- Centers on the “whole child” with special testing P3, P4, Junior Kindergarten, and Day Care
- Reaching the child where they are, academically, developmentally, and spiritually
- Uses developmentally appropriate practices
- Check out our Preschool site!
HCL Academic Standards
Our Primary Focus
Our motto…
We, through God’s grace, nurture spiritual, academic, physical, emotional, and social growth in children by guiding them to become responsible citizens and members of the body of Christ.
Academic Excellence
At Holy Cross, we strive to be a school with academic excellence. The graduates from HCLS succeed in high school, many taking honor level and college credit classes. Our graduates excel at various public and private high schools, most of which report our students to be among their “top performers.”
We are Triple-Accredited through:
We value each child of God and help them grow, nurturing their God-given talents and gifts to succeed to the best of their abilities.
State Assessements
Due to our State Accreditation requirements, students in grades 3-8 take the State Assessments. We do not teach to the test, but simply provide a strong academic experience to set them up for success on state assessments, high school placement tests, honors classes in high school and ACT tests in high school.
90%
Our 8th grade students consistently average 90% or higher on Iowa Assessments in Language Arts.
3X
Students are tested three times a year by our Resource Teacher, who holds a Masters in Special Education / Adaptive, for reading fluency and comprehension. This helps our teachers stay in tune to students progress throughout the year.
88%
Our 8th grade students consistently average 88% or higher on Iowa Assessments in Math.
What Does Our Curriculum Include?
- Weekly Chapel led by Pastors, teachers, staff, and students
- Morning Devotions
- Daily Bible Truths / Religion classes for all ages
- Scripture Memory assigned
- Integration of Faith into all subjects
- Contemporary Issues taught by Pastor
- Phonetically trained teachers
- Language Arts integrated into all subjects
- Accelerated Reading program
- High standards of language comprehension
- Middle School trained in research using all media sources including Public Library research
- Saxon Math curriculum
- Math enhancements in Splash Math & Reflex Math
- Algebra offered to 8th grade
- IXL and self-lead enhancements built into curriculum for Middle School
- Local, State, and World History taught
- Pearson curriculum with digital media included
- Current and updated information
- Field trips, cross curricular, & social media opportunities led by teachers
- Food Fest event sponsored by Middle School
- Full Science lab in Middle School
- Shared experiences from grade to grade
- Hands on experiments and research
- Faith integrated
- An important part of our curriculum
- Age Appropriate activities for each grade level
- Offered twice a week for all students
- Variety of media used including markers, pastels, chalk, watercolor, acrylic paint, tempera, construction paper, colored pencil, and clay
- Art appreciation is a part of Holy Cross art classes from kindergarten through eighth grade
- Blessed to have a KILN, each class makes at least one ceramic project during the school year
- Experience is wide ranging and includes projects like printmaking, sculpture, collage, and various fiber arts
- Concert Band offered 5th – 8th
- General Music K-8
- Choir for Middle School
- Concerts and Performances throughout the year
- Music Theater offered as an elective for 6th – 8th
- Spanish taught in all grade levels
- ASL (American Sign Language) offered as an elective for Middle School
- 1:1 Surface Tablets in grades 6-8
- Computer classes for Kdg – 8th Grade
- Classes twice a week
- Fully equipped computer lab
- Windows PC w/Microsoft Office taught
- iPads used in Jr. Kdg – 5th as an enhancement resource
- SMART Boards in every classroom