English/Literacy

Lower School

The literacy curriculum is built around genre and craft studies which last four to six weeks. Recognizing that different strategies and thinking skills are required to demonstrate competence in different genres, students are exposed to multiple genres throughout the reading and writing program. During a particular genre study, students are immersed in the genre and given explicit instruction in reading and/or writing within that genre.

Reading

A critically important feature of the Wooster Lower School reading program is the interactive circle of teacher, students, and literature. Students thrive when they truly understand and appreciate the value of good literature. They are exposed to literature through read aloud, independent reading, literature circles, and class readings of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. As active learners, students work together in a literate community telling stories, listening to tales, discussing others’ ideas, responding to and interpreting their readings, and collaborating on projects.

The single most effective way to instill a love of reading in children is to read aloud to them. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade are read to daily at Wooster. It is an essential part of the Lower School curriculum. The titles are chosen because they are theme-related, deal with issues of substance which provide fuel for a thoughtful discussion, or illustrate well a reading strategy being studied. The read aloud provides an instrumental teaching time when the faculty models reading strategies that the students then incorporate into their own independent reading work. Teachers employ specific reading strategies as students move toward reading proficiency; these include asking questions, making connections, synthesizing information, visualizing, determining importance, making inferences, and repairing comprehension.

Every student is expected to read or be read to nightly. In the primary grades as readers are emerging, teachers confer with the students to choose a book for homework which is at the student's independent reading level. In the upper elementary grades a wide range of nightly reading material is provided and encouraged.

Appropriate grammar concepts, dictionary skills, phonemic awareness, and vocabulary development are woven into the reading curriculum, with the literary works themselves providing context. The focus on these important skills and concepts is on-going and recursive, helping students learn how to read and how to make meaning of what they read.

Writing

In the language-rich environment of the Lower School, writing is respected and engenders students’ respect for peers as authors. Youngsters are encouraged to write about the details of their own lives rather than retelling the popular adventures of superheroes or the romanticized stories they see on television. They are expected to write about their ideas creatively and analytically, always probing for meaning.

Through author and genre studies, students learn to craft their own writing. These experiences heighten their awareness of the power of language. Students at all levels study the works of their classroom authors and listen critically to the voices of the writers.

Students in grades two through five use a Writer's Notebook as a tool for thinking and exploring ideas. The Writer's Notebook is a collection of entries in which students experiment with the writing strategies taught in class and modeled by published authors. This notebook is the source of seed ideas for writing pieces, which are carried through the writing process. The management and complexity of a Writer's Notebook is a developmental progression through the grades.

Revising, editing, and publishing are important stages of the writing process. In revision, students learn to revisit their pieces, looking at them through different lenses. As they edit their work, students are expected to focus on the proper application of grade level writing mechanics. At the end of each writing cycle, student work is published and celebrated.

Word Study

The study of words, word patterns, and generalizations of the English language begins in kindergarten and continues through fifth grade. There is a logical progression of gradually expanding knowledge, which builds upon the strength which students exhibit in the spoken language.

The word study continuum for students in kindergarten and first grade includes lessons in nine different areas of learning: early literacy concepts, phonological awareness, letter knowledge, letter/sound relationships, spelling patterns, high frequency words, word meaning, word structure, and word-solving actions. Classroom teachers provide individual and/or small group instruction during the literacy period of the day as well as during the morning meeting. The ultimate goal of the word study program is achieved when students are able to accurately transfer the knowledge learned during word study lessons to their independent reading and writing. Strong readers and writers are able to apply their knowledge of our language system independently.

Words Their Way by Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, and Johnston is the guiding text for word study in grade two through five. Students examine words, explore their patterns, and reflect on how words are organized. Students are given a collection of words to study and examine each week that illustrates a particular spelling pattern. In addition to these words, the teachers expect each student to work toward mastery of the commonly misspelled words that continue to appear in their writing. At Wooster, these are called Lifetime Words. By second grade students know that spelling should not distract readers from attending to the ideas, questions, and memories which the author is putting on paper. Each child’s spelling should reflect his/her level of literacy and developmental stage.

Handwriting

Wooster students are taught the D'Nealian form of manuscript and cursive writing. Early in the kindergarten year students focus on a variety of pre-writing skills which strengthen fine motor development and the tensile strength in the fingers. Kinesthetic activities which support directionality and the basic handwriting strokes lay a strong foundation for the work done in kindergarten and first grade to produce consistently accurate and proportional letters and numbers. Students are encouraged to use all lowercase letters until they have mastered the appropriate uppercase letters and understand when to utilize them. The 'tails' at the end of the D'Nealian manuscript letters lead easily into cursive which is taught in third grade. Fourth grade is a transition year; students produce about half of their work in cursive. By fifth grade, all written work must be completed in cursive.

Kindergarten

WRITING

Unit One - Writerly Life

Rationale: Students see themselves as authors and believe that they have stories to tell. They learn the rituals and routines of the Writer's Workshop. They choose topics, the emphasis being on true experiences from their own lives, and then draw or write as best they can to make their page match their ideas. Students come to understand that writing can be done through pictures and/or words. They assemble several pages of writing together to create a book.

Unit Two – Everyday Writing

Rationale: Students recognize that writing has a significant place in their everyday life. They recognize that different kids of writing exist in the classroom, the school, their homes, and the world. Students learn that writers write for many different purposes. They explore different types of writing and discover authentic purposes for their own writing: making a birthday card for a friend, writing out a grocery list, placing a sign on a special block structure. Students see that writing serves a purpose and can be used to communicate important ideas.

Unit Three – Personal Narrative

Rationale: Students learn to value the tiny moments of their lives and realize that many of our best stories come from personal experiences. Students create a memory box using concrete objects from home. These objects are tangible reminders of special events or personal experiences. Initially through story telling and eventually using inventive and conventional spelling, the children write their own personal narrative.

Unit Four - Nonfiction

Rationale: Students learn how nonfiction books are different than fiction books. Students learn that nonfiction writing can be used to teach others about the world. Students recognize that they are experts on certain topics. They then write their own "How to Book" that will sequentially describe how to do something.

Unit Five – Revision Study

Students recognize that writing can be changed and improved after a first draft. They recognize that the order of sentences can be shifted to improve the flow of their writing and make their ideas clearer to the reader. Students are encouraged to look for ways to change individual words to better convey their ideas. With support, students talk about ideas within a personal narrative which need more development or would be appropriately omitted.

Unit Six – Author Study

Rationale: Students recognize that they are writers, just like many of their favorite authors. They learn that other writers can help them to become better writers by serving as mentors. Students learn what it means to use a mentor author. Students look closely at the work of Donald Crews and explore how he lives as a writer, what themes he tends to write about, and especially his crafting techniques. Students use this information to write their own pieces and actively try out the crafting techniques of Donald Crews.

Unit Seven - Poetry

Rationale: Students learn that poetry is different from narrative writing in the following ways: rhyming pattern, rhythm, language, structure, and length. Through the exploration of published poems the children begin to notice for themselves the differences between poetry and prose. Students are exposed to a variety of poems and discover that poetry can be about any topic. Students learn about the 3 R’s of poetry: rhyme, rhythm, and repetition. Students write their own poems and practice playing with rhyme, rhythm, repetition, and white space.

Unit Eight – Writing Projects

Rationale: After a year of working and learning as writers, students will have a chance to take all that they have learned and choose their own independent writing project. This reaffirms to the students that they are writers with ideas of their own and gives them the opportunity to imagine and pursue their own writing projects.

READING

Unit One - Developing Good Reading Habits

Rationale: Initially, students learn about the different members of our reading community by sharing their favorite books brought from home. This sharing establishes a strong home-school link and brings the joy of comfort and familiarity to those first days of school. During the initial weeks of school students also learn the routines and rituals of our Reading Workshop. They begin to adopt the habits of good readers even though most are not yet reading conventionally. Students begin to see themselves as "readers" whether they are telling a story through pictures, retelling it from memory, or beginning to decode the words. Students are introduced to the classroom library and learn how to select books as well as how to put them back in the appropriate baskets when finished. Rich, engaging books are read and reread during shared reading. These texts promote a sense of being part of a reading community, help to support concepts of print, demonstrate literary language, support directionality, build phonemic awareness, and, most of all, instill a love of books.

Unit Two - Reading with Pictures and Patterns

Rationale: The students are exposed to many highly predictable Big Books. Students learn to read simple, predictable texts by using their knowledge of the way these books are structured. Students are also exposed to many pattern books and begin to see that once they learn the pattern of the text, they are able to read the whole book. Students understand that pattern books have ideas, words, sentences, or phrases that repeat. Using familiar texts, students learn to look closely at the details in pictures to help them orally retell the story. By looking closely at the details in pictures, and by drawing on what they know of the story structure, children learn to retell a familiar story using their own words. Over time and through repeated exposure to favorite books, students learn to incorporate much of the story's familiar language into their retelling.

Unit Three - Learning the Leveled Library

Rationale: Students learn that books in the kindergarten classroom library are carefully organized in several different ways. In addition to the now familiar "theme" baskets which are organized by author or subject matter, the students learn that there is a part of the classroom library that is organized by the level of text difficulty. The students learn how to use the leveled library to help them find texts that are "just right" for them as a reader. Students learn the specific characteristics which make a particular text "too easy", "too difficult", or "just right". Students preview texts at the end of the reading workshop and self-select the reading material for the following day.

Unit Four - Reading Strategies

Rationale: Students learn various reading strategies to employ when they are struggling in their reading. They take strategies modeling during our shared reading period and use them in their independent reading. Students may be conventionally reading texts or continuing to read familiar, shared texts. Everyone practices strategies for reading difficult text: picture clues, one-to-one voice to print matching, left to right directionality, initial and final consonant sounds.

Unit Five - Focus on Comprehension

Rationale: Students learn that the pictures and the text should support each other or "match". They learn that they can use the pictures to help them figure out unknown text. Students learn that reading should make sense. They are reminded to stop and reread as soon as they become confused by what they have read or realize that the story line no longer makes sense. Students learn that if they are unable to make sense of the story, even if they are able to read all of the words, the text is too difficult for them as a reader.

Unit Six - Partnership Reading.

Rationale: Students learn how to be a good reading partner through explicit teaching of what a good reading partner does and through daily opportunities to practice these ideas in a partnership. Students learn how to sit with a partner, how to take turns choosing books, how to hold a book with a partner, how to decide the manner of reading with a partner, and how to "help" their partner.

Unit Seven - Introducing Book Talk

Rationale: Students learn to talk about books that they are reading with their partner: making comments, sharing ideas, asking questions, making predictions, and expressing connections. This reinforces for children the idea that through shared reading experiences we can think about ideas. During shared reading, teachers model the way readers talk about text, stopping to make connections between texts, between the text and ourselves, or between the text and the world. Students also learn the phrase "I think" and learn the importance of sharing their ideas with others.

