The Spartan Blog
Enhancing Education: A Shift Towards Optimal Learning Environments for Fourth and Fifth Graders
April 23, 2024
As the once loved Coldplay says… “When you try your best, but you don't succeed” … sometimes we try something, and it just doesn’t work. A couple of years ago, we moved our fourth and fifth graders to our nine period a day “high school schedule”, which at the time we needed to, in order to utilize our staff and resources well. However, we recognize that the schedule for those students is not ideal. So now we pivot, and we make changes for the better! In our continuous journey to improve student learning and well-being, we are thrilled to announce that we are moving our fourth and fifth grades back into an “elementary schedule”. This strategic move aims to better align with developmental needs, foster a supportive learning environment, and maximize educational opportunities for our students. While the schedule will not match completely with our K5-3rd grade students, it will give more opportunities for the teachers to collaborate and for the students to learn in a more age-appropriate learning environment.
Here is what the schedule will look like in the fall for our fourth and fifth graders! We have four incredible core subject teachers (language arts, math, science, and social studies). The fourth and fifth graders will start their day and end their day with their homeroom/Bible teachers (one of the core teachers), as well as having a built-in enrichment period/ study hall with their homeroom teacher. During this enrichment period/study hall, the 5th grade students will still be given the opportunity to be involved in band. The students will also go back to a specials rotation where they will go to PE, choir, Spanish, computer, and art once a week like our elementary special schedule.
We are very excited about this change! As administration, we pray that this schedule allows for a better transition between our lower elementary students moving into that middle school realm. This new schedule will walk our third-grade students (who have two teachers a day) to four teachers a day as they prepare to jump into the “high school” schedule in sixth grade.
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Life @ Calvary
Campus Update with New Building Photos!
February 14, 2024
Hello Calvary family!
We wanted to put together an update to briefly detail some of the happenings with the new campus as well as share some fun new photos of the big building project! It’s been one month since we received occupancy to use the unfinished phase 1 addition at CR9. The construction crew added a few temporary heaters to make this space comfortable and usable for the remainder of this school year as one large open area. This addition is currently playing host to activities like indoor recess, lunch, art classes, music classes, and library. It’s a nice temporary bonus space that we hadn’t originally planned to use! Once the school year ends, the walls will go up and the classrooms will be finished. Our K5 classrooms will move over this summer to fill two of the three new rooms (the other room will have various uses in the fall and will be a science lab next spring).
At the same time those classrooms are getting finished, another crew will be working hard putting together a freshly paved driveway (ooooooo-ahhhhhhhh). The crews will be moving fast in the summer months to asphalt the entire drive, the phase 1 parking lot, the new phase 2 parking lot, and the lane that will surround the campus. There will be an overflow lot where our busses will sit behind the phase 2 building that will remain stone for the time being. At the completion of these paving jobs we’ll have a few more parking spaces at CR9 than currently exist at the Rush campus. (and a big thank you to Joe Spiers for helping make the current stone driveway drive-able in the meantime!)
As the work on the big building continues, you’ll soon see the plumbing going in as well as getting it all enclosed. Wade Wylie at Link Construction has been working on 3D models of the project to assist the team in planning and design. We’ll share more renderings of the very soon-to-be Home of your Calvary Christian Spartans as they become available!
(the stage can present to either the gym or cafeteria area which you can see in the background)
(Bleacher area has seating for 600. With floor covering to protect the gym floor and chairs on the gym floor we could fit 1,000 in this space!)
(Below are views from the main entrance which will face north. As you drive down our long drive you'll see the flat facing part of the building that has the academic C icon) 
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Life @ Calvary