Kindergarten at St. Mark Catholic School
St. Mark School has taught kindergarten in Catonsville since 1980, in a building that has educated children in this community since 1889. Choosing a private kindergarten is a real decision, and most families weighing it want to know what the money buys. Here it buys a full day with one teacher who knows your child, six subjects taught by specialists rather than squeezed into the classroom schedule, Spanish beginning at age five, and a school your child will not have to leave until eighth grade.
Kindergarten is also the year most children first show you how they learn. Some read early. Some need another six months with letter sounds. Because St. Mark runs its own program for students with learning differences, a teacher who notices something in October is not sending you elsewhere to find help.
Kindergarten By The Numbers
Specialist Subjects
Kindergarten at St. Mark Since
Zip Codes Represented
What Your Child Will Learn in Kindergarten
Kindergarten at St. Mark follows the Archdiocese of Baltimore standards in religion, mathematics, and English language arts, with instruction in science, social studies, technology, art, music, library, Spanish, and physical education. In language arts children move from letter sounds toward reading for pleasure. In math they build number sense with objects in their hands before they meet it on paper. In religion they learn the Sign of the Cross, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the idea that the way they treat a classmate is part of their faith.
Alongside all of it they learn how school works. Lining up. Raising a hand. Asking for help. Finishing something they did not want to start. For a five year old those are the real curriculum, and they are the skills a first grade teacher will thank you for. Open the toggles below for a closer look at each subject area.
Religion
“Bringing Good News” is the Archdiocese of Baltimore Religion Curriculum for Elementary Schools. This standards-based curriculum serves as a guide, a road map for both teachers and students as they embark on a journey, which will provide them with the knowledge and understanding of the faith as witnessed in the teachings and the traditions of the Catholic Church. The curriculum is built on the Six Tasks of Catechesis: Promoting Knowledge of the Faith; Liturgical Education; Moral Formation; Teaching to Pray; Education for Community Life; and Missionary Initiation and is aligned with the Assessment of Catholic Religious Education (IFG:ACRE).
By the completion of kindergarten, students will master a variety of skills including:
- Communicate that God is Trinitarian by demonstrating the Sign of the Cross.
- State that God made us to know, love and serve Him and to be happy with Him always.
- Understand that God is always available to us in prayer even when we are afraid.
- Understand that God has entrusted to all human beings responsibility for the world and its creatures.
- Begin to memorize and pray those prayers from the Catholic tradition including the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.
- Identify the church as a sacred place where the people of God gather to pray and to worship God.
- Understand that our actions and words in every life situation should reflect that we are followers of Jesus.
Mathematics
The curriculum for all elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore include the following units:
- Counting and Cardinality
- Operations and Algebraic Thinking
- Measurement and Data
- Numbers and Operations in Base Ten
- Geometry
- Numbers and Operations
Catholic educators never forget that our schools exist to bring our students to Christ. By continuing to implement new standards that are challenging, we work to fulfill the promise of quality Catholic education that educates the whole child, both mind and soul.
By the completion of kindergarten, students will master a variety of skills including:
- Know number names and the count sequence.
- Understand addition as putting together and adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from.
- Describe and compare measurable attributes.
- Classify objects and count the number of objects in each category.
- Analyze, compare, create, and compose shapes.
English Language Arts
The English Language Arts Curriculum for the Archdiocese of Baltimore is designed using the Catholic, College and Career Ready clusters as its foundation. Through literature, this course of study fosters students’ Catholic identity, shaping them to be models of Christian living for others. This curriculum is fully integrated with our Catholic faith. We provide students with a curriculum that is rigorous and rich in literature, oral and written language, grammar, writing, vocabulary, informational literature, and multimedia/technology.
By the completion of kindergarten, students will master a variety of skills including:
- Making connections to the text.
- Greater emphasis on the writing process.
- Memorizes and recite address, phone number, and birthday.
- Fine motor control in order to draw, color, and print.
- Ability to hold pencil and crayon properly, control pencil and crayon and scissors, and color within boundaries.
- Ability to sit properly and hold the paper in the correct position for writing.
Additional Subject Areas
The following subject areas are currently under revision across the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and if you would like more information regarding these standards and essential skills please contact the school directly.
- Science
- Instructional Technology
- Social Studies
- Visual and Performing Arts
- Physical Education/Health
- World Languages
“We have 3 children enrolled at St. Mark and we couldn’t be happier with our experience. I attended Our Lady of Victory from K-8th grade, and my husband was enrolled in BCPS. We toured SO many schools when it came time for Kindergarten, and we found that St. Mark was the best for our child. They have been working through the pandemic with such grace, and with a CAN DO attitude. The teachers and staff are friendly and make it known that they want your child to succeed. They do discipline bad behavior when needed, however they focus more on rewarded positive behavior. This school is truly a blessing for our whole family!”
– St. Mark Parent
Why Parents Choose St. Mark for Kindergarten
Six Subjects, Six Specialists
Spanish Class
Two Teachers in Every Room
Student Support Services
One Campus, One Community
Accredited and Ranked
Come See Kindergarten in Action
Seats remain in kindergarten for the coming school year, and they do not usually remain for long. The best way to decide is to stand in the doorway of a kindergarten classroom on an ordinary Tuesday and watch. Tours run during the school day and are led by our student ambassadors. Call the school office at 443-860-0926 or send an inquiry and we will find a time that works.
Explore St. Mark School By Grade Level
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