St. Monica Catholic School

1st through 5th Grades

St. Monica Catholic School (SMS) emphasizes academic excellence, faith formation, and global awareness. We take pride in teaching to the child and not to the test. We go above and beyond teaching the state standards to include Art, Physical Education, Music, outdoor lab spaces, and service learning activities.

1st and 2nd Grades

Curriculum Highlights:

• HMH Literacy Program as well as Orton Gillingham.
• Writer's Workshop.
• Lifescience.
• Our Sunday Visitor Alive in Christ.
• Poetry units.
• Study the seasons of the Church.

Classroom  Highlights:

• Weekly science lab activities.
• Quarterly field trips.
• Expanded units of study.
• Service opportunities.
• Weekly Mass attendance and regular classroom prayer.
• Develop both academic and religion goals.

Sacramental Preparation:

In 2nd Grade, all students will go through a comprehensive religious education program to prepare to receive the sacraments of Reconciliation and First Communion. The program includes two (2) parish-wide retreats, and daily religion lessons.

3rd though 5th Grades

We strive to achieve academic excellence, accommodating individual learning styles, to enable every student to achieve his/her fullest potential.

• Educational instruction based on Indiana State Standards
• Technology-supported Math and Language Arts curriculum:
  • Newline Technology
    
  • Achieve 3000
• Enriching experiences and study trips:
  • Indiana State Museum
  • Indiana State House
  • Marion County Public Library
  • Holy Family Shelter
  • Conner Prairie
  • Clowes Hall
  • Indianapolis 500 Education Program
  • Eiteijorg Museum
  • Junior Achievement BizTown
• Guided, hands-on science experiences through our Delta-FOSS Curriculum.
• Oral recitation, book reports, and multi-media projects.

Curriculum Highlights:

• Heritage Day.
• Introduction to and continuation of cursive writing.
• Fact fluency.
• Rosary-making.
• Daily Five reading approach.
• Reader’s Theater and poetry presentations.
• Mini-economy store experience.
• Weekly Masses; prayer circles.
• Art, Music, Physical Education, Band (in 5th grade).
• Differentiated language and math daily review. 

Faith:

As members of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, we are called to faith and salvation in Jesus Christ in the Roman Catholic tradition. We strive to live the Gospel by:

• Worshipping God in word and sacrament.
• Learning, teaching, and sharing our faith.
• Serving human needs.

We focus on the dignity and value of all human life as learned through the Beatitudes and Ten Commandments. As a school community, we are committed to developing an understanding of the Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching.

Relationships:

We are committed to guiding students to develop lifelong skills such as communicating effectively with others and building strong, caring, Christian relationships.

Community circles are used to build relationships with our peers and solve problems and conflicts that arise. This gives students the opportunity to develop positive communication skills as well as effective problem-solving skills that will be utilized well beyond our 4th grade classrooms.