The Sacred Heart Primary School places children on the path to a life-long love of learning. Our curriculum encourages curiosity, stimulates thinking and helps to instill in each child a sense of self-confidence. The Primary School includes Kindergarten, first, and second grade.
The Sacred Heart Approach The Primary School at Sacred Heart works to welcome students to the Sacred Heart community. Children build the foundations for their careers as students and life long learners in a nurturing and stimulating environment. Teachers are well versed in the developmental stages specific to this age group and work to instill an excitement about learning and an eagerness to form community. The coed Kindergarten lays the groundwork for the schools co institutional model, allowing boys and girls to get to know one another. In first grade, children break into single gender classrooms, allowing teachers to tailor the learning in their classes to the needs of each student using their knowledge of brain research, educational theory, and each child in the room.
Seventy to eighty children boys and girls are enrolled at each grade level. Children are divided into five coed classes in the Kindergarten, each with its own teacher. Five teaching assistants rotate through the classrooms to assist the teachers. Children in first and second grade are in single-gender classes, each with its own teacher. There are assistants at both the first and second grade level as well.
Core Academic Areas Language Arts: Instruction in this area aims to teach children to read and write as well as to love literature. Kindergartners experience reading readiness activities in reading, writing, and oral language skills. First grade focuses on learning to read and second grade reinforces reading skills. Children are taught in all three grade levels using a great variety of methods, from direct phonics instruction to singing songs to journaling, with the knowledge that each child engages the reading process in a different way and at a different pace.
Math: The math program is designed to extend the understanding of key concepts. Active, hands-on methods develop problem-solving skills and extend s the children’s understanding and enjoyment of numbers and their functions. The classroom environment encourages students to explore, develop, test, discuss, and apply ideas.
Social Studies: Teachers have developed units of study that begin at the Kindergarten level by introducing children to their immediate community then expands to learn about our city, country, and our world. Children learn about our interdependence on one another in this world.
Science: The science program is based on the philosophy that students learn best by doing science, encouraging a hands-on inquiry approach to learning. Students explore units in life science, earth science, and physical science, developing an understanding of the natural world though their own inquiries, instigations, and analyses.
Extended Curriculum “Specials:” Kindergartners meet with special teachers weekly for music, religion, art, physical education, French, and library instruction. First and second graders meet with special teachers for classes in music, art, religion, physical education, library, computers, and French. A performing arts instructor works with classroom teachers to integrate performing arts principles into the curriculum.
Special Activities: Each kindergarten child is paired with a seventh-grade “buddy” who sits with him or her at all-school gatherings, shares in holiday celebrations and provides a familiar face around school and on the playground. These buddies stay together in their 1st and 8th grade year. First graders partner with fourth grade students as “book buddies.” Field trips are scheduled routinely throughout the school year at all grade-levels.
The Religion Program: Children are taught that they are known and loved by God. Students learn to explore their personal faith and experience the stories of the Catholic and other faiths. Students celebrate religious feast days, attend regular religion classes, learn about Sacred Heart traditions, and attend all-school liturgies. Second graders take part in sacramental preparation for Reconciliation and First Communion.
Campus Facilities The Kindergarten classrooms are housed in the new wing of the school. First and second grade classes are clustered on the first and second floors of the 1929 original building. Classrooms allow for separate classroom activities. The proximity to one another allow for shared instruction, interaction, and play time with other classes. Each classroom is equipped with a computer area and has easy access to the art and music rooms, gymnasium, chapel, and playgrounds.
Community Service Primary School students learn about the variety of people living in their world, here at school, in their neighborhood, in the city of Chicago and in the United States. They also learn about people around the globe. Primary School students begin to learn how to be respectful of their own environment and of their peers and teachers. They are taught the importance of helping others. Social Justice issues are explained to the students at their level of understanding. They are asked to help in a variety of ways to better the lives of people here in Chicago and around the world.
Reporting and Conferences Parents receive written communication from their child's Kindergarten teacher weekly. There are two written assessments and two regularly scheduled conferences for parents and teachers yearly. Teachers also are available for meetings as requested throughout the year.
The Sacred Heart Primary School places children on the path to a life-long love of learning. Our curriculum encourages curiosity, stimulates thinking and helps to instill in each child a sense of self-confidence. The Primary School includes Kindergarten, first, and second grade. 
Seventy to eighty children boys and girls are enrolled at each grade level. Children are divided into five coed classes in the Kindergarten, each with its own teacher. Five teaching assistants rotate through the classrooms to assist the teachers. Children in first and second grade are in single-gender classes, each with its own teacher. There are assistants at both the first and second grade level as well.
Instruction in this area aims to teach children to read and write as well as to love literature. Kindergartners experience reading readiness activities in reading, writing, and oral language skills. First grade focuses on learning to read and second grade reinforces reading skills. Children are taught in all three grade levels using a great variety of methods, from direct phonics instruction to singing songs to journaling, with the knowledge that each child engages the reading process in a different way and at a different pace. 
