Language Arts Unit: Journeys and Destinations (Grades 3-4)
This unit is designed specifically to meet the needs of high-ability students by setting the following goals:
Goal 1: To develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature.
Goal 2: To develop persuasive writing skills.
Goal 3: To develop linguistic competency.
Goal 4: To develop listening/oral communication skills.
Goal 5: To develop reasoning skills in the language arts.
Goal 6: To understand the concept of change in the language arts.
A wide variety of literature will provide the context for our exploration of change. The literature will stimulate discussion, writing, listening, vocabulary study, and research activities. In class, we will read and discuss short pieces of literature- poems, short stories, and fables. Everyone will keep a response journal to clarify thinking and to help prepare for written and oral assignments. As we read the literature, we will respond to it and think critically about it by analyzing ideas, vocabulary, and structure. Specifically, we will look for insight into the concept of change.
This unit includes the following activities which may require some work outside of the class and may need your support at home:
Independent Reading
Possible homework assignments (you will always be notified if this is the case because it is rare).
Research done at home for the project on ways to preserve memories.
An in-class project will require two photos of your child at different ages.
Majority of daily work and project work will be discussed and done in class. If there is work needed to be done at home information will be sent to you through our parent email system.
Assessments Student progress in the unit will be assessed in several ways. First, I will give them a pretest to assess their level and skills in language arts literature analysis and persuasive writing. Students will be assessed again at the end of the unit to see the progress they have made. Students will also be assessed throughout the unit based on their writing portfolio where they document their thinking.
What Can I Do At Home Here are a few things you can choose to do at home to engage students in the unit we are currently working on:
Read books with your child or talk with them after they read. Discuss key ideas and overarching themes they notice about each text.
Practice discussions on things you have opposite viewpoints on. Help them to practice seeing others perspectives while discussing their own. We will also be doing this in the classroom.
Play word games such as Scrabble or Boggle to enhance their vocabulary and language usage. Using their spelling words is a great way to do this as well.
Encourage your child to write everyday. Start a weekly or daily bible study and have them write their thoughts or feelings.
Set up a letter writing arrangement with someone from another country or a family member in another state (think about the person they talked to for their project last year on languages and how they change).
Language Arts Unit: Explore, Discover, Reveal (Grades 3-4)
This unit is designed specifically to meet the needs of high-ability students by setting the following goals:
Goal 1: To develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature.
Goal 2: To develop persuasive writing skills.
Goal 3: To develop linguistic competency.
Goal 4: To develop listening/oral communication skills.
Goal 5: To develop reasoning skills in the language arts.
Goal 6: To understand the concept of exploration in the language arts.
A wide variety of literature will provide the context for our exploration of change. The literature will stimulate discussion, writing, listening, vocabulary study, and research activities. In class, we will read and discuss short pieces of literature- poems, short stories, and fables. Everyone will keep a response journal to clarify thinking and to help prepare for written and oral assignments. As we read the literature, we will respond to it and think critically about it by analyzing ideas, vocabulary, and structure. Specifically, we will look for insight into the concept of change.
This unit includes the following activities which may require some work outside of the class and may need your support at home:
Independent Reading
Possible homework assignments (you will always be notified if this is the case because it is rare).
A series of written activities on two novels
A research project on an issue or question that motivated an exploration.
Majority of daily work and project work will be discussed and done in class. If there is work needed to be done at home information will be sent to you through our parent email system.
Assessments Student progress in the unit will be assessed in several ways. First, I will give them a pretest to assess their level and skills in language arts areas of literature, writing, and grammar. Students will be assessed again at the end of the unit to see the progress they have made. Students will also be assessed throughout the unit based on their writing portfolio where they document their thinking. We will evaluate several writing pieces through three perspectives: self, peer, and teacher.
What Can I Do At Home Here are a few things you can choose to do at home to engage students in the unit we are currently working on:
Read books with your child or talk with them after they read. Discuss key ideas and overarching themes they notice about each text.
Practice discussions on things you have opposite viewpoints on. Help them to practice seeing others perspectives while discussing their own. We will also be doing this in the classroom.
Play word games such as Scrabble or Boggle to enhance their vocabulary and language usage. Using their spelling words is a great way to do this as well.
Encourage your child to write everyday. Start a weekly or daily bible study and have them write their thoughts or feelings.
Set up a letter writing arrangement with someone from another country or a family member in another state (think about the person they talked to for their project last year on languages and how they change).
