Curriculum

O'Hara Catholic School is committed to teaching the whole child, spiritually, academimcally, emotionally, physically and socially. Our core curriculum offers religion, language arts, math, science, social studies, and health. Additionally, we offer music, physical education, computer skills, art, and Spanish. We have fulltime P.E., Computer, Art, Music, Spanish, Reading, and Library specialists.

The Archdiocese of Portland establishes the curriculum, and the principal and faculty are responsible for making adaptations at the school level. The Department of Catholic Schools and the Oregon State Department of Education determine the list of approved textbooks from which the school may select.

The cornerstone of O'Hara is its Catholic faith. In addition to daily religious instruction, each day begins and ends with prayer. Students of all faiths are welcome at O'Hara, but they must be willing to support Catholic religious teachings and practices within the school. Therefore, all students are required to pray with the class, attend Mass, pass religion courses, and promote the moral and spiritual climate of the school. Our relationship with God and each other and the application of Christian values to our daily lives are topics that are emphasized in all grades. Retreats are an integral part of the religion curriculum for 7th and 8th grade students.

With our fulltime music specialist, students explore the elements of music and foster an appreciation for the key concepts. Our music program includes regular classes for all grades, an annual Christmas pageant, a spring musical, a choir, assemblies, and religious services. The O'Hara piano program is part of our music enrichment curriculum and is an established tradition available to students from 1st to 8th grade at an additional fee. We also offer a band program for students from the 5th to the 8th grades for an additional fee.

O'Hara has a dedicated art room staffed with a full-time fine arts teacher which allows each student to have art class once a week. In addition, each student receives instruction in Spanish each week from our full-time Spanish teacher. There is an after-school Spanish club and an active Student Exchange Program with Mexico that takes place each spring.

O'Hara offers a six-week Summer School Program, led by O'Hara teachers, for students in Kindergarten through 7th grade. Designed to help students maintain, improve or enrich their skills in math and reading, the program provides built-in times that guarantee children are practicing these skills, making their transition to the next grade level that much easier.

O'Hara's "smart" classrooms include the latest in state-of-the-art technology, providing students an interactive role in learning. These exciting instructional tools enable teachers to create very engaging lessons and to incorporate real-life examples with a collection of more than 50,000 content-specific digital and video segments. The newer technology allows teachers to instantly gauge student learning and adapt instruction accordingly. The students also utilize the technology for school projects and classroom presentations. In addition, with our web-based grade book, parents and students in 3rd through 8th grades can instantly access their grades and assignment information.