Lower School Grades K–5

In Lower School, English Language Arts instruction builds the foundational skills students need to become confident readers, writers, thinkers, and communicators. Through engaging literature, informational texts, discussion, and writing, students develop comprehension, vocabulary, written expression, and oral language skills.

Instruction is explicit, structured, and highly supported. Teachers model new skills, break complex tasks into manageable steps, and provide guided practice using visual, verbal, and multisensory supports. As students progress through the elementary grades, they move from learning how to organize and communicate their ideas toward independently responding to texts, supporting their thinking with evidence, and developing increasingly sophisticated written work.

The goal is to give students both access to rich, grade-level content and the strategies they need to experience success as literacy learners.

Executive functioning skills begin developing early, and Lower School students benefit from having these often-invisible processes made visible and concrete.

Teachers explicitly model and reinforce skills such as organizing materials, following routines, beginning tasks, managing time, remembering directions, breaking assignments into smaller steps, checking work, and asking for help. Visual schedules, checklists, consistent routines, teacher modeling, and guided reflection provide students with practical tools they can use throughout the school day.

As students progress through Lower School, teachers gradually encourage greater responsibility and independence. Students begin identifying strategies that work for them and develop an understanding of themselves as learners.

Hillside provides additional services and targeted interventions to support students based on their individual learning needs. Through our partnership with Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21 (CLIU-21), eligible students may receive school-based speech and language services. Hillside also provides targeted intervention in areas such as reading and mathematics for students who benefit from additional instruction and practice.

Participation in related services and intervention groups is determined based on a student’s identified needs, available assessment and performance data, and the recommendations of the appropriate educational team. These services are designed to complement classroom instruction and provide focused support in specific skill areas.

Student needs and progress are reviewed regularly so that supports remain purposeful, responsive, and aligned with each student’s educational programming.