Language Arts Unit: Perspectives (Grades 4-5)
This unit is designed specifically to meet the needs of high-ability students by setting the following goals:
Goal 1: To develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature.
Goal 2: To develop reasoning skills in the language arts.
Goal 3: To develop linguistic competency.
Goal 4: To develop skills related to writing short stories.
Goal 5: To understand the concept of perspective.
A study of classic short stories will provide the context for student exploration of the concept of perspective. These short stories will serve as models for students to start writing short stories of their own. The literature will stimulate discussion, writing, listening, and vocabulary study. In class, we will read and discuss short stories and keep a response journal to clarify thinking and help prepare for assignments. As students read the literature, they will respond to it and think critically about it by analyzing ideas, vocabulary, and structure,
Students will use their writers notebook from their gen ed class to develop characters, setting, plot, and more for their short stories.
This unit includes the following activities which may require some work outside of the class and may need your support at home:
Independent Reading of the short stories
Possible homework assignments (you will always be notified if this is the case because it is rare).
An original short story due at the end of the unit that they can choose to replace their grade in their general education classroom of the story they wrote in there.
Majority of daily work and project work will be discussed and done in class. If there is work needed to be done at home information will be sent to you through our parent email system.
Assessments Student progress in the unit will be assessed in several ways. First, I will give them a pretest to assess their level and skills in language arts literature analysis. Students will be assessed again at the end of the unit to see the progress they have made. Students will also be assessed throughout the unit based on their writing portfolio where they document their thinking.
What Can I Do At Home Here are a few things you can choose to do at home to engage students in the unit we are currently working on:
Read books with your child or talk with them after they read. Discuss key ideas and overarching themes they notice about each text that drive the literary elements of the text.
Practice discussions on things you have opposite viewpoints on. Help them to practice seeing others perspectives while discussing their own. We will also be doing this in the classroom.
Play word games such as Scrabble or Boggle to enhance their vocabulary and language usage.
Encourage your child to write everyday. Start a weekly or daily bible study and have them write their thoughts or feelings. This can be used to think of lessons they have learned in life that they can write a short story about to teach others.
When viewing movies or television discuss the perspectives and story elements that are presented. Encourage them to pay close attention to the theme and other literary elements that change the understanding of the media they are watching.
Language Arts Unit: Literary Reflections (Grades 4-6)
This unit is designed specifically to meet the needs of high-ability students by setting the following goals:
Goal 1: To develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature.
Goal 2: To develop persuasive writing skills.
Goal 3: To develop listening and oral communication skills.
Goal 4: To develop reasoning skills in the language arts.
Goal 5: To understand the concept of change in language arts.
A wide variety of literature will provide the context for student exploration of the concept of change. The literature will stimulate discussion, writing, listening, vocabulary study, and research activities. In class, we will read and discuss short pieces of literature, poems, speeches, and essays. Students will keep a response journal to clarify thinking and help prepare for assignments. As students read the literature, they will respond to it and think critically about it by analyzing ideas, vocabulary, and structure. Specifically they will look for insight into the concept of change.
This unit includes the following activities which may require some work outside of the class and may need your support at home:
Independent Reading of short stories and books
Possible homework assignments (you will always be notified if this is the case because it is rare).
A series of written activities for two novels.
A grammar packet of activities.
Research project of an issue of significance.
Majority of daily work and project work will be discussed and done in class. If there is work needed to be done at home information will be sent to you through our parent email system.
Assessments Student progress in the unit will be assessed in several ways. First, I will give them a pretest to assess their level and skills in language arts literature analysis. Students will be assessed again at the end of the unit to see the progress they have made. Students will also be assessed throughout the unit based on their writing portfolio where they document their thinking.
What Can I Do At Home Here are a few things you can choose to do at home to engage students in the unit we are currently working on:
Read books with your child or talk with them after they read. Discuss key ideas and overarching themes they notice about each text that drive the literary elements of the text.
Practice discussions on things you have opposite viewpoints on. Help them to practice seeing others perspectives while discussing their own.
Play word games such as Scrabble or Boggle to enhance their vocabulary and language usage.
Encourage your child to write everyday. Start a weekly or daily bible study and have them write their thoughts or feelings. This can be used to think of lessons they have learned in life that they can write a short story about to teach others.
When viewing movies or television discuss the perspectives and story elements that are presented. Encourage them to pay close attention to the theme and other literary elements that change the understanding of the media they are watching.