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Language Arts
The Lower School Language arts program encompasses a vast range of topics, and students in these programs are expected to master a multitude of skills. Grade Three
In Grade Three, a variety of reading material such as chapter books, Time For Kids Magazine, non-fiction books and passages, and poetry are used for reading instruction. The reading curriculum primarily focuses on learning and using comprehension strategies to read at higher levels. Language lessons cover an introduction to singular and plural nouns and verbs, pronouns, proper nouns, adverbs, helping verbs, the verb to be, and adjectives. In addition, students review capitalization, punctuation, contractions, prefixes, suffixes, syllabication, conjunctions, and verbs. The spelling program begins with a weekly lesson from the SRA Spelling book during which all the spelling rules and definitions for the week are taught, sorted and reviewed. Sight words, irregular words and challenge words are all included. In the Writing Workshop program, each student is taught to plan, write, revise, edit and publish fiction and non-fiction stories. Grade Four
Grade Four students begin an intense novel-based reading curriculum, completing popular works like Guests and Bridge to Terabithia, historical fiction novels written by Elizabeth George Speare, as well as a variety of non-fiction, content-area texts relating to social studies. Independent silent reading, book summaries, and oral and written responses are an integral part of the reading program. In writing, Grade Four focuses on summarizing, paragraph development, and writing for a specific purpose. The steps of the writing process, which include pre-writing, first draft, revision, conferencing, editing, and publishing are followed with each piece. Within this framework students work on grammar, mechanics, and style. Spelling and vocabulary are studied both independently and within the context of the students' writing and reading. Finally, Grade Four students embark on a meaningful study of poetry and prose, studying the art and learning to use them as valuable tools for self-expression. Grade Five
Grade Five also uses a novel-based program, which includes books like Escape From Warsaw, The House With a Clock in Its Walls, and The Cay. These books are selected for their excellent writing, their variety in style, their engaging story lines, and for their interesting subtexts and themes. Books are discussed in detail in class, complemented by a good deal of writing at home and in school. The reading curriculum also promotes skills like accurate literal comprehension, inferential reasoning, discussion participation, vocabulary building, summarizing, and clear expository writing. In the Grade Five writing program, the class focuses on the elements of great writing. Topics include the use of the senses, strong words, figurative language, rhythm, point of view, dialogue, and proper sentence structure. Teachers encourage a process approach to writing, which includes gathering ideas, writing a rough draft, editing for mechanics and content, and doing a final copy, as students take increased pride in sharing their work. The vocabulary program in the fifth grade is taught using weekly lessons from the third book in the Wordly Wise series, which incorporates challenging words chosen from literature, textbooks, and SAT-prep books. Students are required to complete a set of exercises using each week's list of 15 words, and a test is given on the words the following week.
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