IHS Academy | Schola Prima

S C H O L A P R I M A

"It is the roots which keep the tender plants in the ground and supply them with sap and nourishment. The roots of the Christian life are religion and piety. These roots must be tended, and that very early; else the outlook in the field of education will be but a poor one. But it is a consolation to know that children who have been well and carefully trained up to their sixth and seventh year remain, as a rule, what they are at that period. In the favorable atmosphere of the family circle, the spiritual life of the child, drawing its vitality from the warm heart of the mother, has been developed, religion and piety have grown and flourished." -- Rev. Lasance

Book List by Level

Schola Color
White - symbolizes the purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Schola Motto
Ora et Labora
"Pray and Work"

Schola Patroness
Our Lady of Grace
Prayer: My Queen! My Mother! I give myself entirely to thee; and to show my devotion to thee, I consecrate to thee this day my eyes, my years, my mouth, my heart, my whole being, without reserve. Wherefore, good Mother, as I am thine own, keep me, guard me, as thy property and possession. Amen.

Objectives and Goals

Level 1

To lead each student to love Jesus Christ and His blessed Mother.
To help each student prepare well for his/her First Holy Communion.
To memorize and recite the Ordinary of the Mass in both English and Latin.
To provide systematic instruction in phonics and develop reading comprehension skills.
To master slanted printing of letters, words and numbers.
To learn an appreciation for literature through the Lives of the Saints and Our Lady (in English).
To learn an appreciation for literature through classic fairy tales (in Italian).
To recognize and read numbers up to 1,000 and recognize hours and half hours.
To understand comparison and estimate of contrasting words.
To train the student in correct musical expression in any of its manifold forms.

Level 2

To help each student to realize that God's laws are good, right and just.
To teach the student to know the laws of God and to obey them.
To continue memorizing and reciting the Ordinary of the Mass in both English and Latin.
To continue to provide systematic instruction in phonics and develop reading comprehension skills.
To master slanted handwriting (cursive) of letters, words and numbers.
To introduce correct sentence structure and practice with simple grammar rules.
To read the lives of the saints and fables through classic literature.
To work on oral presentation through the memorization and recitation of poetry.
To drill arithmetic concepts for mastery in preparation for solving quantitative problems.
To discover hundreds of animals by exploring their environments and habitats.
To expand their knowledge in intonation, rhythm and staff notation.

Level 3

To help each student: steadily, earnestly, determinedly, lovingly and prayerfully to live as a good Catholic child.
To begin reading and understanding passages from the Holy Bible.
To introduce Latin grammar and vocabulary.
To practice Latin recitation through the prayers of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To learn grammar rules in order to apply them to writing lessons.
To understand the structure of writing through poetry, short stories and fiction.
To continue reading the lives of the saints and classic literature.
To develop the skill of solving two step problems.
To develop the student's skill in problem solving as systematically as in computation.
To discover the different principles of science by experimenting in the fields from chemistry to physics.
To expand their knowledge in music intervals and modulations and to master breath control and rhythmic independence.

Level 4

To help each student to choose to be for God and all that is good.
To master the Baltimore Catechism questions and answers for memory.
To read with fluency in Latin passages from the Little Office and the Missal.
To work through verb conjugations, noun declensions, adjectives, personal pronouns and prepositions in Latin.
To reinforce the usage of capitalization, punctuation and finding parts of speech in sentences.
To master the spelling of over four thousand words in a sequential pattern.
To practice arithmetic principles through problem-solving, oral drill and logical sequence.
To delve into history and geography through the lives of the saints.
To listen daily to the words of the Holy Bible in the Italian language.
To learn an appreciation of nature and outdoor life through observation and hands-on experiments.
To enrich the student's devotional life by an understanding of, and participation in, the liturgical prayer of the Church.