Suggested Age

9-10 years

Prerequisite

Elementary English 3, or basic competency in reading and handwriting

Purpose

Students in this stage of their development love to learn the rules of how things work. Grammar is simply the study of how God’s beautiful language works and why He created it: for our learning and enjoyment. With the Easy Grammar 5 workbook as our primary grammar text, our objective is to identify and understand the eight parts of speech and their functions within the sentence. As these basics are mastered, students will become more confident and competent writers.

Process

To raise kids who love to write, we must first show them that words are fun… and big words are big fun. Not only will students feel the thrill of the Big Word Challenge every week in class, but they will also gain confidence in using new words through their vocabulary assignments. This includes:

• Charts to be filled out on each list, involving definitions and parts of speech
• Dictation exercises to improve retention and comprehension
• Word games like scrambled words, alphabetizing words, word searches, and spelling “checks”

The most important step in writing is establishing the “comfort zone”. Students need to feel at ease conveying their thoughts onto paper. If critique comes too intensely in this early stage, students may doubt their abilities and feel discouraged. Therefore, our Writing Sparks compositions are:

• Designed to be enjoyable, allowing students to be creative and expressive
• Usually one or two paragraphs long
• A prime opportunity for the teacher to highlight strengths, offer encouragement and suggestions, and impart a sense of accomplishment
• A prime opportunity for students to employ the rules of correct grammar they learn in class

Curriculum &Texts, available at www.pahlowsenglish.com

• Elementary English 4/5 Course Workbook, by Debra Pahlow
• Easy Grammar Grade 5 Student Workbook, by Wanda C. Phillips
• Easy Grammar Grade 5 Teacher’s Edition, by Wanda C. Phillips