BCA is committed to interactive, hands-on learning, and the growing use of educational technology in the classroom. Small group discovery learning is the hallmark of BCA’s K3-K5 program. Projects and interactive learning characterize the elementary school, and research projects, science labs, experiential activities, and oral presentations are used throughout middle school. Interactive whiteboards are used by teachers in K5-8th grade, and students begin technology instruction at grade 1. Student use of technology in the classroom increases at the middle school level.
In K3-K5, BCA students work in small groups to learn math, phonics, and reading concepts. Using a variety of hands-on activities, they explore how numbers relate to one another and how letters are combined to form meaning. They participate in dramatic presentations of Bible stories, and communicate their ideas orally to one another and in writing for a broader audience. K3-K5 is a very interactive time!
As they grow, students at BCA continue learning math concepts through the use of hands-on resources and interactive instructional strategies. They learn grammar and sentence structure by reciting jingles and by labeling the parts of speech in a sentence using the interactive whiteboard. Projects are an aspect of learning that begins in 1st grade. Whether presenting a biographical book report orally as the person they read about, creating a closed circuit of electricity, or engaging in a web quest, elementary students have opportunity to expand their learning beyond the textbook. In addition, using interactive whiteboards, teachers show video and Power Point presentations and use online resources to support instruction, and students participate in learning activities such as math challenges or vocabulary review games. All elementary students also take a weekly technology class. The variety of activities is numerous.
By the time BCA students reach middle school, they are well-prepared for the challenge of research projects, presentations, computer projects, and science labs. In history class, students participate in experiential activities to engage the time period they are studying and understand the people about whom they are learning. Resources such as Google Earth are utilized to explore places being studied in science, history, or Bible. In technology class, students continue to work on keyboarding skills, but also produce projects using a curriculum called TechnoKids, Students use classroom computers for writing in English class, saving their work to Google Docs so that they can continue working on them at home and so that the teacher is able to access them to give instructional feedback. The classroom computers and computer lab may also be used for the students to do research and create presentations in other subjects.
From preschool through middle school, BCA students learn in engaging ways that utilize discovery, cooperation, communication, and technology. This type of learning prepares BCA students to excel as they move on to high school and beyond.