📚 SJA Shines at the Diocese of Joliet Battle of the Books! 📚

21 of our SJA students proudly represented our school at the largest Diocese of Joliet Battle of the Books competition in over a decade, with 10 schools and over 250 students gathering at the Cathedral of St. Raymond! After months of preparation and countless pages read, our teams had an incredible showing:

🏆 4th Grade Team – 1st Place
🏆 5th Grade Team – 1st Place
🥉 Junior High Team – 3rd Place

Hope is more than just wishing—it’s trusting in God’s promises! Each week, our students will reflect on the Virtue of Hope, writing down their hopes and prayers on special cards.

Memorable Experiences: Can you share a memorable experience or favorite memory from your time at the school?

I have two very memorable experiences that I still think about today and talk with my kids about, All Saints Day and Stations of the Cross.

Congratulations to the Junior High team on their 1st place finish in the Wheaton Library Young Adult Battle of the Books Competition. The team had been hard at work since June. The library provided a list of 20 books for the season. The students participated in 6 rounds of competition where they tested their knowledge of those books against other private and public schools.

There’s been a lot of research about the best ways for kids to learn how to read. This includes things like sounds (phonics), reading smoothly (fluency), and understanding what they read (comprehension). This is called the Science of Reading (and writing). It shows that kids learn best when teachers give clear and organized lessons based on what we know works. While most of this research has been used for younger kids in kindergarten to fifth grade, it can also help older students, like those in middle school, become better readers and understand their other subjects too!

What is i-Ready? i-Ready was invented in 2011 as a combination of the i-Ready Diagnostic and an online instruction program. This combo allows for assessments that are followed up with personalized instruction. Once students complete the Diagnostic, i-Ready builds a unique lesson plan with a starting point for each learner based on their individual results. i-Ready gives teachers the flexibility to add lessons or adjust the lesson sequence based on their own knowledge of their students. The tests are adaptive in nature allowing students to reach beyond what they may currently have mastered.

St Joan of Arc Catholic School is thrilled to announce the addition of “Thinking Maps” for the 2024-2025 School Year. Thinking Maps is a whole-school, brain-based approach to teaching and learning designed to build foundational critical thinking, problem-solving, comprehension, and communication skills necessary for academic success. The Maps provide a shared visual “language for learning” for our entire school. This will allow students to build upon their skills year after year and carry these traits to the next grade and beyond.

Congratulations to SJA 8th grader, Vincenzo Lucafo '28, one of the two inaugural recipients of the Sean P. Richards Memorial Scholarship at Benet High School! Vincenzo was selected because, like Sean, he chooses to live his Catholic faith, with sincere kindness, a positive influence to all, love, laughter, joy, compassion, empathy, and wonder. Congratulations!

St Joan of Arc School has a very strong and successful athletic program. Our sports calendar begins with Cross Country and Volleyball in the fall, followed by Basketball and Cheerleading. Our final sport season of the year is Track and Field. We're thrilled to announce the results of our recent track meet! 🎉 Congratulations to all the participants for their outstanding performances! 🌟