The curriculum pursued at Holy Family School is established and supported by the Diocese of Paterson and based upon the New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards.  Implementation is the responsibility of the Administration and the Curriculum Coordinators appointed by the Principal.  Monitoring and innovation is an ongoing process.  Integrated throughout the curriculum are the precepts and values essential to our Catholic Faith.  The blending of faith formation and academic excellence pursues the goal of encouraging the development of a moral, ethical young adult equipped with the skills and knowledge to act wisely, justly, and in service to others.

All subject areas of the curriculum are supported with a variety of educational resources intended to assist the teacher and the learner to succeed.  These include textbooks, consumables, and Smartboard technology.  As an important element in retention and review, the homework responsibilities of the student, parent, and teacher are outlined in the Student/Parent Handbook.  The assessment of student progress takes several forms.  Daily performance in class, homework, tests and quizzes, reports, projects, lab work, and computer literacy are major ingredients in most subject areas.  Students in grades four through eight take semester examinations as part of their overall assessment.  Academic performance is formally reported to families a minimum of eight times during the school year: four Progress Reports and four Report Cards.  Additional reporting is available at intervals at the request of parents or the discretion of teachers.  Informal parent/teacher conferencing occurs as needed, especially in the Early Childhood Program, while formal conferences are scheduled following the first and third marking periods.  In addition to the core curriculum (religion, reading, language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies) special subject teachers instruct students in physical education, health, Spanish, art, music, computer science, and library skills.

Instructional methodologies span the spectrum with the goal of assisting each individual child to achieve his or her potential.  A child’s age, ability, maturity, and learning styles help teachers to select the best techniques – and combination of approaches – to be effective.  Where appropriate, differentiated instruction, computer-assisted instruction, learning stations, collaborative learning, labs, and the use of manipulatives are widely employed.  The focus is on active student involvement in the learning process and ensuring individual progress.  Classroom methodologies are enhanced through field trips, assemblies, speakers, and events that showcase and demonstrate student achievement, such as the School Fair, Spirituality Day, and Field Day.

Support for the curriculum and student success is provided by the additional services of the County Educational Services Commission and the school’s Support Teacher.  Individually or in small groups, these service providers assist students to achieve grade level performance in reading and math.  School sponsored enrichment programs, such as the Fundations Reading Program, the Computer Tutorial, and the Summer Academic Camp, provide optional resources for remedial or accelerated needs.  Acknowledgement events, such as the Honor Roll Breakfast, the Academic and Service Award Assembly, and final exam exemptions (for middle school students with a yearly average of an “A”), provide the esteem, recognition, and motivation students need to continue to work to their potential.

Early Childhood Program

(Tiny Tots, Pre-K 3, Pre-K 4, Kindergarten)

The major goal of the early childhood program is the development of the whole child in a supportive, nurturing, and Christian environment.  Children are led to develop a positive self-image and given a sense of their uniqueness.  They learn to listen to others, to share, and to interact under the guidance of group rules.  Teachers and their assistants foster curiosity, creativity, and enthusiasm as they introduce the children to their first schooling experiences.

Religion:  A religion readiness program introduces children to the Catholic heritage, Bible stories, and beginning prayers.  They learn about God’s love for them and the story of Jesus.  Resources, enrichment activities, and a visit to the church help guide the awareness of their faith.

Readiness Skills:  Instruction centers on coloring, cutting, pasting, tracing, painting, the use of manipulatives, and on social skills.

Reading Readiness:  Important objectives include listening and speaking skills, visual perception and discrimination, identification of upper and lower case letters, an introduction to consonant sounds, recognition of opposites, like objects and positional words, sequencing, identification of first and last names, introduction of left and right progression.  The Fundations Reading Program is introduced in kindergarten.

Number Readiness: Math instruction focuses on shape recognition, the introduction of numbers, sets, consecutive order, counting and estimation.

Science and Social Studies:  Children are led to become aware and familiar with the world around them, to know their addresses and telephone numbers, and school building.  Various lessons include families, holidays and Holy Days, seasons, weather, dinosaurs, plants, and animals.  Trips to community sites, including the library, the police station, and a farm, supplement instruction.  Additional academic, cultural, and social skills are provided through art, music, drama, free play, literature, library time, and show and tell.

A six week Pre-K Summer Camp is offered by the school for interested parents.

Primary Grades

(1, 2, 3)

Religion:  Students continue in their development as active members of the Catholic community, while deepening their sense of spirituality.  Students learn the principles of living a Christian life and develop values based on their connection to a loving God and the teachings of Jesus.  The celebrations of the Church, and the basic components of the Mass, devotion, and prayer, are explored.  The Sacrament of Baptism is explained and the place of Mary, the mother of Jesus and our mother, unfolds.  Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness, His life and miracles, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, are important topics.  The focus in the second grade is on the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.  Students continue to develop a deeper sense of the Church as a community of Faith as they read and listen to Scripture.  The dignity of the human person is emphasized.  Students participate in a variety of religious experiences through liturgies, prayer services, and retreats.

