Language Arts Class

Our literature and reading program for this year is SRA's Imagine It. We are also always reading novels from the district's approved reading list.

Each week students receive a new story, vocabulary and spelling lists. Students write the spelling and vocabulary lists into their planners. The lists are always given out on the first day of the week. Tests on vocabulary, spelling and comprehension are given every Friday morning. Students have one week to complete the comprehension tests which are posted online for your convenience just in case a test is lost.

Student's story is chosen based upon his/her reading level. We work on oral reading fluency every week. We encourage parents to listen to their children read and to ask them comprehension questions. It is important to know that students going into junior high must have an oral reading fluency of 120 words per minute and comprehend at a 7.0 grade level in order to be excused from additional reading classes and in order to sign up for a foreign language class.

Spelling tests come from two lists that are given out a week before the test. The first list is longer words; the second, shorter words. Each of the two lists