Kindergarten through Second Grade

Understanding the printed word, being able to express ideas and feelings in writing and in person, and developing a basic quantitative sense with an ability to use numbers easily and accurately are hallmarks of the primary grades.

Reading begins with letter recognition of sights and sounds, moves to blends and then to decoding words and sentences culminating in chapter books. What an exciting unfolding! A few students come to Kindergarten reading, some are very ready to read, others are just beginning the process, so St. Gabriel's uses Guided Reading, fostering multi-level, small group instruction.

Writing Across the Curriculum, the K-8 model used at St. Gabriel's is introduced in Kindergarten. By grade two, students are able to express ideas in complete sentences and write a one page persuasive piece. Science and Social Studies are often hands-on units with project based final products made by students individually or in groups.

The University of Chicago Mathematics program has raised both morale and test scores at St. Gabriel's. The concept-based, spiraling program incorporates games and mental math, cultivates problem-solving skills and encourages alternative ways of thinking beginning in the primary grades.

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Third through Fifth Grade

With the basics in place these developed skills are now used to learn more about the world. Learning to read in the primary grades is replaced by reading to learn. Reading and speaking fluency are more pronounced and expected. By these grades, phonemic skills are mastered, as new multi-syllabic words in science or social studies cannot be memorized. Reading comprehension becomes an essential skill as paragraphs become increasingly longer requiring true understanding. The joy of reading is shared in student Literature Circles. In these upper elementary grades, students advanced in mathematic concepts and operations have the opportunity to work in higher levels of the Chicago Math Program. Students in these grades are very familiar with the basic capacity of the computer as a tool for organizing data and writing papers and reports. They charge ahead fearlessly and creatively exploring new ideas.

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