Our heart for the lower school program at Carolina Hybrid Academy is to build a strong academic foundation while keeping in mind the developmental stages and needs of K5 through 5th graders. It is a season of building a firm foundation in the subjects of reading, writing, and math, and a time of exposure in history and science. Our desire is to preserve wonder and foster a love for learning in each student; helping them grow in their skills of observation, attentiveness, and comprehension. 

MATH
Lower school mathematics gives students a glimpse into the order and truth God has built into His creation. Building arithmetic skills can be both challenging and fun! We will use games, songs, manipulatives, flashcards, workbook practice, and other techniques to build these foundational skills.

SCIENCE
There are so many wonderful aspects of science that highlight God’s creativity and character. Lower school is a time to get familiar with the multiple genres of science, scientists, terms, and scientific methods. Science lends itself to an abundance of hands-on learning.

LANGUAGE ARTS
Learning to order our thoughts and words into effective communication starts with identifying letters, sounds, and words in K5 and grows into cohesive and creatively detailed composition in 5th grade.There is so much wonder to be discovered and skills to be learned by diving into great pieces of literature! We aim to build reading and writing confidence by developing critical thinking skills as well as great listening and comprehension skills. The foundations of phonics, reading, spelling, grammar rules,  parts of speech, and writing structure will be the framework we focus on building.

HISTORY
Students can feel disconnected from themes, timelines, and people in history unless we wrap it in a story and dive a little deeper into the adventure, emotion, challenges and victories that were faced. We’re excited to go on this adventure with our lower school students starting with exposure to American history, state and world geography, and continuing into a world history rotation in 4th and 5th grade. This rotation will prepare them for middle school.

BIBLE
As our students are growing roots in their identity in Jesus, we want to help them understand His great love for them. We’ll do this with a curriculum teaching a Christian worldview, character cards, scripture memory with practical application, and chapel times. We will highlight God’s character in the subjects we teach and stories we read; working at a pace and with a priority to stop for the teachable moments of the heart.

PARENTAL ROLE
In the elementary years, the parent is the co-teacher. We encourage parents to work closely alongside students to practice skills together, refresh concepts taught in class, while attentively observing their successes and struggles.