Curriculum

Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic School is committed to upholding high academic expectations. Our best asset, aside from our students, is our highly educated, caring, and professional team of educators.

Our School Student Council, faculty, and parents work hard to continue to model and teach each of these character traits. Classroom teachers, instructional assistants, and administrators model and teach these traits and guide students in making good decisions in their social, emotional, and academic lives.

Our Lady Queen of Angels students is taught pro-social behavior as they learn to navigate their ever-changing minds and bodies. We reward this behavior with our “Caught Being Kind” program, incentives, special privileges, and much more. Our faculty instills morals and values in fun and engaging ways. There are spirit days and reward days where the excitement is almost palpable and all the while the children are reminded that positive character is what great leaders are made of.

Service Through Community

Our community consists of our students, our faculty, and our families. We foster an atmosphere in which all feel they have a voice and play an integral part in the Our Lady Queen of Angel's family. We work hard to enhance communication with parents and students through regular face-to-face, web, and email correspondence. We communicate each child’s progress through the use of standards-based report cards. We host grade-level meetings, coffees, that center on social, emotional, and academic well-being.

The students feel a stronger sense of community and school spirit through our dynamic Student Council. The administrative team is committed to building strong relationships with each and every faculty member. These strong relationships then foster a community in which we participate in seasonal and year-long service projects. Our program offers so much more to foster the development of the whole child.

TK-8 Curriculum (General Description)

Religion
Christian education, in conformity with the Catholic philosophy of life, strives to deepen the love of God and neighbor in the individual and to express this love in creative relationships in the home, the school, the parish, and our social and civic worlds. The religion program includes a developmental study of religious truths and Sacred Scripture, participation in worship and congregational singing, practice in Christian living, and growth in Christian personality and knowledge. Through its practical application to daily living, religion is the integrating force in the Catholic school and imprints upon it a unique significance.

In Diocesan schools, Christian Family Life Education is a process of on-going education from preschool through high school. Its objective is to develop in students an appreciation of life in all forms as God’s greatest gift and to strengthen positive attitudes. In our school, Family Life Education is an integral part of the curriculum; therefore, all students are required to participate in the program.

Language Arts
The program of language arts is organized to provide a sequential development in four areas: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The language arts are the essential tools of all learning; therefore, integration in every subject area is an important part of the program. An emphasis is placed on the development and appreciation of core literature.

Mathematics
Within the past decade, much emphasis has been placed on understanding concepts in the study of mathematics. The program in this area is a sequential learning experience in which new approaches, content material, and basic skills are utilized to achieve this understanding. Through these means, students are guided toward the discovery of fundamental relationships, and hence, more meaningful knowledge.

Social Studies
The social studies program is organized to provide learning experiences that will enable the student to learn, live, and to work in a democratic society. The understanding and deep appreciation of cultural ideals, heritage, and way of life are a vital outcome of the study of our own country and the cultural and political roots of the people who make up the “American Mosaic.”

Science
The science program is organized to develop in the students a scientific enthusiasm and the ability to think critically, research, and plan experiments by using the scientific method. The program is integrated in such a way that the fields of physical, earth, and life sciences are covered in accordance with the spiritual, intellectual, physical, personal, and social development of the child.

Foreign Language
Spanish classes are part of the regular curriculum from kindergarten through eighth grade.
This program emphasizes the listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills of the Spanish language. The cultural life of the Spanish-speaking people will also be emphasized.

Music
The music program in all grades includes singing, theory, appreciation, movement, and playing rhythm instruments. Students in grades six through eight are also taught to play the recorder.

Physical Education
The philosophy of the OLQA Physical Education curriculum is based on the belief that an individual’s physical and social development is as important as their academic growth. We encourage students to learn skills for participation in a variety of sports and activities, to gain an understanding of movement and spatial awareness, and to develop an appreciation for a healthy, active lifestyle. Students will develop sportsmanship, teamwork, and leadership abilities through appropriate activities and competition. Students come to Physical Education 2 times a week. Our content focuses on developing students' abilities, learning life skills, developing fundamental athletic skills, and promoting healthy living. Through individual and team activities, students build self-confidence which applies to students’ social, emotional, physical, and academic intelligence.

Technology
At Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic School, our vision is to enhance learning through the integration of technology, which will enable our students to become life-long 21st-century learners. With this vision, teachers will design curricula that prepare students to meet the demands of the future. To further augment technology integration, OLQA School has chosen to employ iPads and Chromebooks as a personal learning tool for students. These devices are portable, user-friendly, equipped with touch-technology, have broad range of support for apps, and easy to maintain. Since the inception of mobile devices in our technology program in the year 2012, OLQA School has seen tremendous improvement in student writing, computational skills, and the students’ ability to take charge of their learning by working independently and collaboratively with others. This huge investment aims to move students above and beyond embracing the 4C’s of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity.

Art
An art program throughout the school has been established for the development of art appreciation and skills, as well as the development of creativity for all students.

Makerspace/STEM
A “maker education” is a term closely associated with Science Technology Engineering Art and Mathematics (STEAM) learning. It is an approach to problem-based and project-based learning that relies upon hands-on, collaborative, and exploratory experiences as a method for solving authentic problems. A “maker education” offers students the time, workspace, and resources for self-directed learning. Students’ interests, curiosities, and questions are viewed as significant influences on the thinking and learning process. A “maker space” is the actual environment that fosters the ideals of making, tinkering, collaboration, and invention.

TK-8 Curriculum Overview (updated 10/2023)