Academic Excellence at HVCS

There are many Christian independent schools in Chattanooga, and each school serves in reaching students for Jesus in its own way. HVCS strives to develop each child's maximum potential. Today's blog post is one way we pursue our mission. Over the next several weeks, I will introduce how HVCS influences the development of each child.

 

Our mission is "We strive for the development of each child's maximum potential: intellectually, spiritually, socially, physically, and emotionally, within a warm and caring environment through an individualized program. We exist to enable students to become productive, contributing citizens with Christ-like faith and Christian commitment."

 

This week's focus is on our honors critical thinking/reading class offered to fourth and fifth grade students. HVCS attempts to individualize its program. In light of this, we group students by ability and/or skill in our core subjects (math and reading). The reason behind this approach is that a teacher better meets each student's needs by teaching to a homogeneous group as opposed to a setting where the children have a wide diversity of acadmic abilities. As a part of this philosophy, HVCS created an honors course for those who scored in the 85% on the SAT 10 test in the area of critical thinking. This group has been reading The Count of Monte Cristo, The Chronicles of Narnia, and they will be reading King Arthur soon! Students complete five-paragraph essays and work on a multitude of writing activities.

 

Mrs. Carlone teaches this course. Mrs. Stynchcombe teaches those not attending the honors class. In Mrs. Stynchcombe's reading course, the students experience a thorough study of vocabulary, grammar, and literature where the group is further divided into three groups. She has them debate topics, try various countries food, along with other fun and exciting opportunities. Both groups are currently writing an argumentative essay on whether leadership is innate or developed based on certain readings.

 

Next school year, if the Lord wills, we want to have an honors math course for fourth and fifth grades to go hand-in-hand with the critical thinking course. More information on that as the school year continues.

 

HVCS offers the National Elementary Honors Society to our fourth and fifth grade students who have a 90% average in their school work for at least three semesters consecutively. This is a prestigious club to be involved in that not only focuses on academic achievement, but also focuses on community service and leadership- two aspects I will discuss in a future blog that focuses on developing a different part of the whole child.

 

Academic excellence at HVCS is strewn throughout the grades. In this blog I want to give you a picture of the end result or product of the education your children receive at HVCS. This week's blog focuses on one way in which we strive to meet our mission. This blog focuses on developing the intellectual potential of our children.

 

Over the next two weeks, we will continue this discussion by focusing on what we do to fulfill our mission by helping students develop socially and spiritually.