Curriculum
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Biblical worldview is the foundation for every class, activity, sport, and event at our school. It is common to see one of our math teachers integrate Christian principles in her class by describing our Creator as the chief architect of order or to hear one of our history teachers explaining the providence of God in the study of His church in a particular time and place. Likewise, it is natural for administrators, teachers, and staff to speak to parents, students, and supporters at any Christ Covenant event of our faith in and love of the Lord Jesus Christ. We aren’t perfect; we make mistakes. We are, in fact, sinners in need of a Savior – and that too is part of what it means to live out of and teach out of a biblical worldview. It is understanding and believing that Jesus Christ is our chief cornerstone, our bread, our life – not just in Bible class but in every area of life.
Our curriculum is not simply a textbook full of facts. It is a rich, disciplined instructional process that strives to offer opportunities for discovery, personal development, and growth. Our curriculum is challenging and engaging and recognizes the value in the uniqueness of each individual student.
Our curricular approach seeks to develop the mind and challenge the heart by fostering a learning environment that values intellect and instills biblical values.
Arts
The Art Department fosters knowledgeable young artists who bring glory to God through music, singing, painting, sculpture, photography, theater, and ballet. We train our students to think biblically about art and artistic development. We are proud to have many students compete and win competitions on the district and state level. Local and regional musicians and ballerinas share their talents in some of our special chapels. Our Music Department continues to present annual productions, which give your child the unique opportunity to participate in class plays as well as introduce students to different types of music, musical instruments, and music history as a means to glorify God. Additionally, our Outback program provides opportunities for instrument lessons in the afternoon.
Middle School students experience a wide range of artistic disciplines, including chapel worship team, drumline, theater class with a spring theater production, and art classes that include school-wide art shows as well as district and state competitions. In addition, students are exposed to other artistic disciplines and are given even more opportunities to express themselves artistically.
Bible
6th Grade Bible
This course is designed to be an introduction to the entire Bible and its focal point – the Lord Jesus Christ. Our goal is to see the “big picture” of the Bible as we trace the major contours of its storyline from Genesis to Revelation. The story begins with God’s people living in God’s place under the rule of God’s King. Sin ruined our relationship with God, each other, and His world, and led ultimately to exile and death. However, God promised to send a Savior to rescue His people, judge His enemies, and reverse the curse of the Fall. And over the course of the year, we will see how the Lord fulfilled this great promise!
7th Grade Bible
This course introduces students to foundational Christian doctrines as outlined in Wayne Grudem’s Christian Beliefs, which is a condensation of his larger text, Systematic Theology. Over the course of the year, the class will explore critical questions, such as, “What is the Bible?”, “What is the Trinity?”, “What is prayer?”, “What is man?”, “What is sin?”, “Who is Christ?”, “What is justification?”, “What is the church?”, “ What is death?”, and “What will happen when Christ returns?”. In many respects, the Grudem text is merely a jumping off point: we will spend most of our time in the Bible. Furthermore, we will supplement our class text with readings from Augustine, Aquinas, Martin Luther, J. C. Ryle, J. I. Packer, and others. We will conclude the course by exploring basic Christian doctrine in narrative form as we study John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress together.
8th Grade Bible
The purpose of this course is to help students construct a biblical worldview based on the great biblical themes of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. In the first quarter, students will delve deeply into Genesis 1-3 to examine the Bible’s foundational teaching on God, creation, man, gender, work, morality, sexuality, marriage, sin (and its effects), death, and the hope of salvation. In the second quarter, students will compare and contrast the biblical teaching on these critical subjects to other worldview paradigms, such as deism, naturalism, nihilism, existentialism, eastern pantheistic monism, and other world religions (Islam, Judaism, and Christian cults). The third quarter will be devoted to apologetics. Students will be exposed to some of the most common objections to the faith and learn to respond to them with truth and love. In the final quarter of the year, students will look at the Christian worldview from “the other side,” so-to-speak, as we study C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters together.
8th Grade Bible: Apologetics Topics
- Is the Bible trustworthy?
- What is the fate of those who never hear the gospel?
- Aren’t all religions equally true?
- Aren’t all religions equally false?
- Hasn’t science disproven Christianity?
- Isn’t faith irrational?
- How can you be sure Christ rose from the dead?
- The Problem of Christian Divisions
- The Problem of Hypocrisy
- The Problem of Evil
- I don’t need no religion!
- The Church is responsible for so much injustice
- How can a loving God send anyone to Hell?
History
Christ Covenant students grow in knowledge of our ever-changing world. From ancient Greece and Rome to present day events happening all over the globe, our goal is that students know that God is sovereign and in control of all history. God is redeeming His broken world, and we are working out God’s divine plan.
Living History Days are tremendous learning opportunities for students in Lower School to have a first-hand experience with a time period they have studied. They also have opportunities to extend topics of study through local field trips, including the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson and the World War II Museum in New Orleans. Middle School students extend their studies on out-of-state trips, such as the Huntsville Space Center, Mammoth Cave, Creation Museum, and the Ark Encounter.
In the classroom, Middle School students start their time in the ancient world studying the Babylonian Empire, ancient Egypt, ancient China, and the Roman Empire. Seventh grade students study Creation through geography as well as culture, incorporating maps of where missionaries are serving around the world to lost people groups. In eighth grade, CCS students take an in-depth look at the history of the United States from its earliest beginnings. To see history through a biblical worldview is to better understand God’s ever unfolding plan for us.
