ACADEMICS
Meet Our Lower Division
Children in our Lower Division focus on the development of foundational academic and social skills. The Lower Division’s program is intensively scaffolded, and teachers support students’ learning needs through methodical, evidence based curriculum. An emphasis on building routines and developing healthy work habits underscores much of the coursework. Through direct instruction and deliberate practice, students gain the confidence and readiness skills to navigate learning independently.
DAY IN THE LIFE OF A STUDENT
Arrival
Although the school day starts at 8:00 A.M., all students are welcome to come to school as early as 7:15 A.M. Eight year old Annie arrives at school at 7:30 A.M. and heads to the Lower Division Flex Room to play with her friends until homeroom starts. If the weather is nice, you can find her riding the slide into the forest, her favorite spot on the Lower Division playground. Kickstarting Annie’s day with some fresh air is a surefire way to get her mind and body ready for learning.
Home Room
During homeroom, five year old Timothy is practicing his morning routine: emptying his backpack, putting away his belongings, and checking his visual schedule for the day. During opening circle time, Timothy makes use of a floor chair for core support and a weighted lap friend to ground him and help him focus.
Reading Class
Seven year old Chase heads to his Wilson class and gets right to work on his opening Quick Drill. During a review of vowel-teams, Chase is feeling confident, and he is right to feel so! He has a successful time during word and sentence reading. His charting is looking great, and by the time he gets to the spelling portion of the lesson, his spirits are high. Although passage reading presents its usual challenges, Chase does feel like he’s been improving. Sure enough, when he pops out into the hallway to do his weekly Aimsweb Plus progress monitoring assessment, he learns that his Oral Reading Fluency score has gone up for the second week in a row!
Math Class
Six year old Jasmine is sharpening her early number sense by playing a fun game focused on subitizing. Jasmine benefits from the colorful manipulatives and gamified lesson. Jasmine’s teacher chose the multisensory game when she noticed her class’s weekly assessments were showing a need for a stronger focus on number estimation. This is Jasmine’s second week playing the game and her pile of win-cards is markedly larger!
Skills Class
Eight year old Jasper absolutely loves the rock-climbing wall in Gym Junior. During his Skills Class period, he attends a Sensory Group with his classmates. Working in a circuit, Jasper zooms down the scooter ramp, gets some serious twirling in on the spinner, jumps for a while on the trampoline, tumbles through the popular squeeze machine, and takes a rumbly trip down the roller slide. He always leaves this group feeling energized and primed to learn!
STEM Class
During STEM class, nine year old Gus puts on his mud boots and heads out on the trail with his classmates. Today, they are collecting water samples from the two creeks that meet at the bottom of campus. Rocky Run’s water– blue from the granite it flows over–collides with the murkier water that flows over the Wissahickon shale at the bottom of Hurricane Run. The students have fun climbing over the fallen trees that intersect with the streams before heading back up to their classroom.
Ready to Unlock Potential At Pilot?
If our Lower Division program sounds like a good fit, then please submit this quick and easy inquiry form! Once we receive your inquiry, we will reach out to you with more information about admissions.
