The Intermediate Division grouping is a thoughtful blend of primary and middle-division learning and achievement processes. While grades three through five share lunch and recess, the third-grade students focus on primary standards, while the fourth and fifth-grade instructional standards prepare pupils for middle school. The main learning targets for this division will be math and science (with "Project Lead the Way" for grade five), reading comprehension, language grammar and detail, and humanities. Students use in-room "cubbies," with lockers for coats.

Third-grade classrooms are self-contained and are located on the second floor–just down the hall from first and second-grade classrooms and the library. However, fourth and fifth graders, who are on the third floor, experience a shift from single-classroom teaching to having Math and Science from the same teacher and then changing classes for Humanities and Reading. Classes have 12 - 15 pupils per homeroom. These classrooms, while located near those of the Middle Division, are predominantly clustered on the west end of the hall–to create a connected "cocoon" as they transition to a modified self-contained classroom. 

Students will continue with all the enrichment rotations of the primary grades as fifth graders complete their last year of swim class. Intermediate students' world language study will align with the ACTFL standards, and in the fifth grade, they will choose which specialty language they prefer–French or Spanish–at the end of that year. Third and fourth graders take their first Holy Ground religion courses, which require more introspection into Catholicism and world religions.

Parents can track progress via the student information system, and also receive quarterly grade updates via report cards with narratives. Parent-teacher conferences offer in-person or remote updates midway through the first and third quarters, in September and February. 

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We encourage you to get to know Sion better. Please contact our Director of Admissions Tricia Johnson at tjohnson@ndsion.edu or 816‑683-7063 to request more information or to schedule a parent visit to campus.