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Course Overview

Language Arts 300 focuses on the sequential development and integration of communication skills in four major areas—reading, writing, speaking, and listening. After completion of course assignments within the course, student understanding will be deepened in the following ways:

  • Unit 1: Understand and recognize rules for capitalization and vowels, as well as identifying a main idea
  • Unit 2: Write complete sentences with proper capitalization and organize words into alphabetical order
  • Unit 3: Apply understanding of dictionary use, identifying word parts, and defining vocabulary
  • Unit 4: Differentiate parts of speech, irregular vowel sounds, as well as practicing reading comprehension strategies
  • Unit 5: Use commas properly and recognize words with silent letters
  • Unit 6: Identify cause and effect in a passage, recognize homographs, and read and understand Haiku poetry
  • Unit 7: Use suffixes and pronouns to improve writing such as friendly letters, as well as applying strategies for following directions
  • Unit 8: Read and describe parts of a play and recognize root words and adjectives that compare
  • Unit 9: Apply reading strategies of classifying, references, and predictions, as well as write thank-you letters

Curriculum Content and Skills Focus

UNIT 1: VOWELS, MAIN IDEA, AND CAPITALIZATION
  • Identify the symbols for each language arts area
  • Recognize consonants and vowels
  • Spell words with short vowel sounds or silent letters
  • Find the main idea in a story
  • Match spelling words with their meanings
  • Construct complete sentences
  • Correctly use capital letters
  • Use periods, exclamation marks, and question marks
UNIT 2: SENTENCES, CAPITALIZATION, AND ABC ORDER
  • Use words to create sentences that make sense
  • Capitalize names, titles, and the first word in sentences
  • Spell words with long vowel sounds
  • Capitalize the names of holidays
  • Answer questions about a story you have read
  • Spell commonly used words
  • List words in alphabetical order
  • Spell words with silent letter e or vowels next to each other
  • Write a creative story
UNIT 3: DICTIONARY SKILLS, WORD PARTS, AND VOCABULARY
  • Use a dictionary to find the spellings, meanings and the right way to say certain words
  • Capitalize the names of places, days, and months and titles in peoples’ names (ex. Mr.)
  • Spell words with vowels next to the letter r or with the letters -or
  • Identify prefixes, suffixes, and root words and add prefixes and suffixes to root words
  • Correctly use prefixes in sentences
  • Match words with their antonyms, or opposites
  • Use vocabulary words in sentences
  • Capitalize and punctuate sentences
  • Identify words that are synonyms, or mean the same
UNIT 4: PARTS OF SPEECH, IRREGULAR VOWELS, AND COMPREHENSION
  • Define a noun and identify nouns in lists of words
  • Describe what adjectives do and identify adjectives in groups of words
  • Correctly use adjectives and verbs in sentences
  • Spell words with irregular vowel teams or with a vowel next to the letter W
  • Identify the vowel sound y is making in a word
  • Describe what “action” verbs and “be” verbs are and identify action and state of being verbs
  • Define what adverbs are used for, describe what question an adverb is answering in a sentence, and find adverbs in sentences
  • Choose the correct punctuation for the end of a sentence and edit a sentence using capital letters and punctuation
  • Write sentences using an adjective, noun, verb, and adverb
  • Use a dictionary entry to find the spelling, pronunciation, part of speech, and definition of a word
  • Match dictionary terms with their meanings and put words in ABC order
  • Match spelling and vocabulary words to their definitions
  • Answer questions about what happened in a story and find the main idea in a story
UNIT 5: READING TO UNDERSTAND, COMMAS, AND SILENT LETTERS
  • Find the main idea of a paragraph and recall details from a story
  • Use written directions to find information on how to do something
  • Put words in alphabetical order
  • Find antonyms and synonyms for words
  • Organize words to create sensible sentences and use question marks, periods, and exclamation marks at the end of sentences
  • Identify if a vowel in a word is long or short and spell words with different vowel sounds
  • Find the number of syllables in a word and sort words with different endings by suffix or syllable
  • Match vocabulary words with their definitions
  • Identify the setting of a story and when a character’s attitude has changed
  • Put story events into the right order
  • Find sentences with correct capitalization and add capital letters to sentences which are missing them
  • Use commas in dates to separate the date and year and items in a list
  • Spell words with suffixes, or extra endings, added on, or with a silent -gh
UNIT 6: CAUSE AND EFFECT, HOMOGRAPHS, AND HAIKU POETRY
  • Match vocabulary and spelling words with their definitions
  • Find the main idea in a story and what a story is showing you through certain details
  • Identify what a character is like and put events from a story in the right order
  • Spell words with -eer or -ion endings
  • Use commas to show where to pause in a sentence and capitalize important words in titles
  • Identify if words have soft G or hard G sounds and sort words with the long a, long i, or long e sound
  • Identify the effects of a cause and the causes of an effect
  • Write a response to what you read
  • Identify facts about poetry and name the rules for writing a haiku poem
  • Use the right homograph in a sentence and identify the letters which make each sound
UNIT 7: FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS, SUFFIXES, PRONOUNS, AND FRIENDLY LETTERS
  • Match vocabulary and spelling words with their meanings
  • Identify the characters in a story, write the main idea of a story and tell the details of a story
  • Use and insert nouns in sentences and find the nouns in a group of words
  • Identify if a noun is singular or plural and the rules to make singular nouns plural
  • Change singular nouns to plural nouns and find plural and singular nouns being used correctly
  • Choose which words are compound words in a list
  • Use spelling words in sentences and sort in alphabetical order
  • Put given directions in the right order
  • Identify what parts of a story are fact and what parts are fiction and write facts from your life
  • Spell words with double consonants before the suffix or where you remove the final e before adding a suffix
  • Use pronouns to replace nouns in sentences and identify what noun a pronoun replaced
  • Correctly put comparison words with -er or -est endings into sentences
  • Write sentences using comparison words and use comparison words to describe objects
  • Write a friendly letter using all of the parts of a letter including formatting and punctuation.
UNIT 8: READING A PLAY, COMPARING WITH ADJECTIVES, AND ROOT WORDS
  • Put events from a story, play, or comic in the order they happened
  • Match vocabulary and spelling words with their meanings, and use them in sentences
  • Find adjectives in sentences and tell what questions they are answering about the nouns
  • Add adjectives to sentences to make them more interesting or place adjectives to compare two things
  • Find details in an article and answer questions about the details of a sentence
  • Write a paragraph using details and adjectives in an order which makes sense
  • Use adjectives to compare two objects
  • Add comparison suffixes to words by changing the endings first (change a y to an I, or add another consonant)
  • Unscramble the spelling words or spell the root word of a word with a suffix
  • Use what characters have said to draw conclusions and write what characters in a play are like
  • Identify who is speaking a certain line in a play and mark details which tell about the setting of a play
  • Find subject, noun, and action verb, compound verbs, state-of-being verbs, or combinations of helping verbs and action verbs in sentences
UNIT 9: CLASSIFYING, REFERENCES, THANK-YOU LETTERS, AND PREDICTING OUTCOMES
  • Match vocabulary and spelling words with their meanings and use them in sentences
  • Find the item which does not fit in a group of objects and group items by their similarities
  • Find the adverbs in sentences and choose whether an adverb is describing how, where, or when
  • Answer questions based on information from a story
  • Identify and write using the different parts of a letter
  • After reading the beginning and middle of a story, predict the outcome
  • Choose what reference book you would use to find out different pieces of information
  • Put words in ABC order and spell words with the suffix -teen
  • Choose what volume of the encyclopedia you would use to find out information about certain topics
Unit 10: REVIEW
  • Review key terms, standards, and rules from previous units
  • Practice the skills and concepts discussed throughout the course

