Technology:
Classroom teachers are integrating technology via usage of interactive web sites that tie into classroom text publishers. Our Harcourt Reading program as well as our Macmillan McGraw-Hill Science series both offer excellent interactive websites that tie in curriculum. Each teacher has availability to a full set of classroom Ipad's. This creates opportunities for learning at every level. Lessons become more immersive through the power of touch, motion, and sound.
All classroom teachers have been bringing their classes to the lab, incorporating an integration of technology with the students' core curriculum areas. Students word process, research, and perform language arts activities with their teachers in the lab setting. Classroom Ipads are used to bring technological innovations mobile.
Smartboards have been installed in the classrooms in grades 1 - 6. Plans for obtaining Smartboards for other classrooms are in the works.
The Media Center at Trinity Catholic School maintains an electronic database library system using OPAC, and encompasses a technology training center and presentation center which houses 16 PC Workstations with Windows XP Pro, an interactive Smart Board and LCD Projectors, Overhead Digital Camera (ELMO), and InterWrite Blue-Tooth Technology tablets. All stations are networked and have Roadrunner Internet Access, Microsoft OfficeXP, including MS Word, Publishing, PowerPoint, Access, Excel, Adobe Pagemaker 6.5, Inspiration, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing For Kids, Ultra-Key 2000 Keyboarding, Lego Dacta Robotics, Ecolog Weather Data Units and other educational programs. Instruction is integrated with grade-level curriculum subject areas.
Curriculum:
Homework
Assignments given to students for completion outside of class time are meaningful activities related to the total learning process.
Primary Level
In grades 1 and 2, assignments are generally of a study nature, either in mastering reading vocabulary, math facts, or spelling words. No specific times are required. This memory work does require the help of parents. Beginning in grade 3, more specific written work is assigned. Completion of assignments helps to reinforce concepts taught in class.
Intermediate and Middle Level
In grades 4, 5, and 6, written assignments in such areas of spelling and math help to reinforce concepts being taught and are meant to be a way of seeing if children have truly grasped the material taught. Study assignments in other areas are of equal importance and should be taken seriously by the student.
Satisfactory completion of homework is an integral part of a student’s grades on report cards. Parents are notified if assignments are not completed on a regular basis.
Standardized Testing
New York State Assessments in English/ Language Arts and Math are given in grades 3, 4, 5, and 6. These tests are administered in April. The State Education Department tabulates the results of these tests based on established state standards and the information is used by the school to improve performance. Diocesan norms are also established. We will share the results of these tests when we receive them. Students who perform below expected standards will be provided with Academic Intervention Services (AIS).
School Tests
Each teacher uses various means to evaluate student performance to determine progress. Unit tests are given at the conclusion of units of study in many subjects. Midterm or final exams may also be given in grades 3 – 6 to add further evaluation tools.