Curriculum
Adventist education has a worldwide reputation for outstanding curriculum and high achievements, using best teaching practices that are Christ-centered. Our philosophy is centered around teaching the whole child and helping each student reach their highest potential. We desire to make Jesus a part of every piece of the curriculum and to follow these foundational goals:
- Prepare students to be successful in high school and beyond
- Teach students to be thinkers and not mere reflectors
- Restore the image of God in every child
- Develop each child holistically: body, mind, and spirit
- Equip students to share the gospel of Christ
We strive to use the best curriculum available to fit the best teaching practices. Our process for choosing curriculum and outlining standards involves three levels of review by well-experienced educators from the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, the North Pacific Union (NPUC), and the North American Division (NAD). They are responsible for research, examination, evaluation, and implementation of new curriculum.
Preschool
As parents you are faced with the challenge of finding excellent education and convenient childcare for your young children. We provide a safe environment and a program that is rich with developmental activities allowing children to grow and stretch as they are ready.
The PAES Preschool curriculum provides a Christian based learning environment. Our hands-on curriculum including stories, music, creative art and play with a strong emphasis on social and emotional learning.
- Preschool for children ages 4yrs – 5yrs (must be potty trained)
- Hours: 8:00am – 3:00pm, Monday through Thursday & 8:00am – 12:30pm, Friday
- Before and after school care is available (see “Child Care”)
- State accredited staff and program
- Developmentally appropriate curriculum
- Individualized instruction
Elementary School
Portland Adventist Elementary School admits students of any race to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school and make no discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnic background, country of origin, or gender in the administration of education policies, applications for admission, scholarship or loan programs and extracurricular programs.
Kindergarten
Our Kindergarten program is designed to provide a caring and nurturing environment where the love of Jesus is shared. The love of learning is initiated with an academic curriculum that is developmentally appropriate for the young child. The curriculum includes: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and Bible. We believe that children learn best when they are actively engaged and enjoying themselves. This atmosphere allows for growth and development of the whole child. Enrichment activities include separate instruction using Chromebooks, library, music and physical education.
In Kindergarten the joy of learning is rooted in the process of discovery. It is our purpose to attend to each child’s spiritual, mental, physical, social and emotional well being.
Grades 1, 2 & 3
Here, students begin to leave behind some of the dependency they clung to in Kindergarten and are encouraged to take a more active role in deciding what paths they will take. They are given choices and are encouraged to behave in a responsible way toward others and their environment.
Teachers foster an atmosphere of caring, open communication and trust. In addition to educating scholastically, teachers also focus on each student’s spiritual, emotional, ethical and physical life. Units are generally taught with a central theme in mind that is woven throughout the curriculum. Chromebooks are 1-to-1 in all grades. They are used to introduce technology as a learning and research tool, while being integrated throughout various areas of the learning process.
Grades 4, 5 & 6
More emphasis is placed on independence, ownership and responsible behavior choices. Students in these grades have more opportunity to make choices about what they learn within the curriculum structure. Teachers facilitate learning as much as they direct the learning. Much of the learning for these students is accomplished through project-based thematic instruction.
In these grades students now have the opportunity to join band and/or choir. In P.E. the instructional focus is on personal fitness, skill development and team play. A variety of extracurricular sports programs are available throughout the year. Technology is integrated into the daily curriculum in a variety of ways including 1-to-1 Chromebooks.
PAES prioritizes a strong reading program. Students who are struggling will get individualized instruction from their teacher as well as time with the Reading Aide, providing needed support designed to meet their needs.
Middle School
GRADES 7 & 8
Students in these grades have left elementary school and entered middle school. The most notable change is the classroom structure. No longer does instruction take place in a self-contained classroom environment. Students are assigned a homeroom and rotate among classes.
The core subjects in the middle school program include Religion, English, Math, Science and Social Studies as well as ongoing instruction in Music and Physical Education. Technology is integrated into each subject through daily classroom applications.
The middle school teachers collaborate to integrate the various core subjects into meaningful and dynamic projects (project-based learning) and activities. For example, students participate in a Middle Ages/Medieval project that incorporates history, research paper writing, castle designs, plague probability and catapult building.
Elective programs such as Drama, STEM, Art and Yearbook round out the middle school curriculum.
Field trips, service oriented projects and our interscholastic sports programs enhance the middle school experience beyond the classroom.
Spiritual Life
Bible Class
Students receive regular Bible classes as part of their developmental religious curriculum program at PAES. Under the direction of their classroom teacher they study Biblical concepts and principles and learn to grow in grace as they are taught to reflect God’s character.
Morning Worship
All students commence the opening of the school day with a classroom worship time where the teacher presents uplifting spiritual thoughts for their consideration and discussion. There is always opportunity for prayer and students have the chance to voice both praises and prayer requests.
Prayer
Our staff prays for our students and for our school families. Our students are encouraged to make prayer a part of their lives. Jesus prayed to His Father and it is important for our staff to model this behavior before our students and for them to learn to pray, too.
School Family Worship
Each Friday morning students in Kindergarten through 8th grade assemble for our school family worship time. Students lead out in praise singing, scripture, provide special music and a guest speaker shares an uplifting story and lesson with them from the gospel.
Week of prayer
PAES conducts three series of special worship times for our students each year. These occur during the Fall season, the Christmas season and the Spring season. A variety of guest speakers are invited to share the gospel with our students in a group worship setting.
Baptismal Classes
In the Fall of each year one or more of our pastors are invited to meet with our students in grades 5th-8th who express an interest in further Bible study. If, after this study, a student desires to accept Jesus Christ as his/her personal Savior (and wishes to demonstrate that commitment through baptism) the student is then referred to their local pastor for baptism.