Curriculum Overview

Our comprehensive balanced literacy framework is designed to foster a community of actively engaged and strategic readers, writers, listeners and speakers. We strive to build classrooms brimming with engaged learners, guiding students to become not just proficient but also expert, independent readers, writers and communicators. For more information about what students will learn in each grade level, please visit our classroom pages.

Our math program is designed to move learners from conceptual understanding toward mastery of a particular skill, and then connect the content to the students’ world today. For more information about what students will learn in each grade level, please visit our classroom pages.

Our science curriculum follows the Next Generation Science Standards, which stress student inquiry, critical thinking and questioning, open-minded investigation and reflective practices. Lessons are designed to inspire our students to be curious, to explore and to increase their depth of learning. Through hands-on experimentation as well as critical-thinking tasks and evaluation, we are forming students to solve problems, think deeply and critically, and make informed, scientifically literate decisions rooted in Catholic teaching and moral responsibility so that they are well-equipped to face the world. For more information about what students will learn in each grade level, please visit our classroom pages.

Students acquire historical knowledge to appreciate the past, understand the present and commit to building a better future for all. Students practice research, geography, literacy and critical-thinking skills while interacting with primary sources. The social studies curriculum offers unique opportunities to respond to the Church’s call to integrate the social teachings of the Church and to infuse the curriculum with the core social values of the Church. For more information about what students will learn in each grade level, please visit our classroom pages.

OLPH Catholic School is blessed and fortunate to have a vibrant art program using a wide variety of art materials. Our art program follows the California Visual Arts Content Standards for first through eighth grade, along with activities that include religious art and seasonal, thematic art projects. For more information about our art program, please visit our classroom pages.

In weekly music classes, students in transitional kindergarten through eighth grade participate in fun and engaging activities that help them develop musical skills in a whole group setting. The basic elements of music —  melody, harmony, rhythm and form — are taught through activities that incorporate singing, moving, listening, performing, composing/improvising, playing instruments and reading/writing music. By studying different musical genres and music from other cultures, students develop respect for diverse cultures and an appreciation for other points of view. To learn more about our music program, please visit our classroom pages.

The goal of our physical education program is to provide a safe and positive environment in which students learn the value of physical fitness. Using the California Physical Education Standards, students gain confidence in their abilities and enjoy a variety of physical activities. They build physical fitness, learn cooperation and problem-solving, and realize that fitness is a fun and essential component of a healthy life. Our PE program celebrates movement, team building, healthy living and learning to respect the body that God gave us. To learn more about our PE program, please visit our classroom pages.

Computers today have become invaluable devices in instruction and communication. Connected to a network and the internet, a computer becomes a powerful tool for learning. With these revolutionary tools, OLPH students, faculty and staff are changing the dynamics of learning by making it more practical, meaningful and enjoyable. Through our partnership with Beyond Technology, OLPH students are exposed to a rich, standards-based technology curriculum, which offers our students a quality education that will shape their futures and develop their technological skills, helping to ensure success in high school, college and beyond. To learn more about our technology program, please visit our classroom pages.

As a Catholic school, providing students with a Christ-centered foundation is central to our mission. Catholic values are strongly integrated throughout the curriculum, which is aligned with the Roman Catholic Church teachings and is diocesan approved. These efforts are reinforced through OLPH’s Student Learning Expectations. For more information about what students will learn in each grade level, please visit our classroom pages.

At OLPH Catholic School, we offer introductory foreign languages through Rosetta Stone starting in middle school. Rosetta Stone technology simulates the way people learn their native language with pictures and sounds in context and with no translation. The technology includes instant speech feedback for correcting pronunciation. In addition, Rosetta Stone provides teacher resources as aids to classroom instruction. Each student and teacher will have access to a dedicated Rosetta Stone website just for OLPH Catholic School.