Reading/Language Arts:  The focus begins with basic reading skills, such as sound matching, visual discrimination, phonics, decoding, and comprehension. Structural analysis incorporates inflections, contractions and spelling generalizations.  Vocabulary skills taught are word meaning, synonyms/antonyms, and classification.  As independent reading develops, students work on phonemic awareness, fluency, and discerning main ideas.  The Fundations Program is used as an enrichment tool to support reading progress.  Students are introduced to many literary genres: folktales, plays, fiction, poetry, and essays.  Vocabulary is built through context clues and concept associations.  Language development and writing process skills are part of the reading experience.  Reading skills such as predicting, recalling, inferring, analyzing, and comparing and contrasting are developed further.  Equally valued is the mastery of digraphs, possessives, and classification.  Comprehension skills begin to emphasize drawing conclusions, prediction, inference, and cause and effect.  In literature, students are introduced to characterization, story elements, and figurative language.

Mathematics:  Primary students develop their number sense through counting, comparing, sequencing, and reading and writing numbers.  Math concepts, problem solving, and real life applications are developed.  Addition, subtraction, two place addition and subtraction (eventually with regrouping), and writing ordinal numbers are skills developed.  Through the use of age-appropriate resources, such as manipulatives, students develop an understanding of measurements of weight, length, volume, time, money, and fractions. By grade three, students are introduced to multiplication and division of greater numbers, problem solving, fractions, decimals, and geometry.

Science:  Students begin to perceive science as a separate discipline and begin to develop the skills of scientific inquiry, formulating simple questions, research, and experimentation.  They investigate their environment, its habitats, and living things, as well as matter and space.  Earth, life, and physical science compose the general areas of inquiry.  As beginning science vocabulary and observation skills mature the scientific method is introduced and concepts such as growth, change, pollution, and energy are explored.  An extended understanding of scientific relationships and functions is developed in grade three, where students discriminate further between chemical elements, physical forces, and the variety of life.  Important topics become the environment, earth’s resources, the water cycle, and simple and compound machines.  Experimentation becomes more sophisticated and lab skills are introduced.

Social Studies:  Students begin to explore the relationships of individuals and groups, and how people structure their families and neighborhoods. A sense of community is developed and the variety of communities is explored: farm, city, and village.  Our country of America is examined, map-reading skills introduced, and a review of familiar customs and holidays pursued. These objectives are followed by the concepts of government, geographic features, transportation, and simple economics.  Students study representative historical events, important leaders, and the linkage between history and holidays.  Cooperation, conflict-resolution, and world issues begin to be introduced.  The responsibilities of citizenship, the branches of our government, and a brief acquaintance with the nations of the world conclude the primary grades’ study of social studies. 

Intermediate Grades

(4 and 5)

Religion:  Students focus on the beatitudes, Catholic moral values, and the sacramental life of the Church.  They learn to prepare and lead daily prayers and prayer services.  They are encouraged to apply their understanding of the Ten Commandments and the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy to their everyday lives and interactions with others.  Fifth grade students concentrate on an in-depth study of the sacraments and continue to renew their personal relationship with Christ.  Also treated is death and life after death.  Students’ understanding of the Church, and how Mary is the mother of the Church, is extended.

Reading/Language Arts:  Students continue to develop and expand their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.  Exercises develop critical thinking and there is a focus on study skill development.  Reading and language skills become interwoven, process writing expanded, and research skills more sophisticated.  More opportunities to apply skills are offered as students become involved in discussions, creative writing, contests, and literary analysis.  The use of novels, newspapers, Smartboard technology, and anthologies help students in formal presentations, research papers, and book analysis and discussion. Grammar mechanics help students understand the structure of writing and assist as they master the craft of writing.

Mathematics:  Students continue to advance their math and problem solving skills as they work in depth with multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, and percent.  Simple geometry problems are solved and an introduction to point, line, perimeter, area, angles, rays, and volume is taught.  Students begin math journals and use manipulatives, Smartboard technology, and gaming to understand concepts. Measurement includes both standard and metric.  Students are provided with the skills needed to approach algebraic concepts, processes, and applications.

