd and 6th grade participate in an outdoor education program every spring. They help each other with activities such as: orienteering, pond study, habitat building, etc.
• Projects are implemented in to the curriculum to help the student experience concepts through hands on activities. These include:

Make classroom into mini- planetarium
Ocean floor 3-d models
Build mini weather station
Edible cells
DNA models
Mitosis songs
Genetic disorder pamphlets
Dissection
Element – T-shirts
Build compound machine
Forensics – Crime scenes/Fingerprinting activities

The use of technology is a big facet of science education. Students in all classes participate in various cross-curriculum activities in computer: Examples include: Power point on Natural disasters, cells, classification and the atom.

The art program at Saint Paul the Apostle promotes individual creativity while introducing students to art concepts based on elements of design: line, shape, form, texture, space and color. The concepts gradually increase in complexity and encompass various mediums including oil, pastels, painting and graphics. Extraordinary projects are created using looms, various clay techniques, plaster castings and stained glass. The curriculum includes an introduction to art history and a wide range of artistic styles, art terminology and infuses an overall appreciation of artistic expression.

The main objective of the St. Paul music program is to teach the joy of music to our students while giving them a solid foundation in music theory. Our music teacher introduces various musical elements such as rhythm, melody and harmony at each grade level and then moves into the reading of music. Students regularly sing songs, play instruments, dance and use creative movement to music and further develop their music reading ability by learning to play the recorder. Each year our third grader students even present their own Spring musical. Our older students serenade the halls of middle school with their guitars. The culmination of our music education program is the 8th grade musical held each December.

In addition to our classroom music instruction students are able to participate in extracurricular music activities. In third grade students can join the school choir which performs at school, church and civic functions while in fifth grade students may join the school band, lead by instructors from Music Learning Band.

At Saint Paul the Apostle School we also emphasize the following:

Physical Education
Spanish
Study Skills