Special Programs

Gospel Values in Action

The Our Lady of Good Counsel School Community has been gifted with the virtues of "compassion," "faith," and a "family spirit." Our school embodies a compassionate, faith-driven family atmosphere.

Our philosophy is rooted in the Gospel values of message, worship, community, and service. Worship plays a crucial role in our philosophy, enriching the lives of everyone at our school. We nurture faith by heeding God's word and gathering for school Masses, rosaries, prayer services, and other liturgical events, helping our students and staff thrive as a faith community. Additionally, we emphasize class service projects throughout the year, encouraging support for fellow students, the school, the church, and other communities. This commitment to service is another key Gospel value we uphold.

in our students.

A New Theme Each Year

At our school, we bring our mission to life by embracing a new theme each year, inspired by Biblical truths. This dynamic approach keeps our mission fresh and vibrant, offering both new and returning members of our community a chance to engage deeply with our core values. The 2023-2024 theme, "Gifts of the Holy Spirit," inspired us to discover our unique gifts and the importance of having them. This year, we journey into the heart of "H.O.P.E.," an acronym that stands for Humility, Obedience, Prayer, and Eucharist. These guiding principles encourage us to foster a supportive and Christ-centered community recognizing Jesus as our only hope. Through these themes, we cultivate an environment of spiritual growth and mutual understanding, continuously renewing our commitment to living out our foundational beliefs.

STAR Reading and Math assessments from Renaissance Learning

The STAR Reading and Math quarterly assessments from Renaissance Learning play a vital role in evaluating and enhancing student learning. These tools provide educators with insights into student abilities to guide tailored instruction.

STAR Reading:

- Purpose: Quickly evaluates reading skills, comprehension, and proficiency to identify reading levels and track growth.
- Format: Adaptive, adjusting question difficulty based on student responses for a personalized experience.
- Content: Covers vocabulary, literary elements, key ideas, and interpretation.
- Duration: Typically 20-30 minutes to minimize classroom disruption.

STAR Math:

- Purpose: Assesses math skills and proficiency, highlighting strengths and areas for support.
- Format: Adaptive, aligning with students' skill levels.
- Content: Spans basic arithmetic to advanced topics like algebra and geometry.
- Duration: About 20-30 minutes.

STAR Guidance helps ...

1. Benchmarking Progress: Offers a standardized measure for tracking progress and comparing it to normed data.
2. Personalized Instruction: Data helps tailor teaching to individual needs, ensuring suitable challenges and support.
3. Informed Decision-Making: Results guide curriculum adjustments, interventions, and resource allocation.
4. Achievement Reporting: Provides insights for reporting academic performance relative to grade-level expectations.
5. Goal Setting: Assists in establishing measurable goals for academic improvement and support.

Integrating STAR assessments into grading fosters a data-driven educational environment, promoting continuous learning growth.

Freckle Enrichment fed by STAR Data

Freckle is an adaptable educational platform offering personalized learning experiences for Reading & Math

1. Personalized Learning: Freckle adjusts to each student’s learning level, delivering tailored lessons and activities suited to their individual progress.

2. Engaging Activities: The platform offers diverse interactive content that maintains student interest and motivation.

3. Skill Development: Freckle provides practice aligned with classroom goals, supporting continuous skill reinforcement.

4. Broad Subject Coverage: It extends beyond reading and math, offering resources for multiple subjects to support a comprehensive educational approach.

Integration with STAR Assessments

- Data-Driven Customization: Freckle utilizes performance data from STAR to personalize learning, allowing educators to pinpoint student strengths and areas for improvement.

- Focused Instruction:The integration empowers teachers to adapt Freckle's resources based on STAR results, ensuring alignment with individual learning paths.

- Comprehensive Progress Tracking: Our Lady of Good Counsel School teachers monitor progress in Freckle and relate it to STAR data, gaining a full picture of student growth.

By integrating Freckle with STAR assessments, our teachers can deliver personalized, effective instruction to meet each student’s specific learning needs.

Shurley Method

The Shurley Method is a teaching approach focused on language arts, emphasizing grammar and writing skills. Here are some benefits:

1. Structured Learning: It provides a clear, step-by-step framework that makes grammar concepts easy to understand.

2. Engagement: Students actively participate in learning through chants and jingles, making grammar more engaging and memorable.

3. Retention: The method reinforces concepts through repetition and cumulative reviews, enhancing long-term retention.

4. Critical Thinking: Students develop critical thinking skills by learning how to analyze and construct sentences effectively.

5. Writing Improvement: It emphasizes the application of grammar skills in writing, leading to more structured and coherent written work.

Overall, the Shurley Method helps students build a strong foundation in language arts, improving both their grammar and writing abilities.

Foundational Literacy- Superkids Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2

The Superkids program is a highly valued educational curriculum for kindergarten through second-grade students, focusing on foundational literacy skills.

1. Comprehensive Approach: It integrates reading, writing, spelling, and grammar, offering a well-rounded literacy education.

2. Engaging Content: The program features captivating characters and stories that maintain students' interest and motivation, cultivating a love for reading.

3. Systematic Instruction: Its structured, step-by-step process is easy to follow for both teachers and students, ensuring effective learning progression.

4. Skill Building: Emphasizing phonics and phonemic awareness, it helps develop strong reading skills in early learners.

5. Parent Involvement: The program supports parental engagement with resources to help reinforce learning at home.

6. Measurable Progress: Teachers can easily track student progress, allowing for targeted instruction to meet individual learning needs.

Singapore Math

The goal is for children to perform well because they understand the material on a deeper level; they are not just learning it for a test. The Singapore Math program:

Relies heavily on visualization. Singapore introduces a middle step between the concrete and abstract called the pictorial approach.
Believes the means to mastery is problem solving.
Encourages students to learn how to use model drawing to solve those word problems that many of us remember fondly from elementary school. Instead of trying to picture the problem in their heads, then writing out the equation to solve it.