St. Joseph School Batavia, NY Melanie Roth

1. INSTRUCTIONAL INQUIRY
By: Melanie Roth

2. BATAVIA DEMOGRAPHICS
 Population in 2010: 15,465
 Population change since 2000: -4.9
 Median resident age: 40.4
 Median household income: $37,998

3. RICHMOND MEMORIAL LIBRARY
 Batavia’s community library is located next door to
St. Joseph School
 Children’s Room – Story Times, Special
Programs, Summer Programs, Lego Club
 Friendly supportive environment
 Accessible librarians
 Homework help
 Music
 Games

4. ST. JOSEPH SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS
 Average class size: 16 students
 12 full-time teachers, 5 part-time teachers, 5
support staff, 2 nurses
 NYS certified and certification-eligible teachers
 Full-time Academic Intervention Service (AIS)
teacher (reading)
 Speech, Occupational & Physical Therapists
available for K-8
 12 SMART Board classrooms

5. MISSION
 St. Joseph School, located in Batavia, New York, is
a Pre-K through 8th-grade Roman Catholic school
that teaches in partnership with parents and the
Church to nurture the unique individuals that God
has created. By encouragement, example, and high
expectations, we strive to nurture a secure
foundation of strong virtues and excellent
academics so that our students will continue to
grow in holiness and skills to be well-equipped
to fulfill their individual missions in life.

6. SERVICE ACTIVITIES
 The stewardship program for students in Kindergarten through Grade 8 is entitled “Celebrate
Service.” the purpose of this program is to provide students with the opportunity to make a
difference in our Church and surrounding communities through various service and support
programs. Each grade will participate in a pre-planned project. All grades have been assigned a
specific area of stewardship emphasis. Grades K-2 will be organizing events directed towards
helping other children. Projects in grades 3-5 will emphasize the sick and elderly of our
community, and the 6th through 8th grades will participate in projects directed toward the hungry
and homeless. Examples of service projects include:
 Valentines for Veterans
 Flowers for the Ladies of Sodality and shamrocks for the Knights of Columbus
 Setting up or working at the Sodality Soup Supper
 Helping at Special Olympics
 Working at the Batavia Home Show
 Creating signs for Brooklyn’s fundraiser
 Filling eggs for the Kiwanis Easter Egg Hunt
 Donations to the Batavia Backpack Club
 Penny Carnival Basket Donations
 Earth Day Cleanup at Austin Park
 Participating in Family Masses at area churches
 Operation Christmas Child (NJHS)
 Letters to Shut-Ins during the winter months
 Sponsoring a child’s education in India (NJHS)

7. FIELD TRIPS
 Applied learning is an important part of the curriculum at St.
Joseph School. Therefore, field trips are designed to correlate
with teaching units and to achieve curricular goals. Sample
field trips include: Buffalo and Rochester Zoos
 Nazareth Children's Theater
 Cooperative Extension Dairy Days
 Arcade and Attica Train Polar Express
 Hidden Valley Animal Adventure
 Niagara Falls Aquarium
 Fort Niagara
 Erie Canal
 Caledonia Fish Hatchery
 Genesee Country Museum
 Niagara Falls
 Pittsburgh, PA Zoo, Boat Tour and Baseball Stadium Tour

8. LITERACY INSTRUCTION METHODS K-6
 Classroom instruction
 Macmillan/McGraw Hill Reading
 Connect to Success
 AIS Reading
 For the past 3 years:
 1st grade – Early Success
 K through 3rd – Magic Penny
 2nd through 8th – Quick Reads
 All grade levels – Guided Reading & Literature
Previously used
Developmental Learning Materials
2nd grade – Sight Word Readers
AIS Reading Teacher, Barb Glenn “I am now seeing more students
due to Race to the Top (RTTT) and Response to Intervention
(RTI)”

9. LITERACY ASSESSMENTS K-6
 Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA2)
 All AIS students, all kindergarten & 1st grade
 AIMSWEB
 All students K - 8

10. LITERACY IN THE COMMUNITY
 Reading Buddies – Pre-
school (3 year old & 4 year
old programs) to 8th
grade, younger grades will
pair up with students in older
grades and will read with
their “reading buddy” every
week all year.
 Community Project –
Students K-2 picked a
career, created a power point
presentation, made a model
of their place of
employment, and made a
presentation on stage in front
of all 3 grades about their Reading Buddies – Kindergarten
chosen career. and 5th grade

11. LITERACY IN THE COMMUNITY CONTINUED
 Report – Interview with a grandparent. Student
interviewed a grandparent then wrote their answers
into a report.
 Report – Research a chosen country at home, write
a report and present the report to other grades.
 Book-It – The students writes down the book read
every night in a calendar. At the end of the month
they turn in filled in calendar and get a coupon for a
free pizza at Pizza Hut.

12. LITERACY DEVELOPMENT
 Author visits to the school
 Book authors will visit the school, read books and sign
books for the students
 School newsletter
 Students published newsletter – includes drawings and
writings from the students

13. COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
 Radio
 Students write critiques, go to local radio station (WBTA
1490) and read critiques on the air
 Essay contests
 In coordination with Cornell Cooperative Extension
 State poetry contest

14. SUGGESTIONS
 Daily 5/CAFÉ Reading & Writing Program
 Increase the number of journal entries – very few
entries were found in the students journals
 Writing Buddies – Students currently have reading
buddies. This could be extending to include writing
buddies as well.

15. SOURCES
 http://www.sjsbatavia.org/index.html
 http://www.batavialibrary.org
 http://www.city-data.com/city/Batavia-New-
York.html
 Barb Glenn, Mary Case, Anna Perl (teachers at
St. Joe’s)