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Status

Open

Estimated Completion Time

36 weeks

Overview

The Elementary English Language Arts courses provide students with a rigorous and comprehensive look at the ELA standards, focusing on reading foundational skills, reading comprehension strategies through informative and literature texts, writing, grammar, and speaking and listening skills. Students will be exposed to the five essential components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, vocabulary and fluency) through engaging text and interactive learning. Fourth and fifth-grade students will focus on reading to learn with the incorporation of more complex text and extensive exploration and use of vocabulary in reading and writing. Students will be taught grammar skills which will be implemented into the rigorous writing lessons and compliment various topics. Students will participate in informative, narrative, and opinion writing compositions throughout the course. Throughout the English Language Arts courses, students will explore a myriad of topics through integration across content areas. Each grade level of the ELA suite will surround student learning with an adventure filled theme, showing students that learning really is the great adventure.

Please view the Elementary Parents’ Survival Guide: The First Four Weeks of Online Learning for guidance on helping your student in the transition to online learning.

Course Requirements

To achieve success, students are expected to submit work in each course weekly. Students can learn at their own pace; however, “any pace” still means that students must make progress in the course every week. To measure learning, students complete self-checks, practice lessons, multiple choice questions, projects, discussion-based assessments, and discussions. Students and families are expected to maintain regular contact with teachers because, when teachers, students, and parents work together, students are successful.

Required Materials – Please view the list of materials before registering.

Major Topics and Concepts

Module 1

  • Apply strategies for context clues and spelling
  • Use legible cursive writing skills
  • Use story details to make inferences and explain what the text says explicitly
  • Recognizing explicit vs. implicit information
  • Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story
  • Use story details to summarize and determine the theme
  • Use different strategies to determine the meaning of unknown words and phrases
  • Use verb phrases and tenses
  • Use nouns as subjects and objects
  • Use the writing process to write an informative text

Module 2

  • Use Greek and Latin affixes to read and determine the meaning of unknown words
  • Use strategies to spell words correctly
  • Use legible cursive writing skills
  • Use evidence from the text to make inferences and explain what the text says
  • Determine the main idea and supporting details
  • Summarize a text
  • Describe relationships and explain how information is related in historical, scientific, and technical
  • texts
  • Use context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words
  • Use of underline, quotations, and italics in titles
  • Using commas correctly when writing
  • Use the writing process to write a narrative text

Module 3

  • Use context clues to read and determine the meaning of unknown words
  • Use strategies to spell words correctly
  • Recognizing synonyms and antonyms
  • Use legible cursive writing skills
  • Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fit together to provide the overall structure of a
  • story, drama, or poem
  • Identify and interpret metaphors and similes
  • Understand and analyze point of view
  • Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions to write compound and complex sentences
  • Use the writing process to write an opinion text

Module 4

  • Use context clues to read and determine the meaning of unknown words
  • Use strategies to spell words correctly
  • Interpret the meaning of adages and proverbs
  • Understand figurative language
  • Compare and contrast text structures
  • Compare and contrast the points of view of multiple accounts on the same topic
  • Use commas for direct address and tag questions
  • Use the perfect verb tense
  • Use the writing process to write an informative text

Module 5

  • Interpret adages and proverbs
  • Understand dialect
  • Apply strategies for decoding, context clues, and spelling
  • Interpret multimedia features and how they contribute to the meaning, tone, and beauty of a text
  • Analyze story elements to discover theme
  • Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a text
  • Compare and contrast the authors’ approaches to the themes and topics of two stories in the same
  • genre
  • Use commas after introductory words/phrases and to set off words “yes” and “no”
  • Use correct shifts in verb tense when writing
  • Use the writing process to write an opinion text

Module 6

  • Apply strategies for decoding, context clues, and spelling
  • Interpret proverbs and adages
  • Use information from text features to answer or solve a problem
  • Use multiple sources of information to answer a question
  • Explain how authors use reasons and evidence to support his or her points
  • Use evidence from the text to make inferences and explain what the text says
  • Construct text-based responses
  • Use pronouns correctly
  • Use the writing process to write an opinion text

Module 7

  • Apply strategies for decoding, context clues, and spelling
  • Recognize and understand the meaning of figurative language
  • Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story
  • Use story details to summarize and determine the theme
  • Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fit together to provide the overall structure of a
  • story, drama, or poem
  • Understand and analyze point of view
  • Use adjective and adverbs as modifiers
  • Use the writing process to write an informative text in response to literature

