Curriculum - Upper Elementary Language Arts
Listening and Speaking Skills
1.00 Receptive skills1.10 Listens to others with eye contact and positive body language demonstrating respect for others
1.20 Follows verbal directions
1.30 Blocks out extraneous noise/conversations and maintains work focus
1.40 Can synthesize material and record important facts or concepts in note-taking form 2.00 Speaking skills2.10 Speaks publicly before a small group, communicating ideas effectively2.10.1 Informative presentation
2.10.2 Persuasive presentation
2.10.3 Distinguishes between feelings, emotional, and rational information
2.30.4 Participates in reports, oral presentations, drama, debates, etc.
Reading Skills
1.00 Word Study1.10 Defines and creates compound words, contractions
1.20 Defines and identifies: root word, suffixes, and prefixes
1.30 Defines and applies examples: Antonyms, anonyms, synonyms, homonyms, similes, metaphors
1.40 Uses reference texts appropriately1.40.1 Dictionary: Locates words, parts of speech, definitions using guide words
1.40.2 Thesaurus: Locates synonyms
1.40.3 Encyclopedia: Locates information an a topic
1.40.4 Atlas
1.40.5 Almanac
1.40.6 Telephone book
1.40.7 Uses Computer card catalog or Dewey decimal system in library1.50 Classifies vocabulary terms and creates a chart
Grammar
1.00 Defines parts of speech and identifies each part within a sentence:1.10 Noun1.10.1 Proper and common
1.10.2 Concrete, abstract, collective, predicate nouns, masculine and feminine, possessive,
compound, plural
1.10.3 Article/noun agreement 1.20 Verb1.20.1 Action verbs: Visible and mental actions, transitive and intransitive
1.20.2 Linking verbs
1.20.3 Helping verbs and verb phrases
1.20.4 Verbals: Participles, gerunds, and infinitives1.30 Adjectives1.30.1 Articles as adjectives
1.30.2 Nouns as adjectives
1.30.3 Proper adjectives
1.30.4 Degrees of comparison
1.30.5 Predicate adjectives1.40 Adverbs1.40.1 Modifying adverbs
1.40.2 Adverbs with adjectives
1.40.3 Adverbs with adverbs 1.50 Pronouns 1.50.1 Personal, antecedents, agreement, nominative, objective,possessive, reflexive intensive, demonstrative, interrogative, indefinite
1.50.2 Who/whoever; whom/whomever1.60 Conjunctions: Coordinating, correlative, subordinating
1.70 Others: Interjections, prepositions, and prepositional phrases2.00 Locates within a sentence: subject; predicate; direct object2.10 Complete, simple, compound, hidden subjects
2.20Verb Tenses and Conjugation: Simple, principle parts, compound, perfect, progressive tenses3.00 Clauses, phrases, and sentences3.10 Prepositional, appositive, and verbal phrases
3.20 Independent, subordinate, adjective, adverb, and noun clauses
3.30 Simple, compound, complex, compound/complex
3.40 Declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences4.00 Punctuation4.10 Correctly utilizes hyphen, colon, semi-colon, and quotation marks
Comprehension
1.00 Comprehension1.10 Sequences events in a story by beginning, middle, an end1.20 Reads and answers comprehension questions on grade level with > 80% accuracy
1.30 Determines fact or opinion in statements
1.40 Determines cause and effect
1.50 Makes predictions, draws inferences, and conclusions from what is read2.00 Combined tasks2.10 Works independently to complete a task by following written directions
2.20 Reads for pleasure *
2.20.1 Defines and identifies: legends; myths; fairy tales; biographies; autobiographies, fiction; non-fiction
2.30 Participates in Jr. Great Books reading with vocabulary enrichment and assignments
Spelling Skills
1.00 Uses spelling strategies to accurately spell words2.00 Spells words on grade level using knowledge of spelling rules and patterns
3.00 Self-manages vocabulary builder skills: Studies for spelling tests and takes test with ease
Writing Skills
1.00 Written words1.10 Writes legibly: in cursive (slant, spacing, letter formation)
1.20 Beginning typing skills
1.30 Understands function and correct use of underline and italics 2.00 Language mechanics2.10 Capitalizes correctly
2.20 Utilizes punctuation correctly: End marks; commas; quotation marks; colons;
semicolons; hyphens; abbreviations; apostrophes
* Reading is accomplished through read-aloud, self-selection, and by assignment for group discussion work. Reading spans the gamut from short prose, poetry, media, SRA, Barnell-Loft, chapter books, Junior Great Books, Newberry Books, and classics.
Listed are some of the available selections:
JUNIOR GREAT BOOKS
Thank You, M’am by Langston Hughes
The Water-Horse of Barra, a Scottish Folktale
The Story of Wang Li by Elizabeth Coatsworth
The Elephant’s Child by Rudyard Kipling
Vasilissa the Beautiful, a Russian Folktale
Cedric by Tove Jansson
Fresh by Phillipa Pearce
The Enchanted Sticks by Steven J. Meyers
Wisdom’s Wages and Folly’s Pay byHoward Pyle
Mr. Singers Nicknames by James Kruss
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
A Game of Catch by Richard Wilbur
The Tales of the Three Storytellers by James Kruss
Spit Nolan by Bill Naughton
The Queen’s Care by Elizabeth J. Hodges
Lucky Boy by Phillipa Pearce
The Secret of the Hattifatteners by Tove Jansson
The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde
Kaddo’s Wall West, an African Folktale
Dita’s Story by Mary Q. Steele
Oliver Hyde’s Dishcloth Concert by Richard Kennedy
Mowgli’s Brothers by Rudyard Kipling
“Tiger-Tiger” by Rudyard Kipling
Through The Tunnel by Doris Lessing
Raymond’s Run by Toni C. Bambara
My Greatest Ambition by Morris Lurie
A Likely Place by Paula Fox
The Mysteries of the Cabala by Issac Bashevis Singer
Bad Characters by Jean Stafford
Chura and Marwe, an African folktale
Superstitions by Mary La Chapelle
The Last Great Snake by Mary Q. Steele
Gaston by William Sarayan
Soumchi by Amos Oz
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