Academic Enrichment
Portaportal |First in Math | Accelerated Reader | Step Up To Writing | Character Counts| Great Books
Portaportal
Portaportal is a book-marking site where St. Bede the Venerable School keeps many educational and fun resources for our students and parents.
First in Math
St. Bede the Venerable School is a hosted member of First in Math, an onsite math resource to increase critical thinking skills and math concepts. It is available 24/7 from your home computer during the school year.
Accelerated Reader
St. Bede the Venerable School is a hosted member of Accelerated Reader – a language arts testing site for reading comprehension. Home Connect is a resource for parents to check the progress of their child. It is an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand web-based interface that allows students, parents and teacher to share in the educational experience by viewing progress in certain Renaissance Place programs while outside of school.
Parents may view Renaissance Home Connect from any computer with an Internet connection using these browsers: • Internet Explorer® 6.02 or later, • Firefox® 1.5 or later, • Safari™ 2.0.3 or later.
https://hosted74.renlearn.com/265282/homeconnect/login.aspx.
The user name and password are the same as the ones your child uses at school.
Step Up To Writing
St. Bede the Venerable School began teaching the Step Up to Writing Process in 2009. The Step Up to Writing Process is used for grades 1- 8 as a foundation for organization in writing essentials. It covers the elements of writing and essay organization. Teachers first provide direct instruction and modeling for students. Students then follow guided practice and move on to independent practice. Students are taught how to pre-write plan and draft, revise and edit their writing.
Character Counts
St. Bede the Venerable School has been applying Character Counts! in grades K – 8 since 2009. Character Counts!, administered by the Josephson Institute, is the most widely implemented approach to character education, reaching millions of youth. Character Counts! is a framework centered on values called the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.
- St. Bede Parish was honored to have Michael Josephson come to speak to parents and parishioners on February 8, 2011. Mr. Josephson is pictured with St. Bede School teachers (above right).
- St. Bede the Venerable School was recognized by the Character Counts National Office on October 19, 2011 and the school’s activities were posted on their Character Counts Education Blog for Character Counts Week. http://charactercounts.org/chron/2011/10/14/what-are-your-plans-for-cc-week-2011/
Great Books
St. Bede the Venerable School values the love of literature. For the past 20 years, the school has offered the Junior Great Books program to students in grades 4 – 8. This program provides students an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of literature by discussing questions, responses and insights with their peers. Students practice critical thinking skills, using the Great Books Foundation Shared Inquiry method. Volunteer parents, trained in this method, meet with students once or twice a month to have dynamic discussions that allow students to share their thoughts and ideas.