Module 8

  • Apply strategies for decoding, context clues, and spelling
  • Use evidence from the text to make inferences and explain what the text says
  • Determine the main idea and supporting details
  • Describe relationships and explain how information is related in historical, scientific, and technical
  • texts
  • Compare and contrast text structures
  • Compare and contrast the points of view of multiple accounts on the same topic
  • Explain the function of prepositions and use prepositional phrases as modifiers
  • Use semicolons and colons
  • Use the writing process to conduct a short research project about a topic

Module 9

  • Apply strategies for decoding, context clues, and spelling
  • Interpret multimedia features and how they contribute to the meaning, tone, and beauty of a text
  • Compare and contrast the authors’ approaches to the themes and topics of two stories in the same
  • genre
  • Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fit together to provide the overall structure of a
  • story, drama, or poem
  • Form compound-complex sentences
  • Use the writing process to write an opinion text

Module 10

  • Apply strategies for decoding, context clues, and spelling
  • Use information from text features and multimedia elements to answer or solve a problem
  • Integrate information from multiple sources
  • Explain how authors use reasons and evidence to support his or her points
  • Use participial phrases as modifiers
  • Recognize run-ons and sentence fragments
  • Use appositives
  • Use the writing process to conduct a short research project about a topic

Module 11

  • Apply strategies for decoding, context clues, and spelling
  • Understand dialect
  • Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story
  • Use story details to summarize and determine the theme
  • Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fit together to provide the overall structure of a
  • story, drama, or poem
  • Understand and analyze point of view
  • Compare and contrast the authors’ approaches to the themes and topics of two stories in the same
  • genre
  • Use interjections
  • Learn to correct misused pronouns and verbs
  • Use the writing process to write a narrative text

Module 12

  • Apply strategies for decoding, context clues, and spelling
  • Describe relationships and explain how information is related in historical, scientific, and technical
  • texts
  • Compare and contrast text structures
  • Compare and contrast the points of view of multiple accounts on the same topic
  • Integrate information from multiple sources
  • Write text-based responses
  • Use transition words
  • Recognize double negatives
  • Use the writing process to write an opinion text

Credits 1

Competencies

  • Figurative Language and Character Development
    I can explain strategies to determine the meanings of figurative language. I can compare the characters within the same narrative. I can compare the characters and events of separate narratives. I can explain how visual and multimedia elements enhance a text. I can identify verb tense shifts.
  • Inferences
    I can select quotes that support inferences about a text. I can infer the theme of a text. I can summarize a text. I can explain strategies to determine the meanings of words and phrases. I can write an informative paragraph using evidence from a text.
  • Integrating Evidence
    I can compare the structures of researched opinion texts. I can compare points of view on a topic. I can write an informative essay following a structure that uses quotes and paraphrased evidence.
  • Locating Information
    I can select the correct pronoun for a sentence. I can explain how the author supports a point with reasons and evidence. I can synthesize information from multiple sources to develop a response. I can create an opinion essay through application of the writing process.
  • Points of View
    I can create compound sentences using coordinating conjunctions. I can create complex sentences using subordinating conjunctions. I can describe narrative points of view and their influence on a story. I can describe how chapters, scenes, and stanzas provide structure to literary texts. I can write an opinion essay using textual evidence, including quotes, to support my opinion.
  • Supporting Details
    I can revise sentences for correct comma usage. I can select the correct punctuation for dialogue. I can infer the main idea and supporting details of historical, scientific, and technical texts. I can select the correct punctuation for titles. I can write a narrative essay using descriptive language.
  • Answering a Research Question
    I can interpret text features. I can analyze the use of reasons and evidence to support points in a text. I can infer the intended meaning of a homograph. I can synthesize information from multiple sources to answer a research question.
  • Dialogue
    I can explain the influence of characters’ actions and words on theme in literary texts. I can compare narrative elements within texts. I can explain the function of interjections. I can write a narrative with descriptive language and dialogue.
  • Plot and Theme
    I can explain the theme of a literary text. I can summarize the plot of a literary text.
  • Research Opinion Essay
    I can develop source citations. I can synthesize information from multiple sources to form and support my opinion on a topic.
  • Research Skills
    I can explain the use of prepositions and prepositional phrases. I can select the correct use of semicolons. I can summarize an article, noting key details that support its main ideas. I can write an informative essay following a structure, which uses researched facts and details.
  • Tone and Meaning
    I can analyze the impact of visual and multimedia materials on the tone and meaning of a text. I can describe how the speaker’s point of view affects the description of events in a story. I can identify compound-complex sentences. I can write an opinion essay using evidence from multiple sources.

Pre-Requisites

None
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