Academic Excellence

Reading
For Ninth Age Reading, children are grouped to be appropriately challenged. With reading comprehension and critical thinking as the focus of each lesson, students use the Houghton Mifflin series and other selected literature to promote discussions about main ideas and story elements. Children participate in creative projects, such as playwriting, poetry reading, and presentations as well as write short answers and essays that require critical thinking about reading content.

Writing
Teachers guide children through weekly lessons that build skills in writing mechanics, developing ideas, and word selection. Emphasis is placed on applying rules of grammar and punctuation to write meaningful sentences that clearly and creatively express thoughts. Children learn various styles of writing such as expository, persuasive, creative, and factual essays building from shorter paragraphs to longer, multi-paragraph compositions.

Spelling
Children use Everyday Spelling and an accompanying software program to incorporate newly learned words into compositions and other written work.

Grammar
Calvert's own grammar book and enrichment activities assist children in learning about parts of speech and identifying simple and complete subjects and predicates. Children apply rules of grammar in written work with a focus on communicating accurately and concisely.

Mathematics
Children review number operations and place value, and then move into multiplication and division of two and three digit numbers. Using the Math Connects series, statistics and multi-step word problems are introduced as well as how to best display data using charts and graphs. Measurement is also taught, and children participate in a Metric Olympics. Additional topics covered include fractions, decimals, and probability.

History and Geography
History content covers the time period from cave people to Columbus using the well-known book, A Child's History of the World, by Calvert's first Head Master Virgil Hillyer. Special emphasis is placed on studying ancient civilizations. In Geography, children learn how to read maps using latitude and longitude lines, hemispheres and time zones, and the comparison of continents.

Art History
Art History aligns with History content and combines movies, discussions, games, and tactile activities to examine art from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Middle Ages.