Lower School Curriculum
Covenant Day School takes great joy in partnering with families to provide a nurturing and excellent academic experience that educates the whole child from a biblical worldview. The lower school years are a time of building core competences in the hearts and minds of the children whom God has entrusted to our care. The lower school program is designed to provide students with a spiritually and socially balanced daily routine that fosters a love for learning in a community centered on developing young children and their unique gifts.
Bible
Lower school students learn the story of God interacting with His people and calling them to a faith in Jesus Christ through understanding of biblical themes, key passages, and text exploration. Students learn through modeling and practice to become responsible caretakers of creation and peacemakers among their peers and community.Language Arts
A customized balanced literacy program begins at the primary levels with a multi-sensory, brain-based approach to teaching foundational skills in phonics, reading, spelling, language arts, and composition. Using a workshop approach to reading and writing, students are given direct instructional support and a variety of daily reading and writing experiences that are necessary in the complex process of becoming independent thoughtful readers and writers.
Social Studies
Students explore different communities and cultures both past and present to gain appreciation for the complexity and diversity of humankind. They learn much about their own life by contrasting life in other countries with their own. History and geography studies investigate how God acts providentially in time and place and generates examples of how humans have developed various aspects of culture.
Science
Essential concepts drawn from the fields of science are joined with hands-on experiments and problem-based learning that students can relate to in their everyday lives. Students are able to characterize that while the created world is vastly complex, it is ordered consistently reflecting God’s laws.
Mathematics
The framework for learning mathematics in the lower school years is grounded in the three-step learning process of moving from concrete to pictorial, then abstract. Students learn to master mathematical concepts at a deeper understanding level that enables them to move on to new learning levels with confidence.
World Languages
Students develop listening and conversational skills as well as cultural appreciation through games, songs, and role play. Exploring an unfamiliar culture through the study of its language invites students to emphasize and value people beyond their own experience. Spanish is taught in grades 1-5.
Fine Arts
The main focus of fine arts in the lower school is to foster creativity within the disciplines of music and art with a variety of experiences in presentation, performance and enjoyment. Young students experience the formal principles of the disciplines and incorporate them through practice and observation.
Physical Education and Health
Students learn motor skills, fitness, eye-hand coordination, rhythm and lead-up games to team and lifetime sports. Along with guided physical activities, students practice cooperation and leadership skills. The content of health and healthy living is specified as a way to serve God and others around us.