Course Overview
Language Arts 400 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: Apply skills for reading fluency and writing a report
- Unit 2: Read for meaning in instructions, poetry, and fictional stories
- Unit 3: Identify word parts and types such as prefixes, suffixes, synonyms, and antonyms
- Unit 4: Identify parts of speech and types of sentences
- Unit 5: Use reading strategies to understand a passage and write cohesive paragraphs
- Unit 6: Explain characteristics of strong poetry and research-based reports
- Unit 7: Differentiate forms of literature including fables, tall tales, and biographies
- Unit 8: Analyze literature for language use
- Unit 9: Plan, organize, and write a research-based report
CURRICULUM CONTENT AND SKILLS FOCUS
UNIT 1: READING AND WRITING
- Answer questions about a story you have read and put the events of a story in the right order
- Match vocabulary and spelling words with their meanings and use them in a sentence
- Make a prediction about what is going to happen next in a story
- Tell where English words came from and match words with their language of origin
- Combine words to make compound words and match words with their synonyms
- Write a new title for a story and find a sentence which best summarizes a story
- Use context clues to find the meanings of spelling and vocabulary words and put words in ABC order
- Identify which words have certain vowel and consonant sounds and sort words by the letters or syllables in them
- Match the principles of reading fluency with statements which describe them
- Identify a paragraph’s topic sentence and the ways to find a paragraph’s main idea
- Write or type an outline with main topics and subtopics and type a report from an outline
UNIT 2: READING FOR MEANING
- Answer questions about a story you have read
- Write a short story that teaches a lesson or a set of directions for someone to follow
- Identify whether or not a word has a long or short vowel sound or has a hard or soft c or g sound
- Spell the root words of spelling words and sort spelling words by their suffixes
- Compare and contrast two characters in a story
- Match vocabulary and spelling words with their meanings and use them in sentences
- Identify the main idea of a paragraph and write a sentence telling what lesson a piece of writing is trying to teach you
- Sort words into alphabetical order and mark the accented syllable of a word
- Name the number of vowels you can see or hear and the number of syllables in a word
- Identify the number of syllables needed for each line of a Haiku poem
- Find adjectives in poetic sentences and insert adjectives or descriptions into phrases
- Identify words which begin with the same sounds and find the root words for spelling words
UNIT 3: WORD PLAY
- Identify the main idea of a story and answer questions about a story you have read using context clues
- Put the events of a story in the right order and describe the plot, setting, and characters of a story
- Match vocabulary and spelling words with their meanings
- Identify the root words, suffixes, or prefixes of a given word
- Alphabetize, match, and sort words with suffixes, prefixes, or both
- Sort spelling words into alphabetical order
- Unscramble the letters of spelling words and complete sentences by adding a spelling word
- Correctly match homonyms with each other or pictures that display their meanings
- Choose which homonym should go in a sentence
- Explain what poetic expressions are referencing and why they are poetic.
- Find words which begin with the same letter or which rhyme with other words and count the accentuated syllables in a line of poetry
- Write your own rhyming couplet, four-line poem, story ending, and outline of events in a story
- Identify and match synonym and antonym pairs of words
- Sort words by the vowel and consonant sounds in them
UNIT 4: WORDS IN SEASON
- Identify the main idea of a story, answer questions about a story you have read, and make a prediction for what will happen next
- Identify nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs using the right form or verb-tense in sentences
- Add nouns, adverbs, or verbs to sentences to make them complete
- Write sentences using adjectives to describe nouns and add commas to sentences where more than one adjective is used
- Create comparison adjectives by adding suffixes to them or nouns into adjectives by adding the suffix -ful to them
- Change nouns into possessive nouns or replace possessive nouns in sentences with possessive pronouns
- Match the spelling and vocabulary words with their definitions, and put them in alphabetical order
- Unscramble the letters of spelling words and insert correctly spelled words into sentences
- Identify whether a book is fiction or non-fiction
- Identify if a sentence is a command, question, statement, or exclamation, and put the correct punctuation mark at the end of a sentence
- Write one of each of the four types of sentences and arrange instructions in the order they should be followed
- Label the five parts of a letter, and use it to find information
- Write your own letter of invitation, take study notes on information you read, or write a summary of a story based on notes you took
- Change the subjects in sentences to be plural, and then correct the verbs so they agree
- Sort words by the vowels and consonants they have in them
UNIT 5: READING AND WRITING STORIES
- Identify the main idea and details of a story and put the events of a story in the right order
- Identify which events are causes and which events are effects, and make a prediction for how the story will end
- Write your own paragraph, being sure to indent and use a topic and detail sentences
- Sort words by their prefixes or the letters or sounds in them
- Unscramble the letters of spelling words
- Match spelling and vocabulary words with their definitions, and put words in alphabetical order
- Identify the author’s purpose for writing something or when he or she used figurative language
- Edit sentences by adding capital letters, periods, apostrophes, quotation marks, or commas where they are needed
- Spell the contraction that is made when two words are combined and identify what two words a contraction came from
- Find the main idea of a non-fiction passage and answer questions about information you have read
- Add needed punctuation to the ends of sentences and match the names of punctuation marks with their definitions
- Think about your favorite stories and brainstorm an idea for a story of your own
UNIT 6: RHYMES AND REPORTS
- Choose whether a statement is a fact or an opinion and determine guidelines for what book reports need
- Identify the main ideas and details from a story and tell what order they go in
- Capitalize book titles and tell whether the book is fiction or non-fiction
