K–8 Overview

At Calvary Lutheran School, students are encouraged to be creative thinkers, problem solvers, and meaningful contributors to our society. Calvary’s well-rounded K-8 curriculum focuses on religion, math, language arts, science, visual arts, music, physical education, and foreign language. As a benefit of our smaller class sizes and close-knit student/teacher/parent relationships, our students enjoy individualized attention and collaborative learning with their peers — the perfect formula for future success.

Reaching Academic Goals

In addition to the desire to see every student perform well in class, we strive to help our students reach the following goals:

  • Grow in relationship with God, desiring to use His Word to make moral, ethical, and other real-life decisions
  • Develop logical, scientific, and creative thinking habits
  • Demonstrate voluntary effort, initiative, independence, responsibility, and self-direction
  • Gain appreciation for the beauties of nature and the fine arts
  • Use God-given gifts to their fullest potential, working to the height of individual ability

Measuring Academic Achievement

In addition to regular assessments throughout the school year, students participate in Stanford Achievement Tests annually to assess their progress in relation to national norms and standards. These tests measure mastery of basic skills in the following areas: vocabulary, reading comprehension, math problem solving, math procedures, language mechanics, language expression, spelling, study skills, science, social sciences, listening, using information, and thinking skills.

Cultivating Faith

At Calvary, Christian faith is taught as a way of life. Our faculty, staff, and parents work cooperatively to encourage students in their knowledge of God’s Word and their trust in Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Love, forgiveness, respect, courtesy, and consideration toward all people are celebrated here at Calvary!
Calvary students are nurtured in their spiritual growth through the following:

  • Daily connections between God’s Word and the accredited curriculum of the school
  • Biblical instruction that provides students with basic tools for Christian living, defending the Christian faith, and growing in relationship to God and others
  • Daily classroom devotions and prayer
  • Weekly chapel worship with music and singing
  • Memorization of Bible passages
  • Mission and ministry opportunities

Calvary families are also encouraged to pray together daily and worship at Calvary Lutheran Church or their own church home.

Reading in the Accelerated Reader Program

Calvary is a reading school! Our 1st-8th grade students participate in the Accelerated Reader (AR) program, a curriculum-based assessment tool that enables teachers to monitor the quantity and quality of student reading. In the 2015/2016 school year, our 2nd grade class scored 1st in the nation in the Accelerated Reader Challenge, and as an entire school we scored 3rd in the nation!

Students select books from more than 25,000 titles on the AR list. Each book is assigned a point value based on its word count and reading difficulty, as derived from the well-known Flesch-Kincaid readability index. After reading the book, students take a multiple-choice comprehension test on the computer. Tests may have 5, 10, or 20 questions, depending on the length and difficulty of the book. The AR software scores the test, awards the student points based on the results, and keeps a complete record.

Students select their own books and read at their own pace. As students test on more books, the AR system enables teachers to closely monitor general levels of reading performance. The AR software provides the teacher with an automatically updated analysis of scores for individuals or whole classes, including difficulty of books read, points earned, and other diagnostic information.

Growing Skills with Our Enrichment Program

Calvary’s enrichment teachers serve to enhance student learning through specific skill development and use of alternative learning strategies. This program is available to all K-8 students for learning extension and remediation.