| For our students, there are many parts to a school day. Our program includes many pieces that are not found in other schools. You may either click on the links below to take you to you topic of interest or you can simply scroll down the page.
Academics
Critical Thinking
Sensory Integration
Social Skills
Character Education
Technology Based Instruction
Community Based Instruction
Self-Esteem
School Pride Lunch
Meals and Snacks
Discipline Policy
Nondiscriminatory Policy
Academics
A self-paced comprehensive academic program is designed for each student, focusing on his/her individual strengths and needs. We provide instruction in the following areas:
- Math
- Language Arts (Reading, Writing, Speaking)
- Science and Social Studies
- Art
- Music
- Home and Consumer Economics
- Physical Education
Within the frameworks of the California state standards, each student's curriculum includes functional, everyday applications as well as critical thinking, processing, and pro-social skills development. Specific methodologies and programs can be implemented per education team recommendations.
Critical Thinking
The Compelling "Why" Philosophy
The Pioneer program combines state and national standards with a curriculum that is designed to develop character and social responsibility with a compelling, "why." We've asked ourselves "why" we teach what we teach and have answered that question with a program that is based on the philosophy that learners possess a need to understand "why" they need to learn what they're taught. At Pioneer, we go to great lengths to provide our students with frequent opportunities to make real world connections to their learning.
Sensory Integration
Based on the understanding that sensory integration and regulation play a critical role in all aspects of learning, our school has a sensorimotor lab to address these needs. Sensory integration strategies are also incorporated throughout our classrooms and community-based instruction, with the goal that each student will learn to regulate his or her own arousal state.
One important aspect of our sensory integrative approach is that the motivation of the child plays a crucial role in the selection of the activities. Most children tend to seek out activities that provide sensory experiences most beneficial to them at that point in development. It is this active involvement and exploration that enables the child to become a more mature, efficient organizer of sensory information.
What is Sensory Integration?
The senses work together. Each sense works with the others to form a complete picture of who we are physically, where we are, and what is going on around us. Sensory integration is the critical function of the brain that is responsible for producing this complete picture. It is the organization of sensory information for on-going use. For some, effective sensory integration occurs automatically, unconsciously, without effort. For others, the process is inefficient, demanding effort and attention with no guarantee of accuracy. When this occurs, the goals we strive for are not easily attained.
Sensory experiences include touch, movement, body awareness, sight, sound, and the pull of gravity. The process of the brain organizing and interpreting this information is called sensory integration. Sensory integration provides a crucial foundation for later, more complex learning and behavior.
Social Skills Instruction
Our approach to social skills instruction emphasizes teaching in a sensitive and caring manner with lots of patience, fun, and humor.
We provide daily direct instruction to develop social skills that includes:
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Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication
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Recognizing and Expressing Emotions
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Self-Monitoring of Stress Levels
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Stress Prevention and Relaxation Strategies
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Appropriate Peer and Adult Interactions
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Citizenship and Character Development
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Abstract Thinking/ Figurative Speech
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Self-Advocacy/Conflict Resolution
Daily Direct-Instruction of Social Skills combined with ample opportunities to practice and apply these skills at school and in the community provides each student with the requisite skills to build and sustain life long relationships with others.
It is NOT our goal to "change" who are students are or to make them copies of ourselves, rather it is our goal to help students learn to navigate the "Social World" around them and to identify their own personal strengths as contributing member of our society
What is Character Education?
Character education is the intentional proactive effort to develop good character. What does this mean exactly? It means applying character development in context and making it a pervasive part of our school. Did you know that by law, California schools are required to teach character education? It was only after the space race began with the launching of Sputnik that character education was put on the backburner as a priority of education.
Our society was so concerned with academic achievement and keeping pace with the rest of the world that schools ignored their responsibility of supporting moral development in children. If we look at the rise of school violence, it is apparent that schools need to take the initiative and do more than just promote intellect.
Clearly, values are taught in the home, but school represents a place to apply these values and reinforce teachings. While character education is concerned with promoting core values, the virtues that our school supports are shared human values that cut across religious, ethnic, and cultural associations. We promote values such as respect, responsibility, patience, integrity, and self-discipline, five ideals that are critical for both individual and community development.
Due to the individualized academic nature of our program, it is essential that we link the educational experience to more than justacademic growth so that we can develop a nurturing community of learners. Clearly, values are taught in the home, but school represents a place to apply these values and reinforce teachings. Character education promotes core values. The virtues that our school supports are shared human values that cut across religious, ethnic and cultural associations. We promote values such as respect, responsibility, patience, integrity and self-discipline, five ideals that are critical for both individual and community development.
