Language Arts 3 A/B

In Segment A of this course, students will begin with “Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt” to study vocabulary, homophones and contractions. The skills of comparing and contrasting and comprehension will be the focus for reading, and students will take a closer look at nonfiction, practicing picking out the main idea and supporting details. They will focus on the skills of summary, cause and effect, drawing conclusions, and recognizing fact vs. opinion. Writing skills will address how to write a paragraph.

Segment B of this course will allow students to expand on their developing reading skills. The literature will focus on both fiction and non-fiction as students read novels such as Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and Season of the Sandstorms. They will continue to develop reading skills for fiction and non-fiction, expanding their study to context clues, making inferences, and summarizing. Language study will include all parts of speech in a unit built on the genre of mystery. Writing instruction will include responding in writing to fiction as well as non-fiction.

PRE-REQUISITES: Language Arts 2

ESTIMATED COMPLETION TIME: 32-36 weeks or approximately 125 – 135 hours

 

MAJOR TOPICS AND CONCEPTS — SEGMENT A

Nate The Great and the Halloween Hunt

  • Vocabulary Clues

  • Homophone Hunt

  • Curious Contractions

  • Compare and Contrast

  • Comprehension Culprit

  • Writing Web

Poetry

  • Acrostic

  • Cinquain

  • Diamante

  • Haiku

  • Limerick

  • Concrete

  • Abstract

Elements of Non-Fiction

  • Visual Aids.

  • What is Nonfiction?

  • Compare and Contrast Fiction and Nonfiction.

  • Creative Writing with nonfiction.

  • Main Idea

  • Supporting Details

  • Lesson 7: Summary

  • Lesson 8: Cause and Effect

  • Lesson 9: Fact or Opinion?

  • Lesson 10: Drawing Conclusion

The Writing Workshop

  • How to Write a Paragraph

  • How to Write a Friendly Letter

  • How to Write a Procedural Writing Piece

  • How to Write an Animal Report

 

MAJOR TOPICS AND CONCEPTS — SEGMENT B

Magic Tree House Season of the Sandstorm

  • Season of the Sandstorms: Prologue – Chapter 1

  • Season of the Sandstorms: Chapters 2 and 3

  • Season of the Sandstorms: Chapters 4 and 5

  • Season of the Sandstorms: Chapters 6 and 7

  • Season of the Sandstorms: Chapter 8, 9 and 10

It’s a Mystery

  • Elements of a Mystery

  • What is a Mystery?

  • Be a Noun Detective

  • A Pronoun Investigator

  • A Verb Sleuth

  • An Adverb Villain

  • An Adjective Agent

  • The Interjection Police

  • Reading a Mystery

  • Writing a Mystery

Nonfiction: Reading to Learn

  • Preview Text and Check for Understanding

  • Identifying Author’s Purpose and point of view.

  • Examining fact and opinion, and essential and nonessential information

  • Identifying sequence in a text

  • Identifying cause and effect

  • Summarizing main idea and details

  • Identifying Text Structure

  • Responding in writing to nonfiction text

Modern Fiction

  • About the Author

  • Reading Strategy: Visualize and Connect

  • Make Inferences

  • Context Clues

  • Monitor Independent Reading

  • Contractions

  • Writing Procedures/Directions

  • Story Plot

  • Drawing Conclusions

  • Summarize