Unit Eight - Reflecting and Planning Ahead

Rationale: Students reflect on their reading life throughout the year. They are encouraged to think about their reading skills in September and acknowledge the growth they have made. Students learn to make plans for themselves as readers which will support their need through the summer.

WORD STUDY

Recognizing names

Hearing rhymes

Learning lower and upper case letters

Hearing words in sentences

Hearing syllables

Saying words slowly to hear sounds

Hearing beginning sounds

Using letter sound analysis

Hearing ending sounds

Beginning consonant letters and sounds

Making rhymes

Beginning consonant letters and sounds

Noticing word families

Making new words by changing the first letter

Blending syllables

Hearing and blending onsets and rimes

Learning letter names and sounds

Matching word by word

Hearing middle sounds

Hearing sounds in sequence

Learning simple plurals

Changing first and last letters to make new words

Hearing saying and deleting beginning sounds

Understanding alphabetical order

Learning the initials for names

Recognizing syllables

Using known words to solve new words

1^st Grade

WRITING

Unit One - Living a Writerly Life

Rationale: Students are encouraged to see themselves as writers; people with a story to tell. The goal is for the children to know that the oral stories they tell every day make them writers. Emphasis is placed on the true moments of their lives. Rituals and structures of the Writer's Workshop are a large part of this study as well. Students learn and practice the good habits of writers; good writers choose their own topics, write about what they know, observe the world around them, tell stories by talking, writing, and drawing the best they can, and write a lot.

Unit Two - Writing for Different Purposes

Rationale: In this study, children are exposed to forms of writing other than stories. These different forms depend on the writer's purpose. For example, if you don't like what mom packed you for lunch, a letter would be the best way to express yourself. The class examines how these genres look and sound different. Students come to know that writing does not just happen at writing time. Writing is regarded as part of their whole lives.

Unit Three - Writing Conventions

Rationale: This unit of study focuses on the importance of writing in a way that others can read. This is done mainly through shared classroom texts: poems, big books, and environmental print, interactive writing, and the word study program. The class looks closely at the conventions of writing.

Unit Four- Small Moments

Rationale: In this study, the class considers how writers value the tiny moments from their lives and then make a story out of them. The technique of "zooming in" on the most important part of the event moves children away from their inclination to tell "bed-to-bed" stories. The children are encouraged to bring out their feelings, and by doing so, become more reflective about themselves. Skills that are taught in this study are focus, detail, writing with a sense of story, and identifying and expanding the beginning, middle, and end of the moment. There is ongoing work in hearing and recording sounds, leaving spaces between words, rereading one’s own words, and being a risk-taker with spelling.

Unit Five - Author Study

Rationale: As a writer, it is extremely important to look at other writers and see what they are doing. Students look closely at one writer's life and craft. The ultimate goal is for the students to write using some of the author's crafting techniques in their own writing. At this point in the year, the children are taken through the writing process step-by-step.

Unit Six - Nonfiction

Rationale: This is an important unit of study as it speaks to the many children who thrive on their knowledge of facts. It builds on their natural curiosity about the world. Their eagerness to pose as experts makes this unit very exciting. The children self-select topics of personal interest. They brainstorm topics, organize their knowledge, and research through interviews and books. Students look closely at the text characteristics of nonfiction books. They also study different nonfiction structures and choose one to emulate.

Unit Seven - A Study of Craft

Rationale: The class examines texts to look at different authors' craft. The children learn to examine and describe things in a different way than just "telling like it is".

Unit Eight – Independent Writing Goals

Rationale: This unit expands upon the earlier studies of first grade. The students write a more developed story of an important event, moment, or time in their lives. They consider their strengths as writers and how they would like to improve their writing..

LIFETIME WORDS

after, and, are, before, does, each, for, from, have, how, little, look, make, more, off, one, only, out, put, some, that, then, these, this, want, was, went, which, why, you/your, been, come/came, said, say/says, there, they, use, very/every, were, who/what/when/where/ why, with

READING

Unit One - Building the Habits of Good Readers

Rationale: In this study, the children are becoming reacquainted with the routines of the Reading Workshop. Mini-lessons focus on classroom routines such as book handling, the library system, and conferencing etiquette. The students explore the various habits of good readers through shared reading and read-aloud texts. They then explore themselves as readers and learn to identify too easy, just right, and challenge books. Formal partnerships are formed and the practices of good partnerships identified.

Unit Two - Strategies for Decoding Texts

Rationale: Students learn various print strategies. They practice these strategies as a class as well as in partnerships. The three cueing systems are taught to help the children utilize graphophonics, semantics, and syntax.

Unit Three - Strategies to Scaffold Reading

Rationale: Students are taught their "jobs" as a reader. Through the prereading, during reading, and post-reading study, students are expected to build knowledge about the text so that they may utilize that knowledge for more comprehensive reading.

Unit Four - Retell

Rationale: In this unit of study the students move beyond the emphasis on print strategies and focus on the importance of reading with understanding. Students are also encouraged to attend to the details of the text.

Unit Five - Nonfiction

Rationale: In this unit of study, students have an opportunity to read with peers who share their interest, but may not necessarily be on the same reading level. In reading centers, the children are grouped according to their own interests in order to pursue knowledge about a particular topic. Mini-lessons focus on gaining information about a topic by looking at the text features of nonfiction books and learning how these features support readers' comprehension. These nonfiction reading centers invite collaboration and conversation, which in turn, support thoughtful and active reading.

Unit Six - Building Comprehension by Talking About Books

Rationale: Beginning readers often become absorbed in decoding their texts. This study is a time to work steadily on the other aspect of reading; comprehension. A major focus of this study is to teach the children how to pay attention as they read to yield good conversation and how to then respond to texts. This is done primarily through partnerships and book talk groups. The children become aware of what comprehension is and how to achieve better comprehension.

Unit Seven - Character Study

Rationale: This is an opportunity for the class to focus on one aspect of text. By looking at a character in-depth, the children are able to make deeper connections to their books. The children reflect on how characters are like themselves or like someone they know. This heightened awareness adds a deeper layer to the previous study on comprehension.

Unit Eight - Individual Reading Goals

Rationale: This study is driven primarily by the needs of the students. It gives them a chance to focus on specific skills that are needed, such as fluency, expression, or comprehension. Like the character study, other elements of text may also be considered to enhance the reading skills of the students. This study can be done through reading centers, author studies, or other genres. The students devise a rubric of what makes a good reader and place themselves on the rubric. They then set individual reading goals.

WORD STUDY

Consonant Sorts

Initial and Final Consonants: b, d, f, g, h, j, k, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, y, z

All Short Vowels

Long Vowel (Magic e Patterns)

Short Vowel Phonograms: *ank,, *ink, *unk, *onk

Short Vowel Phonograms: *ing, *ong, *ung, *ang

L Blends: bl, pl, fl, gl, cl

R Blends: br, gr, cr, dr, fr, tr, pr

S Blends: sc, st, sk, sm, sn, sw, sp

Initial Digraphs: ch, sh, th, wh

Final Digraphs: ch, sh, th

Introduce Plurals: s and es

Endings: s, es, ing

Introduce Contractions and "Not Contractions"

Compound and "Not compound Words"

R-Controlled Vowels: er, ir, ur

Introduce R-Controlled Vowels: ar, or

Long a Sound Patterns: ai, ay

Long e Vowel Patterns: ee, ea, e

Long o Vowel Patterns: oa, ow, oe

Triple Blends and Digraphs: scr, shr, spr, squ, str, thr

le-Endings: ble, fle, dle, gle, kle, ple, zle

2^nd Grade

WRITING

Unit One – Introduction to a Writer’s Notebook

Rationale: The students are introduced to the idea that writers use a notebook as a tool to help them better their written word. This tool will hold their ideas for later use. They will continue to use a folder, yet the notebook will take on a life of its own, making ways for them to keep track of and build their thoughts. There is the management and the content of a notebook to consider.

Unit Two- Personal Narrative

Rationale: This unit directly builds on the earlier story telling unit as each writer finds new stories to share. Basic story elements are crucial to this study, while the structure of the piece may vary from the simple beginning, middle, and end, the sophisticated flashback, or a string of small moments in a sequential manner with time influencing each moment. The students experience the stages of the writing cycle for the first time, working together on each stage as a class.

Unit Three: Conventions and Sentence Structure

Rationale: This study gives the students a chance to focus on the conventions of good writing. Therefore, the writers will engage in writing exercises that promote an awareness of basic capitalization, punctuation, and age appropriate grammar.

Unit Four: Nonfiction

Rationale: Non-narrative and nonfiction texts allow students to pursue personal interests and research a nonfiction topic using a variety of strategies. Non-narrative texts give information through story, either personal experience or reliable resources, categorized by one topic with a few main points that support the main idea. The students are able to utilize various aspects of nonfiction texts such as the glossary and table of contents, captions, bold print words, the basics of categorizing information through paragraphs, etc. Illustrations are more of a focus in this study as nonfiction material relies heavily on a variety of diagrams, pictures, charts, and symbols. Each child publishes one piece in either genre. The children revisit and build upon their repertoire of nonfiction characteristics from first grade.

Unit Five: Revision

Rationale: The craft of writing is the cauldron in which the writing is forged. This craft unit will develop the young writers’ critical eye toward their own writing. The idea that writers use craft to make changes will open the world of rereading as a writer and not just a reader. Writers revisit their work by rereading and looking for places in need of change, as well as, trying out strategies in new entries. Mentor texts and student generated texts will be used to identify specific strategies and author intention.

Unit Six: Writing About Reading

Rationale: This study allows the students to gather and utilize prior information about finding the main idea and understory of a text. Linking the reading and writing connection gives the students a chance to demonstrate what they can do with their accumulated knowledge about story and self. They are regularly asked to respond in short jottings and on charts, to locate the main idea, to look for reoccurring themes in their reading. Students are expected to write longer about an idea using examples and specific lines from texts that support their ideas. The students utilize the social action reading unit as an avenue to generate ideas for their writing. The students write with an opinion, and focus on one issue at a time. Students think about their own views of an issue in the world and how it affects who they are.

Unit Seven: Poetry

Rationale: During this study students can focus on the meaning of a piece and not worry about punctuation, capitalization, or length. Structure is fun to explore and yet the writer needs to hear the rhythm of the poem before he/she can add verses and white space. Meaning is at the heart of this study, requiring the writers to stretch their imaginations about topics to record in poetic form. Mentor authors assist the writers with ideas and the strategy of specificity. Strong verbs and succinct phrases are key pieces to poetry which the students try when revising their work. By engaging in poetry centers the students experience poetry from a variety of stances. Some poets use illustration to help create the image while others use rhythm and repetition to write. Students see poetry as a gift of words and help spread the gift to others.

Unit Eight: Writing Project and Setting New Goals

Rationale: This study builds independence in the students. They rely on their past experiences with literature and units of study for project ideas. The project should show stamina, the ability to create new ideas, and manage one's time. A calendar will be used as a way to help the students stay focused and accountable for each stage of this study. The students are being asked to outgrow themselves, accept a challenge, and work independently. The students need to take direction from general mini-lessons and, at times, the students are asked to give a mini-lesson if they used a strategy from a prior unit of study.