At Pioneer, we are committed to creating a setting where our students and staff feel connected to one another and comfortable developing their own individual identities, while simultaneously building a strong relationship as a group. Our program centers on youth empowerment, since ultimately, our students are the ones that will choose their own paths in life. The objective then is to help our students construct an independent identity that recognizes the primacy of the individual and our connection as members of a global society.
Technology-Based Instruction
Since computers play such a significant role in modern society, Pioneer students spend a significant amount of time using them.
Each student is assigned a 'Study Island' account. 'Study Island' is an interactive internet based program that was designed to improve students' understanding of state academic standards. In addition to providing a "fun" learning platform for our students, 'Study Island' serves our teachers by providing a valuable diagnostic tool to enable teachers to individualize instruction and achieve mastery of state academic standards. Teachers receive weekly reports that help them gauge individual student progress and identify deficiencies. This prescriptive approach to learning combined with a highly developed technological platform has eliminated much of the "busy work" that is so common in today's over crowded classrooms. This affords our teachers ample time to develop student critical thinking skills while maintaining appropriate progress toward the achievement of state and national academic standards.
In addition, students develop a thorough understanding of the following:
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Typing and Word Processing
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Power point Presentation
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Safe Internet Use
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Art and Design Applications
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Personal Finance Programs
Community-Based Instruction
Pioneer Day School is committed to helping students with special needs learn and develop the necessary skills enabling them to appropriately participate in the community. Our school is strategically located to facilitate our community-based instruction program. At Pioneer, we take full advantage of the unique educational and recreational opportunities available in beautiful San Diego County. Students and staff regularly venture off campus for educational field trips that enable students to make real world connections to what has been learned at school. These real world experiences keep our students motivated to work hard in the classroom and enrich the overall learning experience.
Self-Esteem
Child Self Esteem
A child’s self esteem is directly related to how well she is able to learn. Research indicates that how children view themselves impacts how effectively they learn, process, and retrieve information. Because self esteem plays such a significant role in the learning process our program is designed to maximize opportunities for students to build a positive self image. This enables students to learn to their full potential and become independent thinkers and confident learners.
A child or teen with high self-esteem is able to:
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act independently
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assume responsibility
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take pride in his accomplishments
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tolerate frustration
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attempt new tasks and challenges
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handle positive and negative emotions
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offer assistance to others
A child with low self-esteem will:
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avoid trying new things
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feel unloved and unwanted
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blame others for his own shortcomings
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feel, or pretend to feel, emotionally indifferent
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be unable to tolerate a normal level of frustration
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put down his own talents and abilities
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be easily influenced
School Pride Lunch
Students and staff work together to keep our school neat, clean and safe. Some of the more popular "chores" include caring for our pets, watering plants, taking out the trash, and cleaning the windows on the school vans. We all look forward to the monthly "School Pride Lunch" when the whole school is treated to lunch at a local restaurant. It is the Pioneer way of saying thank you for being responsible and keeping our school community clean, neat and safe!
Meals and Snacks
It is natural for children to be picky eaters. Keeping this in mind, these are the things that we keep in mind:
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We offer students a variety of healthy foods each day.
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We serve small amounts (when children are hungry they let us know) and help our students decide how much to eat from what has been served to them. We encourage our students to eat, but will never force them. We praise students for trying "new" foods.
- Student "Chefs of the Week" are selected to help in the kitchen.
To view our lunch menu click on the link below.
Monthly Lunch Menu
Discipline Policy
"Discipline is teaching, not punishing"
Setting Limits
We believe that setting limits for our students:
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Helps them learn how to set their own limits.
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Builds a positive self-esteem.
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Gives children the tools to make healthy choices and decisions for a happy life.
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Teaches students self control.
We set limits for our students by:
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Establishing Routines: Research and experience has shown us that children thrive in environments that are positive and provide structural routines.
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Positive Reinforcements: Our teachers are quick to praise and reinforce the positive efforts and behaviors of our students. We place an emphasis on what a student "should do" rather than what they "should not" do. This helps our Pioneers to feel good about themselves.
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Redirection: When a student chooses to participate in an undesireable activity, we attempt to redirect the child's attention to another more suitable activity. This is not only a time to have a child do something differently, it is also a time to praise the child's ability to make a better decision.
Punishment: Physical and verbal punishment is absolutely unacceptable in our program. Shouting at, spanking, and/or shaking a child does not help students learn and certainly does not teach them appropriate ways of dealing with anger. The personal safety and emotional well-being of our students is first and foremost in our program. In an effort to keep our environment positive and safe, we have adopted a strict "Zero" tolerance policy for teachers and staff in regards to physical or verbal abuse of both children and adults.
Notice of Nondiscriminatory Policy
Pioneer Day School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, priveleges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students of the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
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