Academic Enrichment

At Saint Joe’s every student is encouraged and challenged to discover their personal artistic talents. We offer a respectful and supportive environment along with a myriad of tools and supplies for learners to explore and express themselves creatively.

Some highlights of our Art program include:

Visual Arts is an important piece of the Saint Joseph academic curriculum.  The Art program has four objectives:

Art History: Students begin to understand and appreciate the valuable role art has played in the history, the world, and in their lives.

Aesthetics: Conversations about artists and art let students see that creative and emotional ideas have value.

Production: Understanding and applying the elements and principles, using a variety of techniques, students create interesting and challenging projects.

Appreciation: Students gain an ability to discuss, evaluate and appreciate what they see and what they create.

At Saint Joseph School, STREAM education is a problem-based, cross-curricular approach to learning for grades preschool through fifth. Our program integrates Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, the Arts and faith-based values, while providing students opportunities to build critical thinking skills, and make connections among school, the community, and the world, within a hands-on supportive environment. Some highlights of our STREAM program include:

Students will enjoy learning Spanish through the use of:

By the time of graduation, it is hoped that the program has developed in our students:

Recognition and appreciation of cultural differences

An understanding of how the Spanish-speaking world has influenced the United States and the World

The objective of the sixth and seventh grade Spanish courses is to provide a detailed introduction to the "first year" level Spanish. Within a short time, the students can ask and answer questions as well as read sentences based on material from each lesson. Active oral participation accompanies written exercises, which serve to reinforce new vocabulary and grammatical structures. There is significant emphasis on oral participation, with emersion in the target language a priority. Students are encouraged to use common expressions and newly learned vocabulary both in conversations during class and with the teacher.  Skits and creative writing pieces accompany each chapter.  In addition, the course aims to expose students to different Spanish-speaking cultures and to develop an awareness of the customs and traditions of those cultures.  Homework is given almost daily to reinforce lessons, and tests/quizzes provide opportunities for each student to demonstrate his/her knowledge and ability to handle the Spanish language.  Oral and aural proficiency evaluations accompany the written tests.  There is a cumulative exam given at the beginning of the June, which covers the material presented throughout the second half of the year.  Cross-curricular units have included: Sixth - Hurricanes (weather, weather vocabulary), Seventh – Star Spangled Banner (flags of the Spanish speaking world).

The objective of the eighth-grade Spanish course is to strengthen the acquisition and refinement of the language skills: speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Grammatical structure, with primary emphasis on verb forms, is stressed. Material from the introductory years is recycled and reviewed.  Class time is spent on oral activities with homework assignments designed to reinforce new material. Activities that contribute to cultural awareness continue to be an integral part of the course dealing with a variety of topics such as life, customs, and geography of the Spanish-speaking world. Technology is integrated into the classroom setting for emphasis of material learned in each chapter.  Cross-curricular units have included: Eighth – Immigration.

The goal for Saint Joseph School Music program is to let our students explore the world of music and the performing arts. 

Our program is planned to compliment positive Christian values and to build each student's self-awareness and self-esteem through music and theatre.

The students are introduced to a wide variety of musical styles including, classical, jazz, blues, pop, musical theatre, liturgical, and contemporary Christian.

Our curriculum spirals as we revisit elements of music that include pitch, tempo, dynamics, and notation that are appropriate for each grade level. These elements are taught through song, body percussion and percussion instruments.

Listening and analyzing music is taught by studying composers from many genres. Historical and cultural perspectives are examined as well.

Our students are taught basic dance steps from ballet to jazz and stage movement that is typically utilized in a musical theatre performance opportunity.

Older students are also exposed to acting and theatre history.

Performance opportunities in music and theatre for our students are encouraged through our liturgical choir at monthly Masses, band concerts, and our theatre programs.