Math
Along with producing students with strong literacy skills, we are committed to training our students to be capable of complex mathematical thinking resulting from a true conceptual understanding of math. A concepts-based curriculum where students grasp the concepts of mathematical problem-solving serves students better than a procedure-oriented curriculum where students only memorize steps for a test. Our elementary program, BJU Press, provides multiple paths to math comprehension with exercises that engage different learning styles. This curriculum uses manipulative resources to allow students to touch and see math as the concepts are solidifying in their minds. Teachers add biblical integration to produce Christian worldview thinkers. In addition to this program, teachers incorporate speed drills for fast recall of facts. Classroom computer programs also offer a fun practice and review dimension to our math curriculum.
Middle School students use the foundations set by the elementary curriculum to move from a concepts-based program to an application-based program. In order to be ready for all aspects of mathematics, sixth grade students cover concepts in geometry, algebra, and proportional relationships. Our seventh grade students progress to Pre-Algebra, where they begin to work at a faster pace and learn skills necessary for success in the next year. Our eighth grade students can take a course called “Transitions to Algebra,” or they can pursue an advanced course through Algebra I if math is an area of strength. If they pursue Algebra I, the credit from that class can transfer to the student’s high school transcript. All levels of classes are designed to fully equip students for success in their high school years.
Physical Education
All students have time to be children through playing and being outside. We believe it is important for our students to exercise and to enjoy physical fitness opportunities on a daily basis. Students in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade attend Kids in Motion, an innovative P.E. program focusing on fine motor and gross motor skill development in young children. Our second through fifth grade students have scheduled P.E. and recess times. Each morning before school starts, elementary students have the option to participate in Warrior Wake Up, a research-based program that indicates physical movement in the morning is related to increased mental clarity and long term academic success. Additionally, we offer as many as ten organized sports, including competitive athletics every quarter for Middle School students.
Language Arts
Christ Covenant School offers a full language arts program, which includes phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, handwriting, grammar, Greek and Latin roots word study, fluency, comprehension, literary analysis, and composition. We aim to train young minds to think critically and biblically about fiction, nonfiction, and poetry while using God’s story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation as the framework. Like any school of rigor, we add our own unique components as we work to diligently construct and maintain an excellent design. Our desire is to challenge students to read fluently, comprehend deeply, think critically, and write effectively.
Complementary additions to our curriculum include our beautifully-appointed library with over 5,000 titles, the teaching of library and research skills, and the incorporation of multiple styles of book reports and literary analysis essays. We also utilize the Reading Counts software, SRA reading labs in each classroom, and purposeful summer reading, all of which can be of particular help in meeting needs of both the challenged and accelerated readers.
Middle School students use the foundations set by the elementary curriculum to move from a concepts-based program to an application-based program. In order to be ready for all aspects of mathematics, sixth grade students cover concepts in geometry, algebra, and proportional relationships. Our seventh grade students progress to Pre-Algebra, where they begin to work at a faster pace and learn skills necessary for success in the next year. Our eighth grade students can take a course called “Transitions to Algebra,” or they can pursue an advanced course through Algebra I if math is an area of strength. If they pursue Algebra I, the credit from that class can transfer to the student’s high school transcript. All levels of classes are designed to fully equip students for success in their high school years.
Science
Teaching students to think scientifically while thinking biblically is essential. Our text, CSI Science, is packed with demonstrations, experiments, and the wonder of scientific discovery. Our science lab on wheels has it all: water, electricity, microscopes with prepared slides, models, and much more. It has been wonderful to watch the piqued interest of our students and to hear how many have claimed science as a favorite subject. All students have access to our well-appointed science lab on the third floor, whether it’s through our exciting Super Science weekly labs for Lower School or through Middle School science classes.
Lower School students enjoy an extension of their topics of study with local field trips, such as one to the Petrified Forest or to the Natural History Museum. Fifth grade students go to the moon! Well, not really, but the simulator feels like it. This excellent trip to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn from NASA trained specialists.
All students work throughout the different growing seasons in our school’s Educational Garden. From planting to harvesting to cooking and eating, our students are taught the importance and origin of our vegetables.
Technology
The Technology Department desires that all of our students see digital usage from a biblical perspective and so our worldview training for technology starts early. Computer usage and digital citizenship are vital parts of training students to use technology throughout all our academic and extracurricular disciplines.
Christ Covenant combines apps in the Google Suite and in our school-wide learning management system, Schoology, to facilitate digital learning. Our teachers use ClearTouch monitors, Elmo devices, Chromebook carts, and teaching microscopes, which all contribute to state-of-the-art technology tools that help bring learning to life. Our school also utilizes a live curriculum in our computer classes, as opposed to a textbook or published curriculum. Student learning includes applications, such as tracking plant growth on Excel, book reports on PowerPoint, academic newsletters on Publisher, graphing weather systems, enhancing reports with computer graphics, and much more.
All Middle School students receive a school-issued Chromebook to use throughout the year on school assignments, online reports, research papers, and more. Our 3D print lab and virtual reality consoles provide Middle School students with hands-on learning.
Academic excellence and biblical worldview await.
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