Language Arts
The goal in Language Arts is that all students will be able to communicate effectively in both verbal and written forms, using correct grammar and punctuation respectively. All students will be able to review literature and comprehend main and secondary points from text.
Curriculum goals for students are:
Methods used for assessment of student’s work will be:
Mathematics
The junior high math curriculum focuses on exploring, analyzing, and making connections to various mathematical topics and the world around us.
Seventh grade uses the Go Math Accelerated Seventh grade text to explore topics include integers and rational numbers, proportional relationships, expressions, equations, and inequalities, and modeling geometric figures, to name a few. Math Night in November is hosted by Seventh grades students for Kindergarten through Grade 2.
Eighth graders utilize the Go Math Algebra I textbook to make connections between numbers and expressions, equations and functions, linear and exponential relationships, and functions and modeling.
Religion
Junior High Religion at St. Elizabeth focuses on individual spiritual growth and the history/dogma of the Catholic Church.
Seventh grade explores early church history through the Renaissance, the Gospels of the apostolic fathers, Revelations, and the Letters of Paul. We also focus on elements of prayer and spiritual life.
Eighth grade focuses on spiritual growth through exploration of Christian Life and Spirituality, Choose Life Issues, liturgy and the sacraments, and St. Pope John Paul II's, "Theology of the Body."
The 8th-grade class also works every Wednesday on their Passion Project. The Passion Project is exactly what it sounds like; learners explore their passions and growth with a focus on stewardship in the second semester.
Sprinkled throughout both grades will be our 2nd Step curriculum that deals with social maturation and conflict resolution skills.
Science
In the junior high science curriculum, students engage in the study of a variety of topics, including ecology and the environment, Earth’s water and atmosphere, sound and light, motion and forces, the human body, space, matter and energy, cells and heredity, and the dynamic Earth. Using the Science Dimensions textbook series, students have access to online resources such as digital lessons, virtual labs and video-based projects to enhance their learning.
Our spacious science lab affords students the opportunity to engage in hands-on activities on a regular basis, as they learn new concepts through inquiry and experiment. Annual field trips include visits to the KU Natural History Museum, the Kauffman Center’s National Geographic Live presentations and a water testing activity that students perform out in the field.
Each year students in grades 6-8 are invited to join our after-school science club, staffed by St. Elizabeth faculty, which meets twice a month from November through April. Students also plan and implement activities and demonstrations for our annual “Science Night” held each year in February.
Social Studies
Social Studies operates with a central question in mind: “Where do I [the student], fit in to the ongoing narrative of American History as it continues to unfold?”
Beginning in 7th grade, students start to unpack the history that has made our country what it is today. Major themes include the earliest migrations, Native American settlements, European discovery, British control of the colonies, the American Revolution, westward expansion, the age of compromise, and the Civil War.
8th graders build off of what was learned the year before in a continued effort to fundamentally grasp the rise of the country they call home. Essential issues covered include Civil War and Reconstruction, Jim Crow and a hundred years of segregation, the gradual shift to modernism known as the gilded age, the world wars, the birth of post-modernism, and America’s place as a superpower, for better and worse.