Language Arts Curriculum
For Language Arts, we use the Scott Foresman Reading Street curriculum. The curriculum is made up of several different components. Within the period, the students work on reading, spelling, grammar, and writing skills.
At the beginning of each story, the students will bring home a "Family Times Newsletter". This newsletter shares with families the skills and vocabulary that we'll be working on throughout the story. These are the skills and vocabulary that will be assessed on the test of the end of the story. The tests consist of three main parts: vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. The students are allowed to use their books on the tests and are encouraged to go back and find the correct answers. It's the skills we're assessing, not their memorization abilities.
Reading:
Unit Topics:
1. Money
2. Smart Solutions
3. People and Nature
4. One of a Kind
5. Cultures
Skills to be covered:
Realism and Fantasy
Sequence
Character and Setting
Main Idea and Supporting Detail
Author's Purpose
Draw Conclusions
Cause and Effect
Generalize
Compare and Contrast
Spelling:
The students will have spelling homework nightly and a test every Friday. They have a spelling workbook to work in. They also receive supplemental worksheets throughout the week. In addition to their regular words, the students will have dictation sentences on their test. I will read some sentences aloud and they must copy them down. Each word in the sentences counts towards their test grade. These are words that they have had in the past and are words that a third grader is expected to know and use correctly.
Grammar:
The students each receive a grammar workbook that they can work in. There is a grammar skill that goes along with each story in the reading series. After working with the skill for about a week, the students will have a short quiz. These are the skills we'll be working with:
Sentences
Statements and Questions
Commands and Exclamations
Compound Sentences
Nouns-common, proper, singular, plural, irregular, possessive
Verbs-action, linking, main, helping, tense, irregular
Pronouns-singular, plural, subject, object, possessive
Contractions
Prepositions
Adjectives and Articles
Adverbs
Writing:
Each quarter there will be a main writing assignment. The students will practice the steps of the writing process, which includes brainstorm, draft, revise, edit, and final copy. In addition, every Friday they will have a "Fun Friday Prompt" to respond to in their journals. These are silly topics that the students enjoy writing about and it gets them to practice getting their thoughts and ideas down on paper.