Language Arts Super Pack: Terms 1-2

Purchase a full year (32 weeks) of language arts classes for only $10/session!* This includes:
 
The Ins and Outs of Life: Narrative Writing (4 weeks)
One of the greatest questions of life is often left unanswered or inadequately answered: Who am I? Through a series of journal entries and narrative pieces, students express themselves, their experiences, and their aspirations. They examine their writing, adjusting language to match their emotions and convey their thoughts. Varying sentence structure, using active verbs, and seeking unique word usage are only a handful of the tools they will use while revising their work. Narrative skills will strengthen their understanding of English as a language while deepening their understanding of themselves. 
 
Milestone: Organized, complex writing (multi-paragraph)

Speak Up! Persuasive Writing and Developing the Paragraph (4 weeks)
Nothing is more powerful than the voice, and many of us find we have something to say. In Speak Up!, students engage in defending their opinion through clear writing. Students will be taught to find sources to support their views and discover how to quote others effectively. They will construct strong paragraphs, each with a gripping beginning, evidence-supported body, and powerful clincher. Join us as we learn how to Speak Up!
 
Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes: The Five Senses and Descriptive Writing (4 weeks)
What smells better than it tastes? Your nose! We experience the world around us using the five senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling. Students will experiment with activating the five senses in their writing, using rich adjectives and strong, active verbs. Students will expand their vocabularies, all while writing snapshots and short stories.
 
Write snapshots and short stories
Expand vocabulary with rich adjectives, adverbs, and verbs
Write a five-paragraph descriptive essay
 
This class is going to be overflowing with fun!
 
Ancient History: Communication and the Expository Essay (4 weeks)
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a chance that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” - Mary Ritter Beard

Civilization has gone from painting on cave walls to instant messaging. What happened? How has language changed? Students explore the evolution of language, adventuring back to the time of hieroglyphics and cuneiform, and discovering word roots and Morse code as they move forward. The subtleties of language challenge them to think about their intentions when they write letters, emails, and literary pieces. Through experimentation and exposure to various forms of communication, students come to understand the rhythm of communication. 
 
Milestone: Expanded knowledge of language as a whole (e.g. Latin roots) and ability to write a clear, evidence-supported expository essay."
 
Into Another World: Short Stories (4 weeks)
"You can't use up creativity. The more you use the more you have." - Maya Angelou
 
Deep inside every person is a voice waiting to be heard, a world waiting to come to life. Through the use of prompts, literary devices, and descriptive language, students breathe life into characters, scenes, and interactions between the two. Taking a single picture, students will pull out the characters and send them twirling across the page. Students lead readers through a forest of their own creation—blindfolded—and tell them what they see, help them feel what they feel, and let them listen to what they hear. Through the use of an organized presentation and plot, students engage the audience in a way they never have before.
 
Milestone: Ability to create organized works aimed at explaining complex, human emotions that engage the audience."
 
Materials: Arabian Nights, retold by Classic Starts

Could You Be More Pacific? Marine Life Research Paper (4 weeks)
What did the ocean say to the shore? Nothing, it waved. The ocean is brimming with two things: water and marine life. Students will explore marine life in depth, choosing their own individual creatures to research. They will discover how to follow the five-step writing process, in addition to citing, quoting, and creating a bibliography. Dive into the unchartered waters of research!
 
Write a multi-paragraph research paper
Engage in note taking, organization, drafting, and citing
 
Oh, the Places We’ll Go! Poetry (4 weeks)
When words dance, we call it poetry. Poetry embraces the rhythm of the human voice and the rich emotions of life. Students will travel through beats and rhythms with Homer, Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson. Exploring couplets, sonnets, haikus, free verse, and concrete poetry, students will have no end of places to go in their writing! 
 
Study poetry across history (special focus on Homer, Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson) and how it’s changed
Experiment with various poetic forms
Participate in a Poetry Slam!
 
Materials: The Mouse of Amherst, by Elizabeth Spires
 
Writing for The Times: Journalism (4 weeks)
"Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.” Henry Anatole Grunwald
 
Journalism is a cacophony of gathering, evaluating, and presenting information. It involves interviewing people, assessing situations, and organizing particulars. In Writing for The Times, students will create their own newspaper, while learning critical skills such as effective quoting, conciseness, and visual representation. Students present the events of their lives in rich, spirited language. Journalism can never be silent!
 
Gather, evaluate, and organize information about local events
Evaluate a person or issue for a front-page news article using interviews, quotes, and photographs
 
Materials: Li Lun: Lad of Courage, by Carolyn Treffinger
 
Day and Time: Mondays, 2:00 PM-3:00 PM ET
Bundle Duration: 32 Weeks
Dates: September 11, 2023 - May 31, 2024
No class November 20, December 11, 18, 25, January, 1, March 25
Recommended for: Ages 9+ / Grades 4-5
Teacher: Anna Bonney
 
See more language arts classes: thethinkingkid.org/language-arts
 
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