Enrichment Programs

The Enrichment Programs at St. Clement's contribute to the students' growth into well-rounded individuals.

Christian Education Spanish
Physical Education Speech & Drama
Art
Music Computer Education
Service Outreach  

 

Christian Education
Our religious foundation as a Christian day school provides a vitally important dimension to our daily activities. Every individual is recognized as a unique creation of God with gifts and talents to be discovered, challenged, and developed. Christian Education classes are conducted in each grade with the appropriate curriculum developed as to each grade level. Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students attend chapel twice weekly while students in first through fifth grade attend chapel four times weekly. Middle school students attend chapel daily.

Physical Education
Although academics are of primary importance at St. Clement's School, the School recognizes the need to develop the whole child. Thus, the Physical Education program is an integral part of the total curriculum. Pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students attend P.E. classes every day. The primary goal of the Physical Education department is to teach lifelong fitness, through use of the major sports, teambuilding activities, and individual activities.

Art
The art curriculum is based on the four components of Discipline Based Art Education: art production, art history, art criticism/analysis, and aesthetic awareness. One or more of these components are present in each lesson at all grade levels. The art program is vertically designed to use prior knowledge and experience in creating artwork with increasing complexity and understanding. The elements and principles of design are applied using a variety of age appropriate techniques and media. The main goals of the program are to encourage artistic growth, to provide a vehicle of self-expression, to develop an appreciation of artwork created throughout history, and to understand the role of the arts in present day society.

Music
Children in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade experience music education through a variety of teaching methods, including the Kodaly and the Orff. Students play many instruments such as hand bells, choir chimes, glockenspiels, metallophones, and xylophones. Students also play a variety of percussive instruments which helps them learn rhythm, beat, group movement, and notation skill.

Music Club is offered to students in grades two through five as an after-school enrichment program. More detailed instruction in vocal and instrumental skills is given with special emphasis on performance. Musicals are presented throughout the year to the student body, parents, and friends.

 

Orchestra 
Students in the middle school orchestra learn to play the violin, viola, cello, or bass. They study proper technique and music theory. The group gives concerts for the school community for holidays and special occasions. 

Praise Band
The band is open to sixth and seventh graders who want to play keyboard, guitar, bass, drums, or to sing.The group leads worship at an all-school Chapel service once a month. The students learn to take risks, read music, follow a lead sheet, play an instrument, and work with others.

 
Spanish
Having knowledge of a second language is an invaluable tool for today's youth, living in a multi-cultural and globally connected world. Spanish is a part of the curriculum from first through eighth grade. Students begin in the first grade by establishing the sounds of Spanish and training the ear to comprehend spoken Spanish and learn a basic vocabulary. By the time students leave St. Clement's in the eighth grade they will feel comfortable with the Spanish language and have an understanding of the language's origins and use in today's world. Students who complete both the seventh and eighth grade courses receive one high school credit.

Speech & Drama
The speech and drama program introduces students to public speaking, writing extemporaneous speeches and addressing an audience as well as offering them opportunities to perform in plays, skits, or musical productions. Students learn to research for speech writing, to cut prose material for interpretation, and to make presentations. In drama, students participate in all aspects of creating a theater production. Sixth through eighth grade students represent St. Clement's in numerous competitions throughout the city in prose and poetry interpretation, reader's theater, improvisational acting, and solo and duet acting. eighth grade students can choose between acting in a Dinner Theater production or producing student films.

Computer Education
From one year to the next, learning is incremental. For example, students explore keyboarding from pre-kindergarten through second grade, are introduced to formal keyboarding in the third grade, and continue developing proper technique through the eighth grade. Eighth graders complete a one-semester keyboarding course to earn one half of a high school credit. Through participation in a variety of individualized and cooperative learning activities, students also develop skills in word processing, in computer programming, Internet use, and in producing multimedia presentations and computer generated art. Activities often correlate to core academic course work within the grade levels in many areas, such as creative writing, technical writing, geometry, algebra, art, music, literature, science, and social studies.

St. Clement's School is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS)
and the Texas Education Agency through the Texas Private School Accrediting Commission (TEPSAC).