WRITING MECHANICS

Capitalization

Titles of works

The pronoun I

First words in a sentence

Personal titles

Proper nouns: people, animals, places, months, days and holidays

Punctuation

Ending marks with declarative sentences, interrogative sentences, exclamations, and imperatives

Commas for items in a series

Underlining of titles

Periods with abbreviated months, days, and titles

Commas in dates, letters, and addresses

Apostrophes with possessives

Grammar and Usage

Regular and irregular plurals

Pronouns of subjects

Agreement of subject and verbs

Run-on sentences

Sentence fragments

Regular and irregular past tense

Order of pronouns

Pronoun use with direct objects

LIFETIME WORDS

been, come/came, said, say/says, there, they, use, very/every, were, what, who/what/when/where/why, with, about, again, animal, any/many, are/our, ask/asked, both, could/would/should, down, feel/felt, gone, great, house, keep, live/ give, myself, none/done, number, once, other, over, sure, time, to/too/two, word, water, where, your/you’re, because, friend

READING

Unit One – Story Elements Build Comprehension

Rationale: At the start of the semester, students are asked to develop a working understanding of their own reading level in order to determine what a 'just right’ text is for them. We review from first grade how to determine a ‘just right’ text. The children set-up reading places for themselves in the classroom and at home. The spaces allow the students to do their best reading; quiet, comfy, free of distractions, and equipped with post-its, pencils, bookmarks, and favorite books. Students review story elements such as setting, scene, character, plot, conflict, and resolution. As a group they identify and label the story elements on charts for our read-aloud and then begin to do the same for their partnership reading. "Say Something" is introduced as a way to respond to text and identify story elements. Students engage in book talks, emphasizing depth of response as the partners work together to identify the story elements as they occur in the book. Body language is an essential part to all conversation. Setting routines and rituals in Readers’ Workshop is important.

Unit Two - Responding to Text Orally

Rationale: Students understand the large variety of responses to texts: retell in multi-levels, prediction, text-to-text, text-to-self, questions, and sometimes an answer. They are not expected to master these ways, simply explore the differences in order to try a range and not just one type of response. As the unit progresses, students are able to label their responses and make short term goals to try different ways of responding. It is important to notice the way characters are similar or different and why texts in a series tend to go the same way in plot and style of story, etc. Students are expected to try a variety of conversation starters: I think, I agree, I disagree, I wonder, I am adding onto, etc. The students move into partnerships and use this knowledge of response on a daily basis in partner book talk.

Unit Three - Responding to Text in Writing

Rationale: The idea of responding to reading in writing was introduced in first grade. Response through Stop and Jot happens on post-it notes and notebook paper. Charts begin once the students are able to jot down meaningful thoughts on a daily and nightly basis. The post-it notes help students hold their thoughts over a period of time. This aids with comprehension and sequencing. Retelling important parts of a chapter is important to later work where students will follow a character's moves or the events in a story. The charts serve a purpose for stronger partnership work and accountability. Partners can see what each other is thinking. If there is a misunderstanding or confusion about a specific part of the story, the readers are expected to return to that passage to reread and discuss the misunderstanding.

Unit Four: Nonfiction Reading

Rationale: In this study, readers become adept at using the table of contents and accustom themselves to skimming over parts that are not of interest or necessary for understanding. Building vocabulary through context is an essential component of this study. The beauty of this genre study is that the partnerships need not be based on reading ability but rather on interest. Two partners can read about the same subject yet in different texts. This way the daily book talk is pertinent to each reader. The readers are still working on building the same reading skill at varying levels.

Unit Five - Character Study

Rationale: Characters change in a text and affect the story and our thinking. In order for a deeper understanding of a character and his/her motives, one must be able to understand why he/she did what he/she did. The students chart notations about the action of a character, wonder why he/she did it, and the reaction to the action. This lifts the level of comprehension and inferential thinking. To walk in a character's shoes means to put aside your own thinking and be that character. There is no disagreeing with the character's motives unless one is discussing how he/she feels as a reader. This is a developmental stage and an introduction to looking at characters in this very grown up way. Students keep track of one character through action and response to other characters. A variety of charts are used: Venn Diagram, U-chart, T-chart, and Time line.

Unit Six - Identifying Social Themes In Texts

Rationale: This is a comprehension unit focusing on social themes or issues in texts. Students learn to identify, label, and follow throughout a book or across multiple books, poems, and songs, major themes or issues that the author writes about. Students reread and examine old texts as well as new ones, paying close attention to the issues with which the characters are dealing in their everyday lives. Students look for issues and themes that run throughout the story and at the actions or events in the story that support or are examples of the issues. Students learn that the issues that the characters in the stories struggle with are issues that may be relevant to their own lives as well.

Unit Seven - Poetry

Rationale: Fluency, meaning, and motion are lively and reactive ways to respond to poetry. Reading the work of a variety of poets aids the readers when discussing a specific poet's work. Students work in small groups, making decisions as to how to manipulate the words in a poem in order to hear the rhythm and poet's voice. Students keep a poetry folder of their work and strategies they may create out of their partnership work. Students have the opportunity to experience poetry through movement, illustration, voice, choral, echo, and repetitive reading.

Unit Eight - Independent Reading Projects

Rationale: Projects are selected and researched by topic or author. These projects are done independently, although the students have a partner. The peer partner aids in a variety of ways: stamina, accountability, idea gathering, and clarity. Each student must present the information in a written form as well as verbally. The projects should be innovative and reflective of newly learned information, such as comparing characters, how series are similar or different, how events effect a story, etc.

WORD STUDY

Review short vowel sounds. Review blends: bl, pl, fl, gl, cl, br, gr, cr, dr, fr, tr, pr, sc, st, sk, sm, sn, sp, sw.

Short a and long a: a_e pattern.

Short e and long e: e_e pattern.

Short i and long i: i_e pattern.

Short o and long o: o_e pattern.

Short u and long u: u_e pattern.

Review initial and final digraphs: ch, sh, wh, th, in long and short vowel words.

Long a sound patterns: ai, ay, ei, a_e.

Long e sound patterns: ee, ea, e_e.

Long i sound patterns: igh, y, i_e.

Long o patterns: oa, ow, o_e.

Long u patterns: ue, ui, u_e.

Short vowel phonograms: an, ap, ack, ank, ash, at, all.

Short vowel phonograms: est, ell, en, et, ent, end.

Short vowel phonograms: ick, ill, in, ing, ink, ip, it.

Short vowel phonograms: ock, op, ot, og.

Short vowel phonograms: uck, ug, ump, unk.

R-controlled vowels: ar, er, ir, or, ur.

Singular and plural nouns with some "irregular" nouns.

Endings: doubled final consonants for ed and ing verbs.

sounds of the ed endings: ed (dated), d (tried), t (mixed).

Contractions.

Compound words.

Vowel diphthongs: oo/moo, oo/book, oy, oi, ew, ui, ow/cow, ou, au, aw, al.

Silent consonants: gn_, kn_, wr_, mb.

Sound-alike endings: _ck, _ke, _k, _ch, _tch, _ge, _dge.

Multi-syllabic words and syllabication work

3^rd Grade

WRITING

Unit One - Launching a Writing Workshop

Rationale: Writers learn the rituals and structures of the Writer's Workshop and learn to experience the joy of thinking of themselves as real writers. They carry their writers’ notebooks with them both at school and at home, allowing them to record entries wherever and whenever they are inspired to do so.

Unit Two - Writing with Focus

Rationale: Using personal narratives as a vehicle, students learn to write with clarity by "zooming in" on the most important parts of their stories. They learn techniques to invite the readers to experience their stories almost as if they were there firsthand, by producing a "snapshot" of a moment in time.

Unit Three - Craft and Conventions

Rationale: Writers explore editing strategies that enable them to enhance their writing. Using a new or previously written piece, students first reread to check for clarity of subject matter, then for truth and structure, finally deciding which revision strategies would be most effective to better their piece of writing.

Unit Four - Historical Fiction

Rationale: In this unit, students will plan, develop, and write a short piece of historical fiction, synthesizing the knowledge gained from reading about colonial times. Using the story elements studied thus far, they will develop characters and make time lines of possible plots.

Unit Five - Memoir

Rationale: Students build upon what they previously learned using various craft techniques to translate the emotions evoked through their remembering to the written page. Writers accomplish this by identifying common characteristics while studying published memoirs, and then by applying these characteristics to a story taken from their own lives.

Unit Six - Poetry

Rationale: The third grade students become a community of poetry lovers, appreciating the beauty of this genre. They understand the differences between poetry and prose, and practice strategies for reading this genre. They learn how to ‘unlock’ a poem and become immersed in many different styles of poetry. They develop mentor authors and notice their craft techniques.

Unit Seven - Nonfiction

Rationale: Students are asked to live like nonfiction writers. They choose a subject of interest to gather observations, details, thoughts, and questions, eventually nurturing their seed idea into a piece of nonfiction writing. While writing, students focus on factual accuracy. Their pieces should have an introduction, complex sentence structure, and be written in paragraph form.

Unit Eight - Realistic Fiction

Rationale: Students learn how to write realistic fiction by reading examples of realistic fiction and examining how the stories are structured. They then apply what they have learned to their own writing, rereading for development of plot and plausibility of storyline.

WRITING MECHANICS

Capitalization

Titles of works

The pronoun I

First words in a sentence and in quotations

Proper nouns: people, animals, places, months, titles of people, days and holidays

Punctuation

Ending marks with declarative sentences, interrogative sentences, and exclamations

Commas for items in a series

Underlining of titles

Periods with abbreviated months, days, and titles

Commas in dates, addresses, introductory material, and with quotations

Quotation marks with direct quotations, and titles

Periods with initials

Grammar and Usage

Agreement of subject and verbs

Run-on sentences

Sentence fragments

Regular past tense

Order of pronouns

Articles a vs. an, the vs. a/an

Double negatives

Pronouns: possessive vs. contractions

LIFETIME WORDS

because, friend, a lot, above, across, almost , also, always, among, another, answer, anyone/anything, author, believe, change, days of the week, dear, during, easy, else, excited, favorite, grade, laugh, lesson, minute/hour, outside, people, please, poetry, pretty, prove, really, school, seasons: winter, spring, summer, fall, sometime, special, together, terrible, walk/talk, trouble, until, wear, beautiful, everyone/everything/everybody, something, though

they’re/their/there

READING

Unit One - Living the Readerly Life

Rationale: Students learn the routines and expectations of the Readers' Workshop as well as learn ways to develop more stamina as they read. They learn how to give an effective retell, concentrating on the main ideas of the story, and also become more comfortable with participating in book talks.

Unit Two - Reading for Meaning

Rationale: Students are taught to see themes, concepts, and patterns within a book, as well as to develop theories about books. They make multiple connections while reading such as text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world. Students learn how to delve more deeply into a story, stretching their talk during read aloud and when conversing with their partners.

