Lower Division

Welcome to SVA’s Lower Division! LD is comparable to an Elementary school program in a traditional education school in the US. Our Littles program works with children ages two (2) to five (5) years-old and focuses on pre-reading, number awareness, understanding the environment around them, and colors, sounds, and movement.

From five (5) until around twelve (12) students work towards subject area mastery in the following subjects:

Mathematics, Science, Health and Physical Education, Civics, Art, Languages, Music, Social Studies, and Computer Science.

Instead of a grade level or age level dependent advancement system, students are evaluated for their understanding and use of the course material being taught. Once a student has shown a certain proficiency level, the teacher increases the complexity or topical awareness of the subject to the next level. Following this format, students neither pass nor fail, as failure simply means that they have not completed the subject mastery to move on to the next level.

In the LD, grades are never discussed with the students. No report cards are sent home. Instead, the parents meet with the teacher at set intervals to discuss any changes in the student’s mastery progression. If the student is on track with their age group, then the teacher will continue with the current format, if the student has a certain subject that is falling behind, supplemental materials will be handled in class by the teacher to bring the student back on track. Anything beyond two levels will be referred to the parents for outside assistance.

Transcripts and a portfolio for each child will be handled by the administration in partnership with the teacher. Subject mastery is designated by age progression of general skills noted by the CDC, but also by educational organizations, and the State of Florida’s Curriculum requirements. For example, an 11-12 year old (roughly 5th grade) should be competent in the following during their Language program:

• Decodes unknown words using phonics and context clues.
• Able to read independently and silently.
• Determines the main idea of a story.
• Identifies basic parts of a story (setting, characters, plot, etc…).
• Connects texts she reads to her life, other books, and the world.
• Able to summarize a story orally or in writing.
• Able to identify genre (realistic fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, etc…).
• Easily identifies parts of speech.
• Spells frequently used words and 5th-grade spelling words correctly.

Teachers maintain a checklist of skills for each child that includes their current age, and one year on either side. This is revised constantly, and a general update is included in the child’s student file at the end of each session. Parents may request a copy of their current standing at any time, however, we HIGHLY recommend not sharing the evaluation levels with the child, but simply saying that they are doing their best.

The State of Florida requires yearly evaluation examinations for each student on the date of their enrollment in SVA. This is done by having the students take the local district test. The results do not matter to the student, and have no bearing on their courses or grades at SVA. The results are simply used to evaluate how aligned SVA is to our local district and to keep us in compliance legally. Discrepancies are managed internally by the administration and staff.

LD Course Listing

Each year, LD students are required to take the following courses, with each term marked as a half (0.5) credit.

• 2.0 credits Mathematics
• 1.0 credit Natural Science
• 1.0 credit Physical Science
• 1.0 credit History
• 1.0 credit Modern Language
• 1.0 credit Ancient Language
• 1.0 credit Physical Education
• 0.5 credit Civics
• 0.5 credit Computer Science
• 0.5 credit Health
• 0.5 credit Geography
• 0.5 credit Humanities
• 0.5 credit Music
• 0.5 credit Art
• 0.5 credit Agriculture

Course listings are directly tied to the Upper Division course tracks, and so the titles of each course are not simply Elementary English 1, but LANG001: English Language Concepts or LATN001: Introductory Latin.

Term 1	Term 2	Term 3	Term 4
M/W AM: Modern Language M/W PM: Physical Science	M/W AM: Modern Language M/W PM: Physical Science	M/W AM: Ancient Language M/W PM: Natural Science	M/W AM: Ancient Language M/W PM: Natural Science
T/R AM: Art T/R PM: History	T/R AM: Civics T/R PM: History	T/R AM: Mathematics T/R PM: Geography	T/R AM: Mathematics T/R PM: Humanities
F AM: Mathematics F PM: Health	F AM: Mathematics F PM: PE	F AM: Music F PM: PE	F AM: Agriculture F PM: Computer Science

Modern Language is comprised of five (5) options:

English Basic Concepts is required for all students as well as one of the following split between Monday and Wednesday classes: American Sign Language, Spanish, French, or Mandarine Chinese. Each session is 3 hours long, so there is plenty of time to work on either course. Language courses are immersive.

Ancient Languages is required as well. Each student must reach a Level 2 fluency in at least one (1) of each Modern (besides English) and one (1) Ancient Language. Options are: Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Middle Kingdom Egyptian.

Physical Education has two (2) components for students:

The basic course done on campus is two fold – 1) a calisthenics thirty minute session followed by either a 2) 1.5 hour rapier, archery, or swimming lesson (Term 2 and 3 only). In leu of these options, students may elect to be on a sport through the local public youth sports clubs, options could include T-ball, soccer, martial arts, gymnastics, etc. Students must participate in at least one (1) season for the 0.5 credit.

Health includes a nutritional sciences and culinary preparation component.