LOWER SCHOOL

KINDERGARTEN thru 4TH GRADE

LOWER SCHOOL CURRICULUM

CORE CURRICULUM

The SAE School emphasizes foundational academic skills such as reading, writing, and math. Using the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) as a guide, provides our teachers with a baseline expectation for students to master grade-level standards by the end of the year and increasing the Depth of Knowledge to improve critical thinking skills for all students. Science standards are addressed through the Next Generation Science Standards, a rigorous set of national standards that prepare students for a strong foundation in scientific inquiry.

We follow the Georgia Standards of Excellence. While using the McGraw-Hill Wonders Reading, Writing and Phonics curriculum to reinforce the expectations of GSE, teachers enhance learning through Project-Based Learning activities to ensure grade-level mastery of standards.
This includes taking a balanced literacy approach.
● Guided Reading
● Differentiated Literacy Stations
● Writing Lessons with Anchor Text & Exemplars
We follow the Georgia Standards of Excellence. Ready Math is utilized in K-8th grade classrooms to monitor the progress of students along with ensuring the GSE are taught with multiple opportunities of strategic usage of mathematical concepts.
This includes utilization of the Guided Math approach.
● Number Talks & Numerical Reasoning
● Computation Fluency Building
● Problem-Solving (2-3 times per week)
We follow the Next Generation Science Standards. Project Lead The Way is utilized in K-4th grade classrooms to increase the critical thinking and reasoning skills for our students.
Our students are inspired to embrace the 5 E’s of Science:
● Engage – Launch of task, a demonstration of an event. The goal is to spark interest and involvement.
● Explore – Hands on experiences of the phenomena being observed.
● Explain – The learner is encouraged to put observations, questions, hypotheses and experiences from the previous stages into language.
● Elaborate – Using the understanding gained in the previous stages, now learners should be encouraged to build and expand upon it.
● Evaluation – Evaluation should be ongoing and should occur at all stages, in order to determine that learning objectives have been met and misconceptions avoided.
We follow the Georgia Standards of Excellence. This includes taking a balanced literacy approach. We also use the inquiry-based learning approach to increase Historical, Geographic, and Economic Understanding.

ENRICHMENTS

Our student’s education extends beyond the classroom. They also participate in daily enrichment classes, which enhance the quality of their educational experience.

The Performing Arts program at The SAE School will increase students’ ability to articulate their feelings and speak positively in front of crowds. The students will be involved in free dance, drama, and acting. This helps each student foster their imagination and freedom through movement. Read about our partnership with The Alliance Theatre here.
The Visual Arts program at The SAE School gives each student ownership and a voice; they develop confidence, increase their empathy and discover how to look at the world from different perspectives. These skills prepare students to take on the world with passion and creativity. Students use various materials following the elements of art and craft techniques used by notable artists throughout history. Many projects connect with what students are learning in other classes.
The Physical Education program at The SAE School allows students to participate in a comprehensive program consisting of skill development, lead-up games, team sports, and physical fitness activities. Students will receive instructions on rules, skills, and strategies associated with multiple sports. The program also promotes cooperation, leadership, sportsmanship, and friendly competition to develop students’ social skills.
At the SAE School, robotics is not just a club; it’s a class. SAE is one of the few schools that offers robotics as an enrichment course. Since SAE is a project-based school, robotics is a natural, meaningful, and progressive place for our students to work together. Robotics inspires students to design, create, market, and compete. The SAE School’s team, The DRAGONBOTS, competes in FIRST (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) competitions throughout the school year, where FIRST encourages students of all ages to hone their engineering, public speaking, and competitive skills in a manner that puts ethics and morals at the top of every interaction.

TEACHING METHODS

Teachers strategically transfer responsibility in the learning process from teacher to student. The goal of the gradual release model is to provide appropriate instruction, while moving students towards independence.
Research suggests that departmentalized instruction is one of the many methods educators implement to provide expert subject area instructors at the elementary grade level.
Project-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects.
Here at The SAE School, we believe that an emphasis should be placed on mastery of standards rather than a student’s behavior. We utilize a simple traditional approach to grading with percentages but offer a clearer understanding of where your child currently performs according to the standard expectations.