Unit Three - Responding to Texts

Rationale: Students further develop the skills necessary to talk, think, and write well about books. They develop and follow a single theory about the stories they are reading, and learn additional ways to think and respond to texts, such as using “above ground/below ground” charts. In addition, students begin to write responses in their reading response journals.

Unit Four - Historical Fiction

Rationale: During the study of Colonial America, students learn strategies of reading historical fiction and nonfiction to find information and understand the historical roots of Americans. They build on their knowledge of story and character from previous units, now noticing the impact of the historical events of the time.

Unit Five - Inference and Analysis

Rationale: Students build on their character work from previous years, now taking their thinking to a deeper level. They analyze character traits, actions, and motivation. They discuss and write about complex relationships between characters. They make personal connections and try to empathize with a character to deepen their comprehension. They notice character change and how this may portray the “life lessons” of the book.

Unit Six - Poetry

Unit Seven - Human Struggle and Conflict

Rationale: Students broaden their ability to think deeply about texts and become aware of some of the conflicts of our historical past. We turn our thinking to the experiences of people from different cultures. Through a wide variety of picture books, chapter books, and poetry, students gain an understanding of human struggle and the fight for fairness and freedom. We use this lens to widen the students’ comprehension of the big ideas in a text.

Unit Eight - Planning Our Summer Reading

Rationale: Students look back over the year, noting new series, authors, or genres they have explored. They listen to recommendations of their classmates during group sharing in order to plan their summer reading goals.

WORD STUDY

Short u Phonograms: uck, ug, ump, unk

Endings: Doubled Final Consonants and "Other" ed and ing verbs

Nouns: Singular, Plural, and Some "Irregular" Plural Nouns

Contractions and "Not Contractions"

Compound and "Not Compound" Words

Contractions and Compound Words

Long a Sound Patterns: ai, ay, ei

Long e Vowel Patterns: ee, ea, e, ie

Long i Vowel Patterns: igh, y, i with 2 Consonants

Long o Vowel Patterns: oa, ow, o with 2 Consonants

Long u Vowel Patterns: ue, ui, u_e

Vowel Dipthongs: ea. ew. oo (moo), oo (book), oy, oi, ow (cow), ow (show), ou, ow, au, aw, al

Triple Blends and Digraphs: scr, shr, spl, spr, squ, str, thr

Sound-Alike Endings: _ck, _ke, _k, _ch, _tch, _ge, _dge

Silent Consonants: gn, kn, wr, mb

Sounds of the ed Ending: ed (dated), d (tried), t (mixed)

Homophones with Short Vowel Sounds

Homophones with Long Vowel Sounds

Contractions by Families

Doubling the Final Consonant in CVC Words When Adding ed and ing

4^th Grade

WRITING

Unit One - Writerly Life

Rationale: The students reestablish their knowledge of the Writer’s Workshop and the use of a writer’s notebook. They also become familiar with the quality and quantity of writing expected in fourth grade. Writing mechanics are emphasized more heavily in the fourth grade curriculum.

Unit Two - Letter Writing

Rationale: During this unit the students use a variety of mentor texts to rediscover the wonders and complexity of letter writing. They learn the difference between a friendly letter and a business letter as well as the components of each. They compose one or more cohesive letter(s) incorporating the proper format.

Unit Three - Reports

Rationale: In this study students build upon their knowledge of non-narrative writing by adding research within their theme of Simple and Complex Machines. They practice their research skills, build upon their knowledge of the components of a paragraph, and increase their understanding of presenting an opinion with supporting facts. These skills are demonstrated through the writing of a report on a particular inventor.

Unit Four - Historical Fiction

Rationale: During the study of Westward Expansion, students compile a travel diary written from the point of view of a pioneer on the westward frontier. They use this diary as the basis to develop a more detailed piece of historical fiction. The students read a variety of mentor texts to understand the time period and the genre of historical fiction.

Unit Five - Nonfiction

Rationale: Students build upon their prior work in Writer’s Workshop to assist them in composing a nonfiction piece based on their individual interests. Students gather information from a variety of sources and then organize the information into clear paragraphs. Students begin to understand that a writer chooses not only his/her topic, but the lens through which he/she presents the information.

Unit Six- Poetry

Rationale: During this unit the students are exposed to a wide variety of poetry to assist them in their exploration of writing poetry. They use mentor texts to discover the joy and ease in which poetry can be written. The students use their prior knowledge of word usage, punctuation, metaphor, and simile to compose poetry.

Unit Seven - Study of Fiction/Fantasy

Rationale: Students are introduced to this genre through a variety of sources and mentor texts such as myth and fairy tales. Students think deeply as they develop characters, points of view, and setting. Sentence structure becomes increasingly more complex for students and they must apply more complex punctuation as well.

Unit Eight - Writing Project

Rationale: The students reflect on the fourth grade Writer’s Workshop and develop an independent written piece from collecting seed ideas through publication.

WRITING MECHANICS

Capitalization

Titles of works

The pronoun I

First words in a sentence and in quotations

Proper nouns: people, animals, places, months, titles of people, days and holidays

Proper nouns: organizations, religions, languages, and nationalities

Punctuation

Ending marks with declarative sentences, interrogative sentences, and exclamations

Commas for items in a series

Underlining of titles

Periods with abbreviated months, days, and titles

Commas in dates, addresses, introductory material, and with quotations

Quotation marks with direct quotations, and titles

Periods with initials

Commas with coordinating conjunctions

End marks with imperatives

Grammar and Usage

Articles a vs. an, the vs. a/an

Double negatives

Agreement of subject and verbs

Run-on sentences

Sentence fragments

Regular past tense

Pronouns: possessive vs. contractions

Order of pronouns

Irregular past tense

Helping verbs with present participles

Irregular plurals

Double comparison

LIFETIME WORDS

beautiful, everyone/everything/everybody, something, thought, they’re/their/there, activity, address, along, already, although, altogether, another, between, birthday, carefully, children, daily, details, develop, early, enough, guess, heart, instead, interest, language, library, months of the year, morning, necessary, novel, often, picture, practice, probably, promise, quarter/half, question, receive, remember, respect, sentence, suppose, several, surprise, silence, special/ especially, usual/ usually/unusual

READING

Unit One - Readerly Life

Rationale: The students reestablish the reading skills of posting, journaling, and applying various reading strategies. They review and build upon their skills in conducting a good book talk within a large group, small group, and partnership format. They build upon their knowledge and use of these skills as the Readers’ Workshop format is established at the fourth grade level.

Unit Two – Responding to Literature

Rationale: Responding to the texts heard during read-aloud and those read independently builds deeper comprehension and supports comprehension strategies. Students are expected to respond to the texts both orally and in written form. Activating background knowledge, students articulate connections with the text: text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world.

Unit Three - Nonfiction

Rationale: Students explore a variety of nonfiction texts. They learn to use the various text features to gain information. They begin to strengthen skills, such as highlighting important information, skimming/scanning for relevant information, outlining, and using the text to locate supporting details for authors’ point of view. These skills are introduced within the classroom and in library class to aid in this investigation.

Unit Four - Building Comprehension

Rationale: The students continue to expand upon their knowledge of how a literature circle is established and run. Students will learn questioning strategies to assist in sustaining an in-depth discussion on a given text. They establish a challenging reading plan for each group member, choosing an effective charting/journaling system to assist in their comprehension of text as well as further their discussions. Students understand and use literature circle roles to assist in the progression of their discussion and to uncover the author’s main idea. In addition, students continue to recognize the importance of being a responsible member of a Literature Circle and coming prepared to each group meeting to ensure group success.

Unit Five - Biographies

Rationale: During the thematic unit of Simple Machines, the students begin an investigation of the genre of biography. The students will learn and utilize a variety of strategies for reading nonfiction: highlighting, posting, identifying paragraph main ideas, summarizing, and skimming/scanning. Students investigate the impact of inventors’ discoveries of yesterday on their lives today through this biography study.

Unit Six - Poetry

Rationale: During this study the students are immersed in a wide variety of poetry from classical to contemporary. They learn to identify different styles of poetry by the writers’ use of words, punctuation, spacing, and word position. Students also begin to understand the use and impact of simile and metaphor.

Unit Seven - Story Elements

Rationale: During this unit of study the students learn strategies to locate the story elements within a given text and understand the significance each has to the development of the plot of the text. They read a variety of texts within the genres of mythology and fairy tales to aid in their investigation of story elements.

Unit Eight - Planning for Summer Reading

Rationale: Students will reflect upon the fourth grade Readers’ Workshop to plan their individual summer reading goals and objectives. As a class, students review strategies covered throughout the year and each student selects a way in which he/she will respond to the texts. Each student ends the year with a concrete plan for summer reading success.

WORD STUDY

Homophones with long and short vowels

Two and three syllable compound words

Contractions

Doubling the final consonant in CVC words when adding ed and ing

Dropping the final e when adding ed and ing

Doubling final consonant and e-drop when adding ed and ing

Adding s and es to form plurals

Adding s, es and changing y to i to form plurals

Long a vowel pattern ai, ay, a

Long e vowel pattern ie, ee, ea, e

Long i vowel pattern i, y

Long o vowel pattern o, oa

Long u vowel pattern u, ue, ew, eu

Common Prefixes: dis, fore, en, in, mis, pre, un, re

Common Suffixes: er, est, ful, less, ness, ly

Common prefixes and suffixes combined

Final K variations: que, k, ck, ke

Dipthongs: ou, oi, oy

Greek Roots

5^th Grade

WRITING

Unit One - Launching the Writer’s Workshop

Rationale: This unit of study is used to set the tone and establish teacher, self, and peer guidelines and expectations for the Writer’s Workshop. Students learn routines and expectations and understand their roles during mini-lessons, writing time, and conferences. They are expected to implement short-term goals quickly and to sustain attention to the Writer’s Workshop.

Unit Two - Historical Fiction

Rationale: Students are asked to put the pieces of their social studies learning together with their creative writing to create a short story. This piece will also reflect the elements studied in the reading unit on historical fiction.

Unit Three- Persuasive Writing

Rationale: Students write persuasive pieces about topics which they feel strongly about and/or topics for which they originally held no opinion. Students learn that words can be used to steer people’s thinking. They learn about nuances of word choice. The goal is for the student to be able to write persuasively on any given topic appropriate for their grade, age, and level of ability.

Unit Four – Parody

Rationale: Students learn to look at published work critically in order to create a parody. This unit continues to move students towards being able to write with focus and point of view. Non-

Unit Five – Classical Tales

Rationale: Students apply all that they have learned about story elements to create their own classical tales. They consider how the text elements work together to create meaning for the reader. Developing a plan for their writing is a key step in this process.

Unit Six – Poetry

Rationale: Students read various types of poems and identify and imitate a poet’s style. This practice leads to the incorporation of some of the poet’s teachings into their own writing of poems.

