Suggested Age

10-12 years

Prerequisite

Elementary English 4/5, or basic competency in reading and handwriting

Purpose

The successful study of grammar is the bedrock of effective writing. An iron-clad grasp of basic grammatical principles will provide the confidence and competence to make writing flourish later on. Students will learn to:

• Identify and understand the eight parts of speech as well as their functions in a sentence
• Master the lists of helping and irregular verbs, prepositions, contractions, and pronouns
• Master subject-verb agreement and pronoun-antecedent agreement
• Revise sentence fragments and run-on sentences

Process

The first 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 writing process, students may doubt their abilities and feel discouraged. Therefore, ENGLISH 1 compositions are:

• Designed to be enjoyable, allowing the student to be creative and expressive
• Usually three paragraphs long, typewritten, and double-spaced
• A prime opportunity for the teacher to highlight strengths, offer encouragement and suggestions, and impart a sense of accomplishment
• A prime opportunity for the student to employ the rules of correct grammar, capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure they learn in class

Next we will strengthen their vocabulary. Vocabulary is like weight training. To build a strong muscle (vocabulary), one gradually increases both the weight (the difficulty of the words) and the repetitions (how many times the words are used) while keeping a consistent practice schedule (a list of twelve words a week). ENGLISH 1′s weekly vocabulary program features:

• Charts to be filled out on each list, involving definitions and synonyms
• Fill-in-the-blank sentences using their new words
• Spelling tests administered by the parent-teacher
• An end-of-the-year English Grammar competition done Jeopardy-style

Curriculum & Texts, all available at www.pahlowsenglish.com

• English 1 Course Workbook, by Debra Pahlow
• Easy Grammar Grade 6 Student Workbook, by Wanda C. Phillips
• Easy Grammar Grade 6 Teacher’s Edition, by Wanda C. Phillips