At St. John’s, we are committed to academic excellence. Our teachers participate in a variety of ongoing professional development in areas such as literacy education, differentiating instruction, classroom management, fostering a growth mindset, virtue education, and more. We have invested in high-quality, well-reviewed academic curricular materials. Please see our subject areas pages to learn more.
St. John’s launched the Believe and Read literacy program in 2021. Powered by the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence (CSCOE) and in partnership with Groves Learning Organization (GLO), Believe and Read offers a powerful, research-based approach to teaching children how to read. Built on the proven principles of the science of reading, this program is built on decades of research from cognitive science, linguistics, and education to ensure every child builds strong reading skills.
Core Components of Believe and Read:
Phonemic Awareness – Mastering the sounds within words.
Phonics – Connecting letters to sounds for decoding language.
Fluency – Reading accurately, quickly, and with expression.
Vocabulary – Understanding word meanings for deeper comprehension.
Comprehension – Grasping and interpreting the meaning of texts.
With Believe and Read, every child has the opportunity to thrive as a confident, capable reader. Our goal is to ensure that every student at our school reads at or above grade level.
Real Results that Transform Students:
97.5% of students significantly improved their reading speed and accuracy within just one year.
1 in 3 students identified as high-risk in the fall were no longer at risk by spring.
All of our K-3 teachers are Believe and Read certified. Our teachers incorporate a daily 30-minute phonics-based lesson to ensure students are grasping the reading rules they need to achieve fluency. These lessons use a multisensory approach that explicitly teaches the connections between letters and sounds. Our teachers receive weekly support and feedback from their literacy coach, along with assistance in tracking student progress through routine assessments. Students meet daily in small groups with our interventionist. This allows daily targeting of skills for students who need it the most.
In November 2024, our preschool teachers began the PreK Believe and Read Early Literacy Program to ensure these foundational literacy skills are in place for our youngest learners.
During the 2025–2026 school year, St. John the Baptist Catholic School adopted enVision Math by Savvas Learning Company for Kindergarten through 4th grade.
This comprehensive, research-based math program supports deep conceptual understanding, problem-solving skills, and academic growth through hands-on learning, visual models, and interactive digital tools. enVision aligns with state standards and provides differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all learners, helping our students build a strong foundation in mathematics.
In busy, active lessons, students learn how to look deeper and choose their path to the answers—skills that will take them far beyond the math classroom.
EnVision Math by Savvas Learning received the highest rating from EdReports, found here.
At St. John the Baptist Catholic School, we are committed to fostering strong literacy skills across all grade levels. To support reading comprehension, we utilize the Groves Knowledge Base Curriculum as a supplement to our Believe and Read literacy program. In 4th grade, students engage with the McGraw-Hill Wonders curriculum, alongside novel studies, to deepen their reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. Additionally, students in 3rd and 4th grades use Sadlier Grammar Workshop to strengthen their language usage, grammar, and writing abilities, building a strong foundation for effective communication.
Students at St. John the Baptist Catholic School love hands-on science! We will begin our fourth year using the science curriculum, Amplify. This curriculum was funded through grants from the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence and Minndependent. Students are engaged in a different unit each trimester. In each unit, students read, explore, and write about the topic and do hands-on science and engineering activities. Each class completes three units. For example, our second-grade students learned about the properties of materials. During this unit, they engineered glue and then changed variables in the recipe multiple times to master their recipe.
All students meet with the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) specialist multiple times each week. Our STEM class has kits that include reading, exploration, and engineering. Our STEM class also offers chances to learn about simple circuitry and to program robots. St. John’s preschoolers program simple robots, and our older students program larger robots using an iPad.
We partner with the University of St. Thomas (UST) Engineering Department in using their STEM lending library, and our teachers use membership with the Science Museum of Minnesota Lending Library Educator Resource Center to enhance their science lessons.
We hold an annual science fair, and many of our students go on to the Regional Mankato Science Fair. We have multiple outdoor gardens where we grow flowers and vegetables, and we annually tap our maple tree. We also host a variety of animal guests throughout the year, including lambs, ducks, ducklings, chickens, and rabbits.
Daily Prayer—Students participate in school-wide prayer during morning announcements, including the Morning Offering and Angel of God prayers. Each class also prays before and after meals, snacks, and at the end of the day.
Weekly Mass – We attend Mass every Wednesday at 9 a.m. Families and parishioners are always welcome to join. Preschool students attend Mass once each month.
Rosary – K-4 students pray the Rosary as a whole group every week in October and May. Our Rosary services are led by fourth-grade students.
Advent Service – Students participate in whole school prayer services each week during Advent.
Stations of the Cross – K-4 students participate in Stations of the Cross services each week during Lent. These services are led by third-grade students and 2nd grade students assist at the stations.
First Reconciliation – Second graders experience God’s forgiveness and mercy through the Sacrament of Penance. Teachers work with the Director of Faith Formation to prepare for First Reconciliation.
First Communion – Students in second grade begin preparing for the Sacrament of First Communion in January. They learn about the elements of the Mass and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. They receive First Communion at their home parish or St. John’s depending on their family’s wishes.
Faith Families – Our fourth graders lead a mixed-grade group of K-4 students once per month to do activities together centered on the monthly virtue and aspects of our Catholic faith.
All Saints Skit – Our fourth graders present an annual skit at the All Saints Day Mass to teach us about Saints.
Catholic Schools Week – This week celebrates our school and Catholic education with fun and exciting activities. It is a week that students look forward to all year and an engaging way for our students to express their pride for our school, our Catholic identity, and our parish’s commitment to Catholic education.
Sock It to Hunger – We hold a food and sock drive during Catholic Schools Week. 2023 was our first collection and we collected 236 pounds of cereal and over 1000 pairs of socks which we donated to Hastings Family Services. We were featured on Fox 9 News and KDWA radio.
Service Opportunities – Our students bring donations throughout the year including for several organizations including Hastings Family Service, Toys for Tots, and the Lewis House.
Third and Fourth Grade Retreat – Students from the Academy of Holy Angels lead St. John’s third and fourth graders in an end-of-the-year retreat.
Baptisms – We had three elementary students receive the Sacrament of Baptism in 2021-2022, and another three in 2022-2023, and will baptize two more students in 2025.
Graduation Mass – Our end-of-the-year liturgy is a Graduation Mass that honors fourth-grade students who are moving on from St. John’s.
St. John’s School maintains a library with books for all grade levels. We have added many books over the past few years through generous personal donations and grants from Peacemaker Minnesota and the Catholic Services Appeals Foundation.
Students visit the library twice per month which includes stories and checking out books. Parents and friends of St. John’s School are invited to donate books to the library in commemoration of birthdays or any other occasion.