Language Arts / Literature

Preschool

The children are exposed to the letters of the alphabet and their corresponding sounds through songs, poems, puzzles, and games. They develop pre-reading, pre-writing, and listening skills as well as their ability to comprehend and respond to what is being read and discussed.

Literature:

The children are exposed to many different types of literature and subject matter and are read to every day. Circle Time centers on themes that include topics such as friends, families, winter holidays, dinosaurs, and seasons. The children go to the school library every week to listen to the school librarian read a story and to borrow books.

Prekindergarten

The children begin to recognize and learn upper case and some lower case letters, initial consonant and rhyming sounds, and the sequence of the letters in the alphabet through songs, poems, puzzles, and games. They develop emergent writing skills through paper and pencil activities and pre-reading skills by learning the mechanics of books, looking for context clues, and telling stories from pictures. They develop self-confidence, good manners, and other oral skills by speaking in front of their classmates during class discussions. As their attention spans increase, they further develop their listening skills and their ability to understand, interpret and respond to what is being read and/or discussed.

Literature:

The children are exposed to many different types of literature and subject matter and are read to every day. Circle Time centers on the letters of the alphabet and focuses on topics such as tolerating differences among friends, fire safety, the four seasons, holidays, and the neighborhood. The children go on walking field trips to the neighborhood bagel store, bakery, pretzel store, fire station, and grocery store. The children go to the school library every week to listen to the school librarian read a story and to borrow books.

Kindergarten

The children learn to recognize letters and letter sounds, understand what constitutes a word, use developmental and conventional spelling, and develop reading comprehension skills. They gain an appreciation and understanding of poetry as well as declamation skills by memorizing and reciting poetry. The children acquire a core group of basic sight vocabulary words and are encouraged to use picture clues to make predictions and aid in comprehension. They improve their handwriting and writing skills through journal and other writing activities. They learn to become better listeners during Circle Time and Quiet Time readings. During language arts classes, the children review and the teacher reinforces letter identification for upper and lower case letters. The children strengthen and expand their knowledge of sound/symbol relationships. They develop phonemic awareness, blending, and writing skills, which provide them with the necessary foundation to become independent skilled readers and writers in Lower School. For reading, the children learn strategies such as picture clues, phonics, sight vocabulary, context clues and mental imagery; for answering questions, the children learn strategies such as recall of facts, sequence of events, and inference.

Literature:
There are many times each day when teachers read aloud to the children, using a wide variety of books that include old and new favorites, Newberry Award books, fairy tales, and literature related to curricular studies. The children go to the school library every week to listen to the school librarian read a story and to borrow books. In addition, the teachers use StoryTown, a research-based developmental reading and language arts program by Harcourt School Publishers, which the teachers in the Lower School also use. StoryTown features an organized, direct approach to teaching reading. It emphasizes explicit, systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing, followed by ample practice and the application of these skills.

Grade One

Reading:
Phonics, word recognition, sight words, listening and comprehension skills

Writing:
Beginning spelling, using complete sentences, punctuation and capitalization, journal writing, creative writing, writing a friendly letter

Texts:
Steck-Vaughn Phonics Book A
D’Nealian Handwriting Book 1
Words I Use When I Write
A Child’s Garden of Verses
Houghton Mifflin Spelling and Vocabulary Grade 1 Heath Basic Reading Series plus a wide selection of trade books

Literature:
Teachers read aloud to the children each afternoon. These read aloud sessions involve informal discussions about vocabulary, plot and character motivation. The wide variety of books read includes old favorites, contemporary stories, Newberry Award books, fairy tales and literature related to curricula studies. The selection includes books such as:

Winnie The Pooh
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Abel’s Island
Henry Huggins
Ramona the Pest and many others

Grade Two

Reading:
Phonics, word recognition, sight words, listening and comprehension skills

Writing:
Using complete sentences, writing a paragragh, journal writing, creative writing, writing a friendly letter, punctuation and capitalization

Texts:
Steck-Vaughn Phonics Book B
D’Nealian Handwriting Book 2
Words I Use When I Write
Lanuage Exercises B
Reading Thinking Skills B
SRA Specific Skills Series: (Level B- Identifying Inferences, Getting the Main Idea, Drawing Conclusions)
Houghton Mifflin Spelling and Vocabulary Grade 2
Sing a Song of Popcorn
Heath Basic Reading Series plus a wide selection of trade books

Charlotte’s Web
Ben and Me
The House at Pooh Corner
Ribsy
James and the Giant Peach
Danny the Champion of the World
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Pippi Longstocking and many others

Third Grade

Reading:
Discussion, oral and written comprehension, predicting, summarizing, elements of a story

Writing:
Punctuation, capitalization, sentence structure, paragraph structure, three paragraph essay structure (narrative, comparison, how-to/process) journal writing, letter writing

Spelling and Vocabulary: Word families, spelling rules and strategies, dictionary skills, analogies