- Match vocabulary and spelling words with their definitions and put them in alphabetical order
- Write a short summary of a story or article or re-write a parable in your own words
- Write the full names of the months after reading their abbreviations or vice versa
- Unscramble the letters of spelling words and complete sentences by adding a spelling word
- Sort words by the letters or sounds in them and type the root words and suffixes for spelling words
- Identify if a story is parable or fable, pick out the identifying characteristics of parables and fables, and tell what lesson is being taught
- Add interesting words or phrases to lines of poetry to make them more exciting
- Identify descriptive words, stanzas or verses, mood, patterns, rhyming words, and accented syllables in poems
UNIT 7: FORMS OF LITERATURE
- Identify facts included in a biography and identify whether a story is fact or fiction
- Find the main idea of a piece of writing and put the events of a story in the order they happened
- Find nouns in a paragraph, identify if a noun is a common noun or a proper noun, and list proper nouns to replace common nouns
- Identify the complete subject of a sentence and insert nouns into sentences where they belong
- Change singular nouns to plural nouns or possessive forms
- Identify consonants, syllables, and vowels in spelling words
- Match spelling and vocabulary words with their definitions and put spelling words in alphabetical order
- Analyze the lesson taught, as well as the setting, characters, and plot of a fable
- Find or add the action, helping, and being verbs in sentences
- Change present tense verbs from plain form to -s form or to past tense
- Label the identifying characteristics of a tall tale and write your own
- Combine two words to make a contraction and break them up back into original words
UNIT 8: LANGUAGE IN LITERATURE
- Find the main idea of a story or paragraph and answer questions about a story you have just read
- Analyze the meaning of figurative language used in a story and use context clues to figure out the meaning of a word
- Identify cause and effect relationships from a story and put the events of a story in the order
- Find the adjective, the noun it describes, and the question it answers in a sentence, including articles
- Correctly use adjectives, adverbs, and words with multiple meanings in sentences
- Put spelling and vocabulary words in alphabetical order and match them with their definitions
- Divide spelling words into syllables, word parts, or sounds in them
- Choose the correct adjective to compare two things in a sentence
- Find the adverb in a sentence and add -ly to adverbs which answer the question “how?”
- Identify whether a phrase states the cause or the effect of a sentence
- Write a figurative expression and its meaning
- Identify the parts needed to write a complete paragraph, including finding details in a paragraph
UNIT 9: READING AND RESEARCHING
- Answer questions about a story and arrange the events of a story in the correct sequence
- Identify the reasons for reading and how your reading rate changes with each
- Find the main idea of a story or paragraph and compare and contrast details from a story
- Match vocabulary and spelling words with their meanings and put them in alphabetical order
- Identify if a story is fiction or non-fiction and tell whether a statement is a fact or opinion
- Identify the author’s purpose in writing a story
- Use context clues to find the meanings of words and explain a figurative language phrase’s meaning
- Divide spelling words into syllables, and mark the accented syllable
- Arrange, name, describe, and apply the steps of writing a report
- Decide if a report topic is too broad or too narrow and choose a topic for your report
- Decide which questions you would like to answer about the topic
- Decide if what you are searching is a subject, author, title, or key word and use a computer catalog entry to find out information about a book and use a library’s computer catalog to find resources
- Describe the characteristics of note-taking and outlining and use notes to complete an outline
- Record information about those books using the index or table of contents
- Draft your first copy of your report and edit your report using your teacher’s suggestions
UNIT 10: REVIEW
- Review key terms, standards, and rules from previous units
- Practice the skills and concepts discussed throughout the course
Literature List
UNIT 1: READING AND WRITING
- “Joey and the Sad Tree (Part One/Two)”
UNIT 2: READING FOR MEANING
- “Kippy the Kiwi”
- “Ben’s Model”
- “Greedy, Selfish, and Honor”
UNIT 3: WORD PLAY
- “Why William was Thankful”
- “Candy Bars”
- Cooper, George – “Come, Little Leaves”
UNIT 4: WORDS IN SEASON
- Spyri, Johanna – “Heidi” (adapted from Heidi)
UNIT 5: READING AND WRITING STORIES
- “A Lesson in Faith (Part One/Two)”
UNIT 6: RHYMES AND REPORTS
- “Some Facts About Seals”
- “Storm Clouds Over Kansas”
- “Follow the Leader
- “The Lost Sheep”
- “Don’t Run Away from Jesus”
- Stevenson, Robert Louis – “Bed in Summer”
UNIT 7: FORMS OF LITERATURE
- “The Moon is Not Green Cheese”
- “The Fox and the Crow”
- “Following the Leader”
- Langford, W. Bruce – “The Hamster Who Came to Dinner”
UNIT 8: LANGUAGE IN LITERATURE
- “On the Farm”
- “The Early Olympic Games”
- “Under the Table”
UNIT 9: READING AND RESEARCHING
- “Ruby”
- “A Little Salt, Please”
UNIT 10: REVIEW
- “Lost (Part One/Two)”
- “Setting a Record”
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Some assignments in this course require the use of resources that must be acquired separately. These outside resources are listed by assignment. In addition to the default course program, Language Arts 400 includes extra alternate projects and tests for use in enhancing instruction or addressing individual needs. These resources are not included in this course and must be acquired separately.
Unit | Assignment | Resource |
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2 | Lesson: Dictionary Skills |
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2 | Book Report — Haiku Poetry |
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4 | Book Report — Fiction |
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6 | Book Report — Nonfiction |
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7 | Book Report — Biography |
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7 | Book Report — Folk Tales |
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9 | Project: The Navajo |
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9 | Project: Salt in the Bible |
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9 | Book Report — Historical Fiction |
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