Level: Form II (4th–6th grades)
Subject(s): English, Literature
Description:
In this course, Form II students will learn and apply spelling rules, review parts of speech, begin diagraming sentences, practice penmanship, practice oral reading, and read and recite classic works of poetry. With our commitment to incorporate the best of both classical tradition and contemporary research, this course uses researched-based best practices for helping students of all abilities and grade levels. Instruction will be individuated for students at various levels within Form II.
This class keeps it kinetic as students use large motor skills to first draw cursive letters and multi-letter phonograms in salt boxes and to water-paint them on sidewalk before moving on to fine motor skills with pen and paper. Students will play games and relays, compose original sentences, and listen to beautiful literature read aloud. Learning outcomes include growth in the foundational operations of language—listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Instructor, Corrie McCloy, believes that the best literature and art belongs in the hands of every child and that every child has the capacity to understand, appreciate, and even love it. After being homeschooled through high school, Corrie graduated with degrees in writing and English from Houston Baptist University where she coordinated writing tutoring in the university academic success center, edited for literary journals, and earned multiple awards for academics and leadership. Corrie comes to BHSC after teaching at a classical school in Chicago. She loves to see children freely engage with the world of ideas through art and literature, and she seeks to come alongside students as they practice habits leading to discovery.
Materials:
$64 per student for BHSC-purchased supplies including student’s Learning Log, Elementary Diagramming Worktext, and quad-ruled diagramming notebook, as well as various teacher and classroom learning resources.
Families supply pencils, colored pencils, and erasers in a pencil pouch.
Elementary Diagramming Worktext provides a thorough coverage of sentence diagramming. “Learning how to diagram sentences can really help students visualize how the different parts of speech work together to form sentences. This workbook covers sentence diagramming from easy to challenging, one step at a time. After reading simple explanations and seeing examples, students practice with similar sentences. The worksheets start with just subjects and predicates and then progress to adjectives, adverbs, direct and indirect objects, appositives, interjections, prepositional phrases, participles, and gerunds.”
Cursive penmanship instruction will be integrated with Spell to Write and Read by Wanda Sanseri. “Resurrecting the historically successful idea of starting with phonics-based spelling, SWR weaves beginning through 12th grade spelling into a full language arts program. Rather than merely memorizing words, as in traditional spelling programs, students are taught how to analyze the reasons behind a word’s spelling and pronunciation, giving them a strategy to learn any word they encounter. Reading is a natural outgrowth of spelling instruction. Most spelling or phonics programs are based simply on what’s been used before. SWR is based on solid physiological research and historical precedent and will amaze you with its simplicity, conciseness, and completeness. It is a time-proven method with over 50 years of success throughout the States.”
“Historically cursive was taught first to our nation’s children. Today, reading and dyslexia experts are rediscovering that teaching cursive improves long-term penmanship skills, helps children learn to read, virtually eliminates reversals, and enables children to read what is written by others.”