Unit Seven – Expository

Rationale: Students learn the importance of research and organization in their writing. Every child wants to know more about something. Each child will have an opportunity to pursue one particular line of inquiry. They then learn to “talk back” to the facts they have collected so that their piece is a balance of information and reflection.

Unit Eight – Writing Projects

Rationale: Students reflect on units covered during the year and write creatively incorporating skills learned.

WRITING MECHANICS

Capitalization

Titles of works

The pronoun I

First words in a sentence and in quotations

Proper nouns: people, animals, places, months, titles of people, days and holidays

Proper nouns: organizations, religions, languages, and nationalities

Proper nouns: family relations, regions

Punctuation

Ending marks with declarative and interrogative sentences, and exclamations

Commas for items in a series

Underlining of titles

Periods with abbreviated months, days, and titles

Commas in dates, addresses, introductory material, and with quotations

Quotation marks with direct quotations and titles

Periods with initials

Commas with coordinating conjunctions

End marks with imperatives

Hyphens with divided numbers

Colons between hours and minutes

Grammar and Usage

Articles a vs. an, the vs. a/an

Double negatives

Agreement of subject and verbs

Run-on sentences

Sentence fragments

Regular past tense

Pronouns: possessive vs. contractions

Order of pronouns

Irregular past tense

Helping verbs with present participles and past participles

Irregular plurals

Double comparison

Adjectives: them vs. those

Comparison: superlative degree, irregular

Agreement with subjects in unusual positions

LIFETIME WORDS

addition/subtraction/division/multiplication, all right, America, angle/angel, anxious/anxiety, bicycle, cereal, character/characteristic, chocolate, clothes, Connecticut, culture, country, decide/decision, describe/description, directions, disease, double, education, example, experience, familiar, height/weight, history/historical, hospital, imagine, mathematics, medicine, mystery, nuisance, occasionally, ordinal numbers, probably, purpose, quit/quite/quiet, religion, restaurant, scissors, separate, significant, similar, spaghetti, straight, strength/strengthen, surround, thorough/through, tomorrow/yesterday, tonight, vegetables, young

READING

Unit One – Deepening Comprehension

Rationale: Students look beyond the literal interpretation and investigate the written word for author intent and inference. As they respond to text, students are asked to consider the purpose of the text and its essential features.

Unit Two – Historical Fiction

Rationale: Through the critical reading of historical fiction, students learn that they can expand their understanding of factual history with a fictional perspective.

Unit Three – Essays

Rationale: Essays are a demanding form of non-fiction reading. Fifth graders must think critically as they read. In order to glean most richly from an essay, they must be familiar with the form. Essay readers must understand author’s style, thesis, and rhetorical strategies..

Unit Four – Science Fiction

Rationale: Fifth graders are ready to discriminate among the many types of fiction. After defining a genre, they are able to read for support of the classification. They continue to consider story elements within each text read.

Unit Five – Fantasy

Rationale: Fantasy provides a wonderful vehicle to continue to explore themes within texts and interpret authors’ messages. Dramatic characters, action-filled plots, and fantastic situations hold the reader’s attention. Within this study, students further develop their ability to analyze and interpret text.

Unit Six - Poetry

Rationale: Fifth graders recite poetry weekly. They are exposed to the classics appropriate to their age and comprehension. Realizing there is poetry beyond childhood favorites, students extend their repertoire. They apply their analysis of daily quotations by applying their knowledge of literal and figurative meaning to poems. Students learn to dissect poems.

Unit Seven – Mysteries

Rationale: Fifth graders love puzzles. They love solving mysteries. As readers they are ready to apply the higher level thinking skills necessary for solving mysteries. This genre allows them to read for entertainment and fully involves them in reading critically to predict the outcome before the story's final AHA! moment. Building on students' innate curiosity and need to know, mysteries require discrimination. What's important to the solution of the story? What is not? Too, the endings give the fairness-minded fifth graders a sense of just deserts.

Unit Eight - Short Stories

Rationale: All of the elements necessary for a great story are heightened in the writing of a short story. Students will learn to immerse themselves in a story in order to analyze and later evaluate the characters, conflicts, and events of the story. As a reader, it is essential to understand the dimensionality of characters to fully appreciate their stories. Students will read numerous selections, contrasting and comparing themes, characters, settings, and plots.

WORD STUDY

Homophone Pairs and Not Homophone Pairs

Two and Three-Syllable Compound Words

Contractions by Families

Contractions and Compound Words

"Ed" and "Ing"

Doubling the Final Consonant in CVC Words when adding "Ed" and "Ing"

Dropping the Final "E" when adding "Ed" and "Ing"

Doubling the Final Consonant and E-Drop when adding "Ed" and "Ing"

Introduction to Prefixes

Common Prefixes: mis, pre, re, un

Common Suffixes: er, est, ful, less

Common Suffixes: ly, ness, y

Adding "able" And "ible" to Base and Root Words

Adding "ion" and "sion" to "se" and "te" Endings

Adding "able" to Base Words ending in "e, "ate", or "y"

Doubling the Final Consonant in Multisyllabic Words when adding "ing"

Adding Prefixes: anti, auto, cata, circum

Adding Prefixes: inter, intra, mal, peri,

Using Common Greek Root Words I: aer, arch, aster, bio, centr, chron

Using Common Greek Root Words II: graph, hydr, ology, meter, micro, phon

Using Common Latin Root Words I: aud, bene, cap, cide

Using Common Latin Root Words II: lit, loc, man, mem, miss, mob

Using Common Latin Root Words III: numer, ped, pens, port, pos, prim

Using Common Latin Root Words IV: quer, scrib, sent, sist, spec, tain

Prepositions: Their Role and their use as First Words in Sentence, Necessitating a Complex Sentence Structure.

I Before E Rule and Words

More Homophones

Onomatopoeic Words

Portmanteau Words

Words with double consonants in the middle

Abbreviations

Middle School

In recognition of the importance of language to every academic endeavor, Wooster commits extra time to the study of English/Language Arts in the Middle School. This extra time allows young readers and writers to improve their understanding of literature, develop interest in the written word, and sharpen their expressive talents.

English 6

Reading and writing skills are emphasized in workshops in which grammar and vocabulary are also highlighted. Course literature is selected for its appropriateness, interest, and relevancy for this age group. Central themes include quests, journeys, and the search for self. Students engage in the writing process, taking informal writing to the level of formal composition in a variety of forms including memoir, literary essay, book review, short story, and poetry. Students are encouraged to express their meanings clearly, effectively, and honestly.

English 7

Extensive instruction and practice in the basic skills of reading writing, speaking, and listening are stressed in this course. Students read both assigned and self-selected literature as they explore techniques and tools appropriate to insightful and critical reading. The themes in the assigned novels include social justice and self-discovery. Seventh graders write frequently, drawing upon their analytic and creative skills in order to write stories, poems, and personal reflections. Students' understanding of language is enhanced through the study of grammar, vocabulary, and classical roots.

English 8

In this course, eighth graders will listen actively, speak concisely, read reflectively, and write succinctly at escalating levels of sophistication on assorted topics. Learners will apply elements of the writer's craft to their work, and they will revise and edit their own writing. Across a multicultural language arts curriculum, their teacher will promote, develop, and emphasize critical thinking and a lifelong love of language. Ultimately, learners will create and present original, structured, and supported essays and persuasive oral arguments.

6^t^h Grade

6^TH GRADE ENGLISH

READING

The Cay by Theodore Taylor

One of the following: Ender's Game, The White Mountains, The Wanderer, Walk Two Moons, Bud, Not Buddy, Julie of the Wolves, The Stowaway, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Call of the Wild, The Golden Compass, Dicey's Song

Seven young adult books

Dogsong by Gary Paulsen

"For the Love of the Game" by Eloise Greenfield

Various models for memoir including: "One Morning in May," "I'm in Charge of Celebrations," from Bad Boy

Poetry including: "Mother to Son" Langston Hughes, "The Pig" Valerie Worth, "Rain on a Cottage Roof" Freda Laughton, "Mushrooms" Sylvia Plath, "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass" Emily Dickinson, "The Bat" Theodore Roethke, "in Just-" ee cummings

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin

LITERARY DEVICES

Character

Figurative language including: simile, metaphor, personification

Sound effects including: alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyme, rhythm

Elements of structure including: stanza, refrain

Images

Internal conflict / external conflict

Man vs. self, man vs. man

STRATEGIES

Post-iting responses

Using a dictionary and context clues to find the meaning of unfamiliar words

Annotating a reading

Annotating interpretive comprehension of text

Learning vocabulary in context

WRITING

Essay

Character analysis

Analytical essay

Book review

Writer's notebook entry: writing off of a quote from a novel

Memoir: nonfiction personal narrative essay including the writer's response to a focused topic

Poems

GRAMMAR

Simple subject, simple predicate

Complete subject, complete predicate

Compound Subject / Compound Predicate

Identifying the following sentence types and correcting errors: Simple Sentences, Fragments, Compound Sentences, Run-on sentences

Parts of speech:

Nouns: Concrete / Abstract, Common / Proper

Pronouns

Adjectives

Verbs: Action, State of being, Linking, Helping

Adverbs

Prepositions

Conjunctions

Interjections

PROCESS

Prewriting: researching your theory in the book, listing evidence

Proofreading marks (insert period, insert comma, spelling, use lower case, capitalize, delete, paragraph)

Outlining

Peer editing / Proofreading

Preparing an outline for a test essay

Gathering notebook entries

Selecting a "seed," a focused topic

Writing entries off the seed, rehearsing techniques

Selecting a structure, planning

Drafting

Peer editing / Writing Workshops

Revision including: leads, clarity, completeness, cohesiveness, recognizing and expanding on strengths

Editing: spelling, punctuation, capitalization, avoiding needless repetition, sentence structure

STYLE/FORM

Writing a thesis statement (a "theory")

Using examples and explanation to support the theory

Narrative techniques:

writing to the five senses

dialogue

simile and metaphor

moving between what happened and your thoughts and feelings

stretching out some moments, fast forwarding through others;

comparison to other situations

SPEAKING

“Letting the stone sink deeper:” Follow-up questions, paraphrasing, responding to one another's ideas

Using evidence from the text to support ideas

Optional oral presentations on reading

Memoir Workshops: reading memoirs aloud and giving constructive criticism. Supporting opinions with examples.

Reading and workshopping original poems.