Literature List

UNIT 2: SENTENCES, CAPITALIZATION, AND ABC ORDER
  • “Jeff Learns about Sharing”
UNIT 3: DICTIONARY SKILLS, WORD PARTS, AND VOCABULARY
  • “Button the Lamb”
UNIT 4: PARTS OF SPEECH, IRREGULAR VOWELS, AND COMPREHENSION
  • “A Big Surprise”
UNIT 5: READING TO UNDERSTAND, COMMAS, AND SILENT LETTERS
  • “My Dog Zipper” (Part 1/2)
UNIT 6: CAUSE AND EFFECT, HOMOGRAPHS, AND HAIKU POETRY
  • “Lost and Found”
UNIT 7: FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS, SUFFIXES, PRONOUNS, AND FRIENDLY LETTERS
  • “God Provides”
  • “I Can Do It”
  • “Excuses”
UNIT 8: READING A PLAY, COMPARING WITH ADJECTIVES, AND ROOT WORDS
  • “The Fourth of July”
  • “Helping Mother”
  • “Z-zzz-zzz”
UNIT 9: CLASSIFYING, REFERENCES, THANK-YOU LETTERS, AND PREDICTING OUTCOMES
  • “Clean Up Time”
  • “The Church”
UNIT 10: REVIEW
  • “The Baby-sitter”
  • “The Tryout”
  • “The Baseball Game”
  • “The Game of Baseball”

Additional Resources

In addition to the default course content, some projects may require paper and pencil or drawing supplies to complete the assignment. Writing assignments may require a graphic organizer to be printed out and used in the writing process. Projects (such as book reports or informational essays) may require students to acquire outside resources for research or reading.

The following lessons require specific materials that are not included in this course and must be acquired separately:

