In August, Christ Fellowship Academy (CFA) intends to put a laptop in the hands of every student in grades 4-6.
Students will be introduced to a new dig- ital curriculum, which not only includes all their textbooks online, but actively engages auditory, visual and tactile learners through the introduction of interactive text and activities.
Students won’t just sit in front of their computer all day either. Teachers will continue to involve them in hands-on labs and discussions, as well as encourage them to think critically and take ownership.
The school in Palmetto Bay will be one of the first private schools in Miami-Dade to offer a fully digital curriculum to elementary students. In fact, Christ Fellowship Academy is no stranger to “state of the art.” It currently offers students in every single elementary classroom the opportunity to work with a smart board and plasma screen. Every student — even as young as 2 years old — is introduced to working on their own computer.
“Students have different needs and learning styles, which should drive the way we instruct,” said CFA principal Christina Blanco. “An education that involves digital components transforms static memorization of material to an interactive process and makes it much more dynamic and fun for the students and our teachers.”
The teachers, students and their parents at CFA are extremely excited.
“My daughter is so excited about receiving her own computer next August at Christ Fellowship Academy,” said Mirna Melo, parent of an incoming sixth grader. “Mia is familiar with computers and quite simply has never known a world without them. Next year, I know she will be even more engaged in the learning process and I am really excited about the possibilities.”
Of course, the school recognizes the need for lots of hands-on activities for their younger preschool and kindergarten student who need to learn basic writing skills using a traditional paper-pencil method.
Books won’t completely go away, Blanco said. “We don’t want to say that we’ll never use a book, because we will. We want to take a best practices approach and remember that i is always about what is in the best interest o our students. Right now, we feel that include a variety of learning tools and strategies, bu it’s a lot more digital than ever before.”
Incoming fifth grade student Kyle Greene thinks, “next year is going to be awesome. am really excited about all the new stuff we are going to learn and definitely abou working with my own computer in the class room.”
Christ Fellowship Academy is located in the heart of Palmetto Bay and has been offering a quality, Christian education to students in grade K2-6 for more than 38 years. Registration for the 2012-13 school year is open.
For more information, you can call the admissions office at 305-238-1833 or go online at www.cfacademy.org.