LISTENING

Active Listening: body language, paraphrasing,

Asking follow-up questions

Garrison Keillor "New Years from New York"

WRITING MECHANICS

Review: Using capital letters (proper nouns, sentences)

Writing titles: book titles, essay titles

Paragraphing

Quotation marks with divided quotations, questions and exclamations

Verb agreement with subject in unusual places

Contractions vs. possessives

Ending marks with declarative and interrogative sentences, exclamations, and imperatives

Underlining of titles

Use of commas with coordinating conjunctions

Quotation marks with direct quotations and titles

Apostrophes with possessives

Semicolons in compound sentences

Irregular plurals

MLA format for parenthetical citation

Semicolon or comma and coordinating conjunction used to join independent clauses (sentences) in a compound sentence

7^th Grade

7^TH GRADE ENGLISH

OBJECTIVES

Students will develop strategies to improve reading comprehension

Students will develop the ability to interpret and analyze literature in depth

Students will develop an understanding of and appreciation for various forms of literature

Students will compose expository essays which successfully analyze textual evidence

Students will compose creative and personal writing pieces

Students will use process writing to improve the quality of their pieces

Students will develop an understanding of writing conventions through the study of English grammar

Students will expand vocabulary through meaningful word study

Students will develop oral expressive skills and contribute positively to class discussions

Students will be active listeners who can identify key points

Students will understand more about their own reading tastes and levels by learning to select their own literature

READING:

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (summer reading)

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

Poems by Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Coatsworth, William Blake, Alice Walker, Dylan Thomas,

Lewis Carroll, and Sara Teasdale.

READING STRATEGIES

How to monitor one's own comprehension

"Fix-up strategies" when comprehension breaks down

Comprehension aids (underlining, highlighting, using Post-It notes)

WRITING

Essays on independent choice books: book critique, selection and discussion of theme, concise summary

Expository essays on Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird

Reading responses

Memoir/personal essay

Group newspaper project

Original short story

Poems

Two short descriptive pieces: establishing mood in a description

Characterization project based on a character in A Midsummer Night's Dream

STYLE/FORM & PROCESS

Writing self-evaluation

Writing territories (topics available to student)

Interviewing and note taking techniques

Writing a catchy lead/introduction

Varying sentence structures

Selecting a good memoir topic

Techniques for starting a memoir

Word choice: avoiding intensifiers

Avoiding clichés

Using a thesaurus

How to have a good peer conference

Developing character in a story

Correct form for dialogue

Moving along the plot- climax and resolution

Active and passive voice

Choosing a title

Metaphor, simile, alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, rhyme scheme, limericks

Avoiding wordiness

How to revise a poem

Commonly confused words

Using strong verbs

Using apostrophes

Editing marks

Developing a thesis statement

Understanding the form for a five-paragraph essay

Learning how to quote and cite a passage from a book

Learning the importance of specific examples in an essay

VOCABULARY:

Vocabulary from Classical Roots

GRAMMAR

Nouns—concrete and abstract, common and proper

Pronouns—correct use of subject and object pronouns

Verbs—action and linking

Subjects and predicates

Adjectives

Adverbs

Conjunctions

Prepositions

Interjections

Difference between phrases and clauses

Independent (main) clauses and dependent (subordinate) clauses

Sentence Types: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex

Fragments and run-on sentences

Use of commas and semi-colons in compound sentences

Emphasis on how students can use their knowledge of sentence types to improve their own writing

SPEAKING

Reading/performing A Midsummer Night's Dream in class

Participating in class discussions about literature

8^th Grade

8^TH GRADE ENGLISH

READING

Fever, Laurie Halse Andersen

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith

A Separate Peace, John Knowles

Short Stories: A Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allen Poe; The Sniper, Liam O’Flaherty; The Day I Got Lost, Isaac Bashevis Singer; Sucker, Carson McCullers; A Telephone Call, Dorothy Parker

Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare

Lord of the Flies, William Golding

Poetry from the Prentice Hall Literature Book

Inherit the Wind, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde

Animal Farm, George Orwell

WRITING:

Response or Journal entry from character's point of view - Fever

Short Story

Compare/Contrast Essay

Our Essays on readings with quotations

Shakespeare Project

Sonnets

Poetry Project/analysis on Poet of choice

Poetry portfolio

Position Paper (creationism vs. evolution)

Debate notes

Research Paper

Portfolio Evaluation

LITERARY TERMS:

alliteration, allusion, analogy, antagonist, antithesis, aside, blank verse, cause/effect, character, characterization, chronological structure, climax, comedy, compare/contrast, conflict, dialogue, dramatic irony, epic poetry, explication, exposition, fairy tale, falling action, first person, foreshadowing, hero, iam, iambic pentameter, image, imagery, irony, lyric poetry, man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self, man vs. society, metaphor, meter, monologue, mood, narrative poetry, narrative, onomatopoeia, ornate language, oxymoron, personification, plot, point of view, propaganda, pun, reflection, refrain, resolution, rhyme scheme, rhyme, rhythm, rising action, setting, showing rather than telling, simile, situational irony, social satire, soliloquy, stanza, stereotype, structure of novel, structure, suspense, symbol, theme, thesis, third person, tone, tragedy, tragic figure, trochee, verbal irony, wit,

VOCABULARY:

Vocabulary Workbook

Words drawn from context of texts read

GRAMMAR AND USAGE:

Parts of Speech Review (nouns (common/proper/plural/abstract/concrete) pronouns, adjectives, proper adjectives, verbs, linking/helping verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections)

Sentence Workshops - recognizing, avoiding/revising run-on sentences, fragments; combining sentences by using phrases, but or or; revising stringy

sentences or wordy sentences

Sentence Structures – simple & compound sentences; complex and compound-complex sentences

Paragraphs - unity, coherence, using description & narration, using comparison/contrast and evaluation

Punctuation - End marks, abbreviations, commas, series, compound sentences, with interrupters, set off opposites, appositive phrases, direct

address, parenthetical expressions, introductory words and phrases, clauses, dates, addresses and friendly letters, colons, semi-colons, underlining/italics, quotation marks, apostrophes, contraction

Spelling - Dictionary skills, spelling rules, prefixes, suffixes, plurals of nouns, commonly misspelled words

Agreement - all, any, most, none and some, compound subjects, collective nouns, verb agreement

Verbs - regular, irregular, tense, active and passive voices, lie and lay, sit and set and rise and raise

Pronoun Review - case, nominative case, pronouns as direct objects, indirect objects and objects of prepositions, who and whom, appositives and incomplete constructions

Fragments, subordinate clause fragments, run-ons, combining sentences, improving style, varying beginnings

Subject complement, objects, classifying sentences by purpose

Persuading Others - letter, thinking about the model, prewriting, writing, evaluating and revising

The Phrase - prepositional , adjective, adverb, participle, participial, gerund, infinitive, appositive phrases

The Clause - independent, subordinate, adjective, adverb, noun clauses

WRITING PROCESS

Pre-writing, brainstorming, journaling, free-writing, clustering, asking questions, arranging ideas, drafting, evaluating and revising, proofreading, publishing)

Planning a composition, outlines, introductions, conclusions

Editing Practice

Correcting paragraphs, sentences, letters and essays

Peer editing

SPEAKING

Scene interpretations

Poetry read-around

Poetry Presentation

Shakespeare Soliloquy Memorization

Debate - Creationism vs. Evolution

Upper School

The English department strives to develop the students' confidence and competence in using language in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The study of literature, including an annual study of a Shakespearean play, is central to the English curriculum. Writing provides the major, but not exclusive, arena for student performance and learning. The department not only emphasizes the development of analytical and critical intelligence, but also nurtures imaginative and intuitive modes of thought. Required summer reading and continued attention to study skills are important parts of the program.

English 9

Ninth graders concentrate on world literature in many forms including novels, short stories, poetry, drama, and mythology drawn from Roman, Greek, Hebrew, and Judeo-Christian sources. Students focus on character motivations, plot devices, and literary terms. Students analyze the relevance of the classics to our lives today, and work to refine their own writing styles with attention to clarity within sentences, paragraphs, and essays.

English 10

Beginning with the summer reading, tenth grade students engage in a survey of multicultural literature. Students examine both the literary craft and style of these works as well as the themes they generate. Critical thinking is stimulated by student consideration of tone, mood, and style. Students frame their responses to the literature into coherent oral and written presentations. Accordingly, students continue to develop their writing skills by studying vocabulary, grammar, diction, detail, and structure. Moreover, students employ a variety of techniques to develop control over essay forms. Students receive training and experience using electronic and printed sources for research.

English 11

The primary purpose of this course is to provide knowledge of and promote appreciation for American literature and culture. Another goal is to help students to develop the skills involved in literary interpretation and analysis. The course will include a chronological survey of American novels, poetry, stories, and essays. Students examine the development and changes in America's perspective of important themes when confronted by Puritanism, Rationalism, the Frontier, Transcendentalism, Realism and Modernism. Eleventh graders study Hamlet.

English 12

Senior English develops analytical and critical skills, fosters competent expository and persuasive writing, nurtures critical and constructive intelligence, and stimulates moral reflection. Response to literature constitutes the primary but not exclusive work required. The course is thematically organized and based on the reading of various forms of literature from several historical periods.

Advanced Placement (AP) English

Students enrolled in AP English must commit to taking the AP examination in May and accept full responsibility for a larger and more demanding workload than is entailed in a regular English course. Some Saturday classes may be required. The grade 11 course is based on the 11th grade English curriculum and prepares the students to take the Language and Composition AP examination; the grade 12 course is based on the 12th grade English curriculum and prepares the students to take the Literature and Composition AP examination.

ELECTIVES AVAILABLE TO 10TH-12TH GRADERS:

SHAKESPEARE ELECTIVE

This course will look at the life, times, and literature of William Shakespeare. In addition to our examination of the literary and thematic content of plays and sonnets, we will also explore a number of ways Shakespeare's plays have been adapted to the contemporary scene. Our survey of his drama will include one comedy, one tragedy, and one history. The plays will provide surprising variations on the themes of manhood, womanhood, freedom, virtue, royalty, war, love, and cynicism.

Reading:

Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, Troilus and Cressida, and Selected Sonnets

Language devices:

Oxymorons, Types of Irony, Genre study, Scansion

Writing :

Sonnets

Some research on the Elizabethan Period

Expository writing to include

Comparisons

Character study

Plot analysis

Project on relevancy of Shakespeare to our times.

POETRY ELECTIVE

The design of poetry has changed over the centuries more radically than any other written genre. This course will examine the roots of these designs in the past as well as their sundry manifestations in the present. Students will be asked to complete a selection of independent projects including the presentation to the class of a contemporary writer, the production of their own poetry, and the explication of an established poet's works.

Reading:

Introduction to poetry

The Top 500 poems

Poetry 180

Poetic devices:

Sound and image devices

Rhythmic devices

Shape

Rhyme scheme

Scansion

Writing:

Poetry

Expository essays

Comparative analysis

Two major projects and one public presentation

Study of an established poet

Study of an unestablished poet

Presentation of our own works

CREATIVE WRITING ELECTIVE

In this semester-long workshop, primarily devoted to student writing, participants will produce, read, discuss, and revise stories and poems. Students will strive for high productivity as well as explore various points-of-view, structures and elements of style. Instruction in creative writing will be augmented by readings of essays on the craft of writing, short stories, and poems by modern and contemporary authors.

Reading:

Selected essays

Selected short stories

Selected poems

Writing:

Students write everyday.

The semester culminates with two short fiction works (including one realistic fiction piece) and assorted poems. Final written work must meet publication standards for submission into a Wooster School publication.

