New Programs at St. Martin Hall including 2 - 3 year old Child Development Center

The two new programs that will be implemented at St. Martin Hall, beginning in the Fall of 2005 are based on a School wide Enrichment Model.  In this model, we will apply the strategies traditionally reserved for teaching children with high levels of performance to the teaching of all students at St. Martin Hall.  Our goal is to increase challenge levels for all students and to promote an atmosphere of excellence and creativity in which the work of all students will be appreciated and valued.  All teachers will be trained to use the teaching strategies that stimulate high levels of creativity and thinking skills.  The regular curriculum and regular classes, into which all students will be scheduled, will be enhanced and improved.  As a part of this mission, we will provide different types of enrichment and acceleration for students identified as having special needs because they are gifted or learning disabled, or both.

In addition to the enriched environment of the regular classroom, gifted students  and those experiencing learning difficulties will be afforded the opportunity to participate in "learning clusters."  For those with learning difficulties, the cluster will focus on in-depth, individualized instruction in core subjects.  The learning cluster will be taught by a special education teacher, skilled in adapting instruction to meet individual and diverse learning needs.  Those students will meet with their cluster during the time their regular class is studying the core subject with which they are having difficulty.  They will return to the regular classroom for instruction in all content in which their success level is similar to their peers.

The students who are identified as gifted or talented and are participating in the program will meet for three or four hours per week with a gifted and talented teacher.  The gifted learning clusters will be non-graded groups of students whose giftedness areas and whose interests are similar.  Each gifted student will have an individual enrichment plan, developed by the regular education teacher, the gifted and talented teacher, the counselor, the parent, and the student.  During their  cluster time, these students will be given opportunities for applying interests, knowledge, creative ideas and task commitment to a problem or area of study.  The projects for these students may involve acceleration (a 3^rd grader studying 5^th grade math, for example) or enrichment (Participating in a program such as Olympics of the Mind, writing and submitting for publication, creating an original music composition, for example).  They will participate in the enriched regular classroom activities except for the learning cluster times.

While enrichment is valuable for all students and the School wide Enrichment Model will be improving the curriculum for all students who attend St. Martin Hall, some students require services and activities not provided in the regular curriculum.  We will become the only Catholic elementary school in San Antonio to provide the higher level of intellectual or artistic stimulation that gifted and talented students require in order to reach their potential growth while also providing students with learning difficulties the extra support they need to be successful.  Both of these new programs will be integrated into the School wide Enrichment Program, making St. Martin Hall responsive to and meeting the needs of all students.

Beginning August 2005, the OLLU Child Development Center will be located at St. Martin Hall.  The center is a licensed child care facility providing developmentally appropriate activities for 2 and 3 year olds.  The Pre-K 3 program will admit students age 3 by September 1, 2005 and will follow the Archdiocese guidelines for Pre-K 3 education.  This new Pre-K 3 program will be coordinated and enriched by OLLU faculty who will be doing research projects with 3 year olds.