Unit Assignment Resource
2 Book Report – Poetry
  • A Child’s Garden of Verses, by Robert Louis Stevenson, Grosset & Dunlap, 1957
  • The Christopher Robin Verses, by A. A. Milne, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1967
  • The Llama Who had No Pajama, by Mary Ann Hoberman, Browndeer Press, a division of Harcourt Brace & Co., 1998
  • Pizza the Size of the Sun, by Jack Pretutsky, Greenwillow Books, 1996
3 Book Report – Folktales
  • Llama and the Great Flood; a Folktale from Peru, by Ellen Alexander, Crowell, 1989
  • The Tale of Three Trees, retold by Anglea Elwell Hunt, Lion Publishing Company, 1989
  • The Mitten, a folk tale from the Ukraine, retold by Jan Brett, G.P. Putnam Sons, 1989.
  • Fairy Tales and Stories, by H. C. Andersen. A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • The Nutcracker Ballet, retold by Deborah Hautig, Random House, 1992
  • The Snow Queen, by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Noami Lewis, Henry Holt and Co. 1979
  • Johnny Appleseed, retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg, Morrow Junior Books, 1988
  • Mr. Yowder and the Train Robbers, by Glen Rounds, 1981, Holiday House
  • Pecos Bill, retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg, Morrow Junior Books, 1986
  • Paul Bunyan, retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg, Morrow Junior Books, 1984
  • Aesop’s Fables, by Aesop, illustrated by A. J. McClaskey, retold by Ann McGovern, Scholastic, 1963
  • Fables, by Arnold Lobel, Harper and Row, 1980. Caldecott Medal Winner
  • The Fisherman and His Wife, by Jacob Grimm, Farrar, 1980
4 Book Report – Biography
  • Peter the Great, by Diane Stanley, Morrow Junior Books, 1986.
  • Isaac Newton: Scientific Genius, by Pearle and Harry Schultz, Garrard Publ., 1972.
  • Thomas Edison, by Haydn Middleton, from the “What’s Their Story?” series, Oxford University Press, 1997.
  • The True Story of Pocahontas, by Lucille Recht Penner, Random House,1994.
  • The Chimney Sweep’s Ransom, about John Wesley (1992)
  • Defeat of the Ghost Riders, about Mary McLeoad Bethune (1997)
  • Escape from the Slave Traders, about David Livingston (1992)
  • Flight of the Fugitives, about Gladys Aylward (1994)
  • The Forty-Acre Swindle, about George Washington Carver (2000)
  • The Hidden Jewel, about Amy Carmichael (1992)
  • Hostage on the Nighthawk, about William Penn (2000)
  • Listen for the Whippoorwill, about Harriet Tubman (1993)
  • The Queen’s Smuggler, about William Tyndale (1991)
  • Spy for the Night Riders, about Martin Luther (1992)
5 Book Report – Animal Stories
  • Chester the Worldly Pig, by Bill Peet, Houghton Mifflin, 1965.
  • The Desert Critter Friends series: Friendly Differences; Clubhouse Surprises; Campout Capers; Desert Detectives; Thorny Treasures.
  • Fantastic Mr. Fox, by Roald Dahl (author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Alfred A. Knopf, 1970.
  • Frog and Toad All Year, by Arnold Lobel, Harper & Row, 1976.
  • Only One Woof, by James Herriot, St. Martin’s Press, 1985.
  • Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears, by Aardema, Dillion, 1976. Caldecott Medal Award book.
6 Book Report – Haiku Poetry
  • Cricket Never Does; a Collection of Haiku and Tanka Poetry, by Myra Livingston Cohn, published by Margaret McElderry, 1997.
  • Haiku: the Mood of Earth, by Ann Atwood, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971.
9 Book Report – Nonfiction
  • Abe Lincoln Grows Up, by Carl Sandburg, Harcourt, 1985.
  • Buffalo Hunt, by Russell Freedman, Holiday House, 1988.
  • Mother Teresa, by Lola M.Schaefer, Pebble Books, 2003.
  • The Plymouth Thanksgiving, by Leonard Weisgard, Doubleday, 1967.
  • Promise of a New Spring: the Holocaust and Renewal, by Gerda Weissman Klein, Rossel Books, 1981.
  • Young Frederick Douglas, Fight for Freedom, by Laurence Santrey, Troll, 1983.
10 Book Report – Historical Fiction
  • Abigail Takes the Wheel, by Avi, HarperCollins, 1999.
  • Addy Saves the Day, by Connie Porter, Pleasant Company, 1994.
  • Felicity Learns a Lesson, by Valerie Tripp, Pleasant Company, 1991.
  • Josefina’s Surprise, by Valerie Tripp, Pleasant Company, 1997.
  • Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos Discovered, Edited, and Illustrated by Robert Lawson, Little, Brown, and Company, 1988.
  • The Drinking Gourd, by F. N. Monjo, published by Harper, @1969.
  • Kia, a Mission to her Village, Africa 1440, from “Girlhood Journey’s” series, by Dawn C. Gill Thomas, Simon & Schuster, 1996.
  • Paddle-to-the-Sea, by Clancy Holling, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1961. A Caldecott Honor book.
  • An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, by Louisa May Alcott, Holiday House, 1989.
  • The Very First Thanksgiving: Pioneers on the Rio Grande, by Bea Bragg, Harbinger House, 1989.
  • Song of the Trees, by Mildred D. Taylor, Dial Press, 1975.
  • Troubles Times Ten, by Dave Lambert, from the Christian Heritage Series published by Christian Book Distributors (CBD), a division of David C. Cook, 2000.
  • The Wall, by Eve Bunting, published by Clarion Books, 1990.
  • Whispering Cloth; a Refugee’s Story, by Pegi Deitz Shea, Boyd Mills Publ., 1996.
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