Student Enrichment Clubs & Activities
Extracurricular enrichment clubs and programs are valuable in developing a child’s interests and potential talents. All SFA students are invited to participate in or join activities available to them that align with their interests and talents.
To help guide students to suitable clubs, resources and programs, students in grades 3-8 complete an interest survey. The Enrichment Program teacher will also be conferring with teachers and looking at test scores in individual subject areas (such as science or social studies) to identify students who would benefit from some small group workshops or outside enrichment activities in those specific talent areas.
Parent volunteers are an important component to many of the programs offered. The offering of some programs is limited by availability of parent leaders. Please contact the Enrichment Program teacher if you would be interested in helping with any of the programs.
Students form teams of 5-6 students and read from a specific book list which contains award winning titles. Teams are led by parent volunteer coaches. Teams come together and “battle” in the spring at their respective school. High scoring teams go on to the Diocesan competition to determine the champion, usually in early April. Sign ups begin in September.
Catholic Math League provides an opportunity for students who enjoy math to compete in math problem solving contests with students from hundreds of schools across the United States. CML is offered to students in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th grade math. There are four contests for each level, each thirty minutes long. After the fourth and final contest, the top three students for each school will receive a certificate for each subject. The top student for each division will receive a trophy and the top school for each division will receive a plaque. The second, third, and fourth highest student in each division and subject will receive another certificate. National awards will also be given for the top student and school for each subject that contains at least three divisions. Test dates are early November, early December, early February and early March–specific dates are set each fall.
Students will be provided an opportunity to sign up for CML within their math class sometime in early fall.
Chess Club provides a way for students at all levels of mastery to learn and play chess–no knowledge or specific level is required. It is open to any students, grades kindergarten through 8th. Chess Club meets every Friday morning in the school gym from 7:15a to 8a. Parents are welcome to come and stay to help with supervision.
The Knights of Columbus Spelling Bee is coordinated and run by members of our parish Knights. The spelling list is released sometime in the fall and the bee is held at St. Francis School in late winter/early spring. The winner at each grade level of the school bee can advance. Students can request lists from their Language Arts teacher as soon as they become available.
Students in grades 6th-8th willlearn the principles of trial advocacy and then
apply those principles as they try a fictitious case. Involvement in Mock Trial fosters increased self-confidence, improved analytical and speaking skills and the ability to work well with others – not to mention it’s a lot of fun. Students participating in Mock Trial learn how to conduct a trial from start to finish. They are trained in how to plan, draft and present opening statements, direct examinations, cross examinations and closing arguments. Mock Trial also teaches students how to argue objections intelligently, as well as how to handle various courtroom procedures like entering an exhibit into evidence and impeaching a witness. Aside from the technical aspects of trial advocacy, students learn how to think creatively when dealing with matters of trial strategy. Mock Trial is coached by volunteer parents, usually but not always attorneys.
The National Geographic Bee is a geography contest sponsored by The National Geographic Society. Students in grades 4-8 participate in early December within their classrooms to advance to a school contest held with 10 finalists, usually after Christmas break. The winner of this contest advances to the state level. The winner of the state contest is qualified to participate in the national contest held in Washington, D.C.
NHD is a contest where students choose historical topics related to a theme and conduct extensive primary and secondary research through libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews and historic sites. After analyzing and interpreting their sources and drawing conclusions about their topics’ significance in history, students present their work in original papers, websites, exhibits, performances and documentaries. These products are entered into competitions in the spring at local, state and national levels where they are evaluated by professional historians and educators. The program culminates in the Kenneth E. Behring National Contest each June held at the University of Maryland at College Park.
Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. OM is coached by parent volunteers. See the Enrichment Program teacher for more information or if you would like to start a team!
Students get together and take a 100 question “quiz” via the computer to test their knowledge on many subjects.
Information about this contest comes out in the fall.