THE LITERATURE OF WAR

War, as old as humankind, calls forth some of our greatest virtues - courage, loyalty, mercy, humility. It also reveals our capacity for cruelty, vindictiveness, and brutality. Since the beginnings of western literature, war has been richly represented. After reading selected classical and modern literature, each student will use both print and electronic resources to research and plan an individual course of reading and viewing that will reflect her/his particular historical and literary interests. Class work will consist of student presentations based on individual reading/viewing and discussions led by students. Throughout the course, attention will be paid to the representations, verbal and visual, of the wars, large and small, currently destroying the peace of the world.

LITERATURE OF THE SPIRIT

Frederick Buechner has said that "The word spirit has come to mean something pale and shapeless like an unmade bed.” James Baldwin wrote, "It is one of the greatest impulses of mankind to arrive at something higher than a natural state." Perhaps spirit is in T. S. Eliot's "still point in the turning world" or in the formula spirit = breath = life. This course will explore the representation of spirit within the Western tradition with an emphasis on modern and contemporary literature and film. It will test the idea that spirit rightly understood is "a release from the isolation of egotism, a passion for justice and an invincible conviction that hope and joy can be at home in this universe," and it will examine the oxymoron "evil spirit.”

9^th Grade

All entering ninth graders are required to take a grammar placement test to determine whether they need to take a grammar skills course. Grammar workshops review and remediate grammatical concepts with an emphasis on sentence structure, usage, and effective communication.

9th GRADE GRAMMAR SKILLS COURSE

Students will master three sentence types:

Simple

Compound

Complex

Students will practice usage skills

Students will practice punctuation skills

Master: end marks, capitalization

Review: commas, semi-colons, colons, hyphens, dashes,

and quotation marks.

Students will practice formats for specific writing tasks:

Title pages

Research--footnotes, citations, bibliographies, etc.

Students will demonstrate mastery or proficiency by submitting written work, from various other courses, that accurately proves their competence.

9^TH GRADE ENGLISH

READING:

The Princess Bride

Inside the Walls of Troy

Mythology: Cupid and Psyche, Orpheus and Eurydice, Pygmalion and Galatea, Echo and Narcissus, King Midas, Lady Godiva, David and Goliath, The Sword in the Stone, and Lancelot and Guinevere.

Assorted poetry as it relates to mythology (contains allusions to mythology.)

Oedipus the King

Beowulf (excerpts from the Raffel Translation)

Romeo and Juliet

A Guide to MLA Documentation

Students read four books independently from an approved list

LITERARY ELEMENTS:

Structure of novel: lyrical, frame, chronological;

Elements of Rhythm: alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, repetition, iambic pentameter, dactyls, trochees rhyme;

Figures of speech/Figurative language: metaphor, simile, personification,

Plot: exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, denouement;

Types of conflict: man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. himself, man vs. society

Five stages of a hero

Epic poetry, Narrative poetry, Myth

Dialogue, Narration

General Literary devices: allusion, kennings, narrative poetry, tone, antagonist, protagonist, foil, plot, stereotype, mood, propaganda, prologue, epilogue

Point of View: third person omniscient, third person limited, first person

Elements of Shakespearean Drama: monologue, aside, soliloquy, blank verse, oxymoron, pun, wit, hyperbole, paradox, iambic pentameter

Elements of Tragic Drama: great man, tragic flaw (hubris), great fall, catharsis, pity and fear.

WRITING:

Memorandum

Major project on character, theme, or plot

Persuasive Essay

Comparison/Contrast Essay

News Article

Short story

Poetry

Speeches

Script/Dialogue

GRAMMAR:

Comparisons in parallel forms

Subject and object pronouns

Non-restrictive clauses

Pronoun agreement

Subject/verb agreement

MECHANICS:

Capital letters

Numbers under one-hundred

Spelling of common words

Underlines vs. italics

MLA Research Format

Suffixes and prefixes

Citations (MLA format)

PUNCTUATION:

End marks

Capitalization (nine common rules of)

Commas in a series, commas in non-restrictive clauses, commas in compound

sentences, commas for clarity

Apostrophes--possession and contraction

Quotation Marks--direct and indirect

Dashes

Colons

STYLE:

Coordination, subordination, and parallelism

Formal essay format: Title, Thesis statement, Introductions, Topic sentences, Transitions, Use of powerful details

Subordinating sentences

Sense of Audience

Parallelism

Sentence variety and its power

SPEAKING:

Presentation of major project—Voice projection, enunciation, eye contact, pace

Peer editing

Read aloud

Presentation of research

LISTENING:

Appropriate audience behavior

Peer editing

Questioning skills

Analytical viewing

STUDY SKILLS:

How to use a rubric

One-Foot voice (editing technique)

Note-taking

Creating and using study guides

Types of test questions

Multi-answer three part questions

Test strategies for multiple choice and short answer

Research

Note taking

Time management

Critical viewing

TECHNOLOGY SKILLS:

Computer research

Locating/evaluating credibility of internet and book sources

Computer formatting skills

Six Library Links units with the librarian

Move image and text between documents

Citations from a variety of sources

10^th Grade

10^TH GRADE ENGLISH

READING :

Bless Me Ultima (summer reading)

Summer reading optional title

Independent reading (novel)

Anthology Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes (Prentice Hall, Platinum Level)

Poetry unit (taken from the anthology) "The Bridegroom", "Fear", "The Kraken", "Reapers", "Metaphor", "Right Hand", "La Belle Dame sans Merci", "Danny Deever", "The Guitar", "Making a Fist", "Jade Flower Palace", "The Moon at the Fortified Pass", "What Are Friends For?", "Some Like Poetry", "Sonnet 18", "The Waking", "Morte d'Arthur"

Short prose fiction (taken from the anthology): "Contents of a Dead Man's Pockets", "The Monkey's Paw", "How Much Land Does One Man Need?", "Masque of the Red Death", "Two Friends", "By the Waters of Babylon", "Damon and Pythias", "The Open Window", "Hearts and Hands"

Short prose non-fiction (taken from the anthology): "How to React to Familiar Faces", from The Way to Rainy Mountain, "A Child's Christmas in Wales", from Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family

Othello

Sonnets

Native Son

Antigone

Pride and Prejudice

QUESTIONS:

How are the characters aligned relative to the work's central themes?

How is the work's central conflict related to theme?

How is a lyric poem different from a narrative poem?

How does a poet develop conflict or tension in a poem?

How are these techniques different from a writer of prose?

What ideas do the elements of fiction invite us to consider?

How do you integrate the ideas of a piece of fiction into a coherent statement of theme?

What kinds of information appear in an essay?

What variations in organization do we find?

What do we learn about character based on the tone they assume when speaking?

How do the characters employ figures of speech to augment their meanings?

How do the minor characters contribute to the plot?

What variations on themes does the play contain? (honor, vengeance, tragedy, loyalty, courage)

What role does culture play in the development of character? (real and imagined)

Who is the central tragic figure in the play?

Do the gods of the mythological pantheon participate in the action of the play?

What is the role of Teiresias?

In what terms do we come to understand Antigone's heroism?

Where are the ideas of pride and prejudices presented in Pride and Prejudice

What are the sources of these perceptions?

How seriously are we to take these biased perceptions and the characters who posses them?

Which characters are able to overcome which of their prejudices during the course of the novel?

What processes seem to accompany their vanquishing their earlier perceptions.

Which characters do not overcome their prejudices?

Is their fate different from those who do?

LITERARY TERMS:

antagonist, protagonist, character,

theme, climax, resolution,

narrative, lyric,

haiku,

theme, symbol, thesis,

substantiation, detail, generalization.

blank verse, iambic pentameter,

monologue, soliloquy, aside,

foreshadowing,

oxymoron,

metaphor, simile,

personification,

irony, dramatic irony,

conceit

conflict, bone of contention

tragedy, comedy, satire

verbal irony, dramatic irony, situational irony,

uses of dialogue,

antithesis.

GRAMMAR

fragments, coordination, subordination, subject/verb agreement, noun/pronoun agreement,

pronoun/antecedent agreement, appositives. wordy sentences, awkward sentences, sentence variety

paragraph organization

WRITING:

comparative essay considering treatment 2-3 works give to a single theme.

a creative conceit: (ex. a letter of complaint from one character to another, a letter of apology from one of the antagonists)

descriptive essay

position paper: Is Othello evil?

compose an original sonnet

discuss in Antigone the way that three details in the plot contribute to a theme and enlarge its meaning.

paper mirroring the oral presentation on Max's speech

comparison paper between Pride and Prejudice and Native Son examining the power of and the extent of prejudices in each

READING SKILLS:

Three column notes --

a) a short précis of an event,

b) the literary elements contained in the event,

c) ideas and themes suggested by the details and events

Margin annotation

SPEAKING SKILLS:

Principles of speech: voice modulation, projection, enunciation, volume, eye contact, pace, thesis, purpose, visual aids, note cards

perform a scene or a soliloquy from Othello

discuss a poem, its content, literary elements and theme.

deliver a review of the movie watched over the winter break.

present a memorized poem or a song lyric (10 lines min.)

deliver a short oral presentation on a segment (2 pp.) of Max's defense speech in Native Son.

present findings on the civil rights research

RESEARCH:

Research skills: use books, magazines, and electronic materials to form a perspective on an unfamiliar topic.

Research project bearing on a civil rights topic:

Harlem Renaissance

W. E. B. Dubois

Stephan Foster -- slave songs

Voting Rights, Miscegenation Laws, Grandfather Clauses

Plessy v. Ferguson

Richard Wright

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

Chicago Ghettos -- Mis van der Rohe

Slavery in Connecticut

Malcolm X

Integration of the armed Forces

George Washington Carver

Integration in Professional Athletics

Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Civil Disobedience

Rosa Parks -- bus boycott

Jim Crow Laws

Incarceration of Japanese Citizens during WWII

The KKK -- its mission and charter

SELECTED MOVIES

Remember the Titans Boyz in the Hood

Mississippi Burning A Patch of Blue

Amistad In the Heat of the Night

Malcolm X A Family Affair

Do the Right Thing Ghosts of Mississippi

To Kill a Mockingbird Crazy in Alabama

Driving Miss Daisy A Soldier's Story

The Defiant Ones Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Walkabout Dances with Wolves

Glory

ENGLISH ELECTIVES ARE AVAILABLE TO 10^TH GRADERS.

For course descriptions see “Upper School English” section.