Science:  Students continue to apply the scientific method in their investigations of life, earth, and the physical world.  They extend their understanding of weather, ecosystems, space, and paleontology.  Through a deeper understanding of physics and chemistry, they explore matter, energy, forces, and mechanics.  They relate science and math to see how math serves as a proof for theory.  Topics of importance at these grade levels include adaptation, food chains, photosynthesis, minerals, fossils, oceans, energy, electricity, and the planets.  Students learn how to mix solutions, measure age, make compounds, and study objects in depth with such tools as microscopes and computer imaging.

Social Studies:  In grade four, students focus on New Jersey history and geographic regions of the United States.  Important geographical terms are learned and map studies expanded.  Students also learn the value to their lives from studying the past.  New Jersey’s position as a middle Atlantic state gives a context to our history and students study Native Americans, colonists, and leaders who helped chart our history.  Government is examined and the students travel to Trenton to visit state buildings and historical sites.  Grade five focuses on the geography, history, cultures, religions, economies, and government systems of the Western Hemisphere. Oral reports and projects by individual students help the class receive an in-depth picture of various Western Hemisphere countries and cultures. 

Middle School

(Grades 6, 7, and 8)

Religion:  The Middle School Religion Program begins with a focus on the Hebrew Scriptures and God’s plan for salvation as recorded in the Bible.  The covenant between God and His people is seen as an enduring sign of hope.  Students learn that the Old Testament expresses God’s love and that Jesus Christ is the greatest expression of that love.  Seventh grade takes up the study of the Christian Scriptures with a synthesis of Catholic beliefs.  Students understand the importance of the dignity of every person and the study of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament invites them into a deeper relationship with Christ.  Morality is defined and seen to be rooted in God.  Grade eight studies Church History and continues the discussion of how to lead moral and ethical lives.  Instruction is supported by Christian literature, contemporary books, a family life series, assemblies, speakers, retreats, and attendance at school liturgies.

Reading/Language Arts:  The skills of planning, organizing, and writing essays, narratives, poetry, and speeches now rely on the grammatical skills learned in previous years.   Correct usage, mechanics, study skills, and listening and speaking skills are employed to write on a more mature level.  Practical writing – reports, journals, and editorials – are written and analyzed.  This process culminates in major projects such as book reports, research papers, and a biography.  Classical, traditional, and modern literary selections are read and discussed, and the aspects of literary appreciation reviewed.  Students will read novels and demonstrate an understanding of plot, character, setting, and point of view.  Theatre trips, student dramatic presentations, film, projects, assemblies, and writing competitions will supplement classroom activities.

Mathematics:  Students are offered the opportunity to master computational skills and learn a systematic approach to problem solving.  Such areas as numeration, multiplication, fractions, decimals, percent, geometry, ratios, abstract ideas, proportions, and probability are included in the sixth grade curriculum.  A pre-algebra course is presented in grade seven, linking the sixth grade curriculum to the eighth grade study of algebra.  Competencies developed include solving for variables in an equation, graphing, substitution, and using inequalities.  Eighth grade presents a traditional algebra course for the younger student.  Studied are the language of algebra, rational numbers, polynomials, factoring, square roots, and quadratics. 

The middle school math program has two student groupings:  students approaching grade level performance and those ready for a more accelerated program.  Prior performance in math, standardized test scores, and teacher recommendations determine initial placement, which can change based on student performance in the course.

Science:  Students in grades 6, 7, and 8 have a trimester each year of physical science, earth science, and life science.  They also have a minimum of one science lab period per week.  The science instructor is supported by a lab assistant on those days.  Sixth grade science covers scientific processes, vocabulary, and lab skills.  Topics include growth and habitats of living things, cells and ecosystems, genetic codes, energy, space exploration, the light spectrum, oceans, weather patterns, and tectonic plate movement.  Seventh grade students focus on human body systems, diseases, heredity, astronomy, meteorology, the universe, earth’s resources, energy, and the history of the earth.  Eighth grade studies the solar system, physical/chemical properties, scientific measurements, oceanography, pollution, geology, evolution, extinction, and medicine.  Smartboard technology, field trips, assemblies, speakers, and film supplements course resources.

Social Studies:  Sixth grade students study the ancient world and the civilizations and cultures that emerged to influence history.  The Medieval and Renaissance periods are traced to evaluate their impact on emerging historical patterns.  Geography and the tools of the historian are studied.  United States history is studied as a two year course, which encompasses early colonization through the end of the Cold War.  Social, economic, cultural, political, and religious influences are discussed.  The skills students need to understand and interpret historical events, such as objectivity, empathy, research, and cultural sensitivity are encouraged.  Smartboard technology is widely used for research, online quizzes, PowerPoint presentations, and simulations. Current events are studied on a regular basis to relate to the study of the past.  Students also engage in the New Jersey Council on Economic Education’s Stock Market Game twice a year to afford them the opportunity to understand basic economic principles.