Texts:
D’Nealian Handwriting Book 3
Houghton Mifflin Spelling and Vocabulary Grade 3
More Words I Use When I Write
Language Exercises C
Reading Thinking Skills C
Favorite Poems Old and New
SRA Specific Skills Series: (Level C - Identifying Inferences, Getting the Main Idea, Drawing Conclusions)
McCall Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading
Beginning Dictionary Heath Basic Reading Series plus a wide variety of trade books

Stuart Little
The Castle in the Attic
The Borrowers
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Homer Price
Rascal and many others

Grade Four

Reading:
Discussion, oral and written comprehension, summarizing, identifying elements of a story

Writing:
Punctuation grammar, sentence structure, paragraph structure, three paragraph essay structure, letter writing, writing poetry, writing book reports and simple research papers

Spelling and Vocabulary:
Spelling rules and strategies, high frequency words, dictionary skills, analogies,.

Texts:
D’Nealian Handwriting Book 4
Merriam Webster Intermediate Dictionary
Wordly Wise Book I
Houghton Mifflin Spelling and Vocabulary Grade 4
Megawords 1
Barnell Loft Specific Skills Series: (Level D -Identifying Inferences, Getting the Main Idea, Drawing Conclusions)
Reading Thinking Skills D
Language Exercises D
A Child’s Anthology of Poetry
McCall Crabbs Standard Test Lessons In Reading B
Heaths Basic Reading Series plus a wide variety of trade books

The Trumpet of the Swan
The Indian in the Cupboard
Where the Red Fern Grows
Shiloh
Number the Stars
Over Sea, Under Stone
Viking Adventure
The Secret Garden and many others

Grade Five

Reading:
Comprehension, summarizing major points, identifying supporting evidence, distinguishing implied meaning from stated facts, identifying the elements of a story

Writing:
Grammar (parts of speech, capitalization, punctuation, sentence structure) simple summarizing and outlining, paragraph and essay writing

Spelling and Vocabulary:
Rules and strategies, high frequency words, multiple meanings and usages, dictionary skills, syllabication, dictation, analogies

Texts:
Mini-Myths and Maxi Words
Reading Thinking Skills E
Exercises in English Grammar I
Language Exercises E

Literature:
Study of plot structure, characterization, theme, and literary devices. The selection includes books such as:

The Family Album of Favorite Poems
The Boy of the Painted Cave
The Ides of April
The Odyssey
The Golden Goblet
Greek Myths
The Hero King Gilgamesh

Grade Six

Reading:
Comprehension, main idea, inferences, selection of detail, summarizing, outlining, elements of a story

Writing:
Basic grammar, creative and factual writing, paragraphs, five paragraph essays, short stories.

Text:
Reading Thinking Skills F
Language Exercises F
Exercises in English Grammar I
American Heritage Dictionary
The Merriam Webster Thesaurus

Literature:
Study of plot structure, characterization, theme, and literary devices. The selection includes books such as:

Sword in the Stone
The Everyman Anthology of Poetry for Children
Alanna: The First Adventure
Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Night
Japanese Folk Tales
Quest for a Maid
Catherine Called Birdy
Beowulf: A New Telling
The Outlaws of Sherwood
The Raging Quiet
Chaucer

Grade Seven

Reading:
Comprehension, selection of the important, skimming, summarizing, outlining, literary appreciation and analysis

Writing:
Grammar, imaginative and expository essay writing, exploration of style, plot, characterization, and tone

Spelling and Vocabulary:
Rules and strategies, high frequency words, multiple meanings and usages, analogies

Texts:
Language Exercises G
Exercises in English Grammar II
American Heritage Dictionary
The Merriam Webster Thesaurus

Literature: THE CLIMB OUT OF CHILDHOOD

Study of plot structure, characterization, theme, literary devices with a focus on a specific theme. The selection includes books such as:

Sounder
The Miracle Worker
The Light In the Forest
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Yearling
To Kill a Mockingbird
One Hundred and One Famous Poems
The Snow Goose
Dangerous Skies
Shabanu
Ghost Boy
Little Worlds

Grade Eight

Reading:
Application of established skills to all types of reading.

Writing:
Review and refinement of previously learned language usage rules. Development of ease of expression and a personal style through frequent writing assignments plus correction of errors in these assignments, writing critical essays, writing a research paper.

Spelling:
Spelling required of all new vocabulary words, review of spelling rules plus examples illustrating each rule, spelling demons.

Vocabulary:
Vocabulary study though literature and also through WordMasters Analogies

Texts:
Language Exercises G
Treanor: Exercises in English Grammar II

Literature: IN SEARCH OF VALUES

Understanding literary elements (plot, setting, climax, resolution, character) and different genres (fiction, nonfiction, drama, poetry, allegory, parable, fable) and literary and poetical devices (metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration) with a focus on a specific theme. The selection includes books such as:

Poems That Live Forever
Great Expectations
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A Christmas Carol
Macbeth
Romeo and Juliet
Pride and Prejudice
Watership Down
The Watsons
The Call of The Wild
Heroes and Villains
The Tempest
Midsummer Night’s Dream