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St. Philip School’s highly effective Language Arts Curriculum is designed to meet the needs of kinesthetic, visual and auditory learners at all ability levels and foster the development of all areas of communication: reading, writing, listening and speaking.
Beginning with Kindergarten, each SPS student is introduced to language as a viable form of communication, as an invaluable life skill, and as an art to be enjoyed.
Highlights of the curriculum include:
- Nearly 50% of class time in Grades K-2 devoted to developing Language Arts skills including reading, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, creative writing, handwriting, phonetic decoding, listening, and spelling.
- All genres of writing taught beginning in Kindergarten
- Writing integrated into all areas of the Curriculum
- Student journaling
- Monthly reading incentive programs
- Penmanship assessed in all grades, K-8.
- Cursive writing, beginning in Grade 2
- Yearly Diocesan Writing Assessments
- Individual student portfolios kept throughout duration at SPS to monitor progress
- Library and research skills reinforced through formal weekly Library classes for all grades, K-8.
- Media Literacy and Reader’s Theater to stimulate higher-order critical and creative thinking skills.
- Reading and study of classic novels and emerging classics
- Creative book report assignments
- Use of The Criterion® Online Writing Evaluation Service in Middle School.
- Classroom+ opportunities including:
- Allegheny Intermediate Unit Reading Festival for Gifted Students
- “Battle of the Books” competitions available to all students
- Forensics (Competitive Public-Speaking Club) available to all students
