Course Offerings | Lower School | Mount Pisgah Christian School | Johns Creek, GA

Reading instruction in the Lower School inspires a love of reading while guiding students through the foundational skills needed to succeed as independent readers. The Lower School uses the Wilson Language Foundations and Heggerty curricula, which are backed by research and align to Orton-Gillingham principles of instruction and the science of reading. Teachers provide explicit and systematic instruction in reading skills and strategies, and small-group reading instruction allows teachers to focus on each student’s specific needs and accelerate their progress. In addition to small-group and independent reading, students engage with whole-class texts that expose them to a wide variety of genres and perspectives.

Lower School students develop as writers through a writing workshop approach that embraces clear, focused instruction and the full writing process: drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Mentor texts guide both content and genre study, helping students understand how authors make intentional choices about structure, voice, and craft. Writing skills build in complexity each year as students grow as authors of narratives, opinion pieces, and informational texts. By 4th grade, students write with increasing independence, stamina, and awareness of audience.

Through the Investigations curriculum, students actively engage and collaborate to develop fluency and mathematical understanding. Investigations is a student-centered program that allows teachers to meet the unique needs of each learner, building both procedural fluency and conceptual depth across all grade levels.

Lower School students explore science concepts through the Inspire Science curriculum, focusing on earth and space sciences, life sciences, and physical sciences. Aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), science instruction at every grade level engages students in scientific thinking: analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. This approach develops a deeper understanding of science concepts and builds the habits of a scientific mind.

Lower School students learn about geography and local, state, national, and global communities from the past to the present. Social Studies provides an ideal opportunity for interdisciplinary, hands-on inquiry and project-based learning. Students build curiosity and appreciation for difference, develop cultural competence, and deepen their historical knowledge of Georgia, the United States, and the world — strengthening their understanding of both self and place.

From Junior Kindergarten through 4th grade, students engage with Scripture in ways that are intentionally designed to match their developmental stage — growing from the stories and songs of early childhood into an increasingly thoughtful exploration of God’s Word and its meaning for their lives.

Bible instruction in the Lower School is woven into the rhythm of each school week, not treated as an add-on to the academic day. Students explore foundational narratives of the Old and New Testaments, learn to ask meaningful questions about faith and the human experience, and develop an understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ as the through-line of all of Scripture. Teachers connect biblical truth to the full range of academic subjects, helping students see that there is no divide between faith and learning. Our aim is that every Lower School student leaves each grade with a growing knowledge of God’s Word, a beginning vocabulary of faith, and an understanding that they are known and loved by their Creator.