11^th Grade

11^TH GRADE ENGLISH

READING:

The Grapes of Wrath,

Catch-22

The Color Purple

Roark Bradford, Anne Bradstreet, Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather -- American Lit. 1600-1750

Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry -- American Lit. 1700-1800, civil disobedience

Hamlet -- The Age of Reason and the Renaissance

Elizabethan sonnets

Edgar Allan Poe

Herman Melville, Washington Irving, Nathanial Hawthorne -- Anti-transcendentalism

Ralph W. Emerson, Henry David Thoreau --transcendentalism

Steven Douglass, Martin Luther King--civil disobedience

Jack London, Kate Chopin, Willa Cather, Mark Twain--19th century Realists and Rationalists

Abraham Lincoln, Harper Lee, Turner, Walt Whitman, James R. Lowell, John G. Whittier, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost

Huckleberry Finn

Eudora Welty, John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald -- 20th century American short story, Modernist

William Faulkner, Zora Neal Hurston, Carson McCullers, Momaday -- 20th century prose

The Great Gatsby -- the modern novel

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

To what central values did these writers cling during their trials and tribulations?

What textual clues lead you to your conclusions?

What is the nature of the concrete and visual details that these writers include in their writing?

What rhetorical devices do the authors use in order to advance their ideals?

What constitutes a just reason for civil disobedience according to Jefferson? to Henry?

Can we infer similar sentiments from Franklin from his writings?

In what sense are the reasons justifying the American Revolution based on a religious "faith?"

In the universe of Hamlet, what constitutes a justified revenge and when is revenge not justified?

Into what roles does this play cast women?

What are the freedoms and limits to being true to yourself as an exclusive individual?

What makes a person unconditionally trustworthy?

How do understanding and reason affect action in the play?

What do we learn about "faith," and what effect does it have on the characters in the play?

What criteria must you develop in order to distinguish between the antagonist and the protagonist in the play?

N.B. This line of inquiry helps explain the inclusion of Hamlet into the 11th grade curriculum, which is based very intentionally on American literature. Hamlet is one of those rare fictional characters who is able to act, eventually, according to the cherished principles of the Age of Reason. In this way, he can be viewed as a model for the modes of action and philosophy which the Founding Fathers embraced during their well reasoned acts of civil disobedience against the British crown

How does the structure of a poem help convey its meaning?

How does the development of symbols, similes, and metaphors help us understand the theme of a poem?

How is the transcendental sense of "faith" different from the "faith" that we have found in earlier works?

How is anti transcendentalism fundamentally similar to transcendentalism?

What fundamental distinction about faith do the two schools of transcendentalism make?

What aspects of freedom (a theme) make civil disobedience absolutely necessary to both Douglass and to Dr. King?

Based on the readings, how would Douglass' and King's definition of injustice compare and differ?

What new values do the characters hold dear?

In a Romantic sense, what gives life beauty and value to the characters and to the stories?

What comparative values do the stories attribute to the human faculties of reason, faith, emotion and physical strength?

What are the various ways that the theme of faith is visited in Huck Finn?

What does it mean to think uncritically in this novel? What about critically?

How do the characters become the stuff of social satire?

What is the author's stance toward his characters?

How can we infer this stance from the details of the text?

How does one detect satire in fiction?

What themes are highlighted by this story, its satirical voice, and its characters?

How can you tell if a book is racist (prejudiced in some way)?

How can you distinguish between protagonist and antagonist?

How is it that Twain can be labeled a "realistic" writer?

The historical background of your issue. Whence can it be traced?

Is the problem specific to a particular group historical period, or place?

What agencies are currently working on the issue (pro and con)?

Who is served or damaged by the possible outcomes that we might arrive at relative to the problem?

What values (pro and con) are at odds over the issue?

Are there clear limits associated with the issue beyond which we simply cannot trespass?

Which values seem to be most responsible as you consider solutions?

How do you go about defining this responsibility?

What solutions are already in place or being tested?

How might a responsible citizen act in the face of this issue?

What qualities make Gatsby great?

Which qualities make Gatsby not so great (tragic)?

What role do the characters assign to "faith?"

On what details and images does Fitzgerald linger?

What mood do these lingerings evoke in this novel?

CRITICAL TERMS:

imagery, aphorism, rhetorical question, allusion, parallelism,ad populum, post hoc ergo propter hoc, ad hominem, ad misericordium, ad ignorantium, characterization, conflict, climax, resolution, simile, metaphor, soliloquy, monologue, aside, dramatic irony, irony, foreshadowing, synecdoche, revenge play, paragraph structure, topic sentence, transitions, explication, evaluation, alliteration, assonance, meter, structure, thesis, antithesis, rhetorical cross hairs, paradox, hyperbole, close readings, evaluation, explication, imagery, persona, lyric poetry, satire, social satire, strawman, ad populum, ad hominum, ad vericundium, symbol

GRAMMAR: parts of speech, the sentence, fragments, phrases, clauses, parallelism

Grammar Smart by The Princeton Review

VOCABULARY

drawn from the literary texts

WRITING:

Short essay: delineation of style and purpose in 18th century writings

Evaluation of a theme (choice of 4) in the play Hamlet

Essays on discussion questions

Essay: close reading of a lyric poem by Dickinson, the relationship between image, mood and theme

Essay: the many manifestations of satire

Essay (and Oral): based on the independent research. This paper is designed to explore and define a thesis and an antithesis of the central issue which the student draws from the contemporary culture.

RHETORICAL MODES:

cause and effect

classification

comparison and contrast

delineation

deductive reasoning, example, conclusion

thesis/antithesis, delineation, proof by example

CRITICAL SKILLS:

an introduction to the levels of moral responsibility

memorization of two passages

oral skills: a dramatic reading from the play Hamlet

inferring theme, mood, and literary device from specific events

research: Use the resources of the library and the internet to explore a contemporary issue.

OTHER TOPICS

Students explore a basic model for critical thinking. This is a method for keeping the complexities of the literal world, about which they are reading, distinct from the thematic implications of the reading about which they are thinking.

Students learn about six levels of moral responsibility and deduce exceptions to the rule.

Students will apply a variety of public speaking techniques. These will include dramatic readings from Hamlet, oral presentations about the literature, and debates over a current political issue.

Students study SAT I and SAT II questions and test taking strategies.

ENGLISH ELECTIVES ARE AVAILABLE TO 11^TH GRADERS.

For course descriptions see “Upper School English” section.

11^TH GRADE ENGLISH – ADVANCED PLACEMENT

Students in AP English 11 follow the same curriculum as those in standard English 11 with additional readings, a greater number of writing assignments, and more rigorous expectations for written work.

Additional readings include:

The Story of B

Creating a New Civilization, A & H Toffler

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Thomas Stoppard

The Magical Christian

Students learn to adopt a variety of rhetorical forms to help them solve several writing tasks. Among these are: comparison/ contrast, thesis/ antithesis, cause and effect, classification and division, and analogy.

The class undertakes a study of rhetoric and examines the sundry forms that the essay can assume in preparation for the AP exam. Texts like Current Issues and Enduring Questions will accompany this study.

The AP Exam in Language and Composition is a 3 hour exam taken in the second week of May. The exam consists of a one hour of reading comprehension section which tests the students' capacity to understand the uses of rhetoric to achieve mood, tone, theme and thesis. During the other two hours of the exam, students compose three essays of forty minute durations.

12^th Grade

12^th GRADE ENGLISH

Senior English develops analytical and critical skills, fosters competent expository writing (particularly academic argument), nurtures both the critical and constructive intelligence, and encourages reflective habits of mind.

Both English 12 and AP English 12 are literature based but involve other visual and electronic media. Course objectives derive from the basic academic competencies outlined in 1983 by the College Board and the English standards published in Understanding University Success (2003, American Association of Universities and the Pew Charitable Trusts)

Both English 12 and AP English 12 explore sources beyond the texts; respect the existential knowledge and perspective of each student; allow student ideas a role in guiding learning; promote informed, open, focused class discussion; and support elaboration and revision of students' responses. In short, the goal is to create an environment in which students will engage actively in and take responsibility for their own learning.

READING:

When I Was Puerto Rican, Esmeralda Santiago

Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin

The Tempest, William Shakespeare

The Tragedy of King Lear, William Shakespeare

The Glass Menagerie Tennessee, Williams

Grendel, John Gardner

All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce

The Needs of Strangers, Michael Ignatieff

The Youngest Science, Lewis Thomas

Articles, editorials, and essays selected from the daily press, periodicals, and scholarly journals as appropriate

FILMS: Viewed in whole or in part as appropriate and as time permits.

The Road from Coorain

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

All Quiet on the Western Front

King Lear

The Tempest

Waiting for Godot

Weapons of the Spirit: A Holocaust Documentary

Paragraph 175

GENRES:

Myth, Parable, Folktale

Essay

Short Story

Poetry

Drama

Memoir

LITERARY/RHETORICAL CONCEPTS:

genre, autobiography/memoir, parable, myth, legend, essay, rhetoric, narration, description, exposition, argument, point-of-view, voice, thesis, structure, irony, metaphor, allusion

reliable/unreliable narrator, intrusive narrator, first-person as witness, genre blending, epic, fiction, non-fiction,

conflict, plot, character, setting, narrative point-of-view, theme, motif, symbol, tone, mood

structure, production values, exposition, theatre of the absurd, flat characters, round characters, foil, choreography

archetypes, tragedy, comedy, satire, farce, romance, fantasy, naturalism, realism,

dramatic situation, metaphor, symbol, dialogic communication

argumentation( definition, techniques, history, formal and informal argumentation)

message, method, medium

WRITING:

rhetorical situation (speaker/author, subject, audience),

personal essay (emphasis on the college essay),

review the "writing process": brainstorming, free-writing, discovery, invention, mode, outlining, drafting, revising, editing, proof-reading, stages/recursive

summary, paraphrase, precis, annotated bibliography;

the analytical/critical essay (taking a position)

dramatic monologue as response to poetry

creating effective review documents for exams

comparison of a novel and the film version of that novel

the extended essay based on literature in several genres and research in secondary sources

LANGUAGE:

Review the structure of dictionaries, diction, denotation, connotation, dialect, levels of usage, etymology, word attack skills, context

syntax: the sentence reviewed and reconsidered

figurative language, language and culture, etymology, the semantic field

THE INTERNET:

Students are expected as a matter of course to access the internet in order to enrich the critical, historical, cultural, aesthetic, and biographical contexts of individual readings. Specific assignments are given in order that students learn how to evaluate the validity and appropriateness of internet sites and gain understanding of the particular value of the internet in studying literature.

12^th GRADE ENGLISH – ADVANCED PLACEMENT

Advanced Placement English 12 differs from English 12 not in its fundamental goals to develop active readers, thoughtful writers, engaged participants in critical inquiry, but rather in the following ways:

the AP Literature and Composition Examination shadows the course

the language, techniques, and theories of literary criticism play a more prominent role in AP English 12

AP students are asked to sign a contract acknowledging that they will do approximately forty percent (40%) more work - reading and writing - than is required in English 12

AP English 12 is considered a "college level course" and therefore applies more rigorous performance standards.

Additional readings include:

The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad

Selected readings in the history of literary criticism and in literary theory

Collateral reading in fiction, drama, and memoir selected by each student with the

teacher’s guidance

ENGLISH ELECTIVES ARE AVAILABLE TO 12^H GRADERS.

For course descriptions see “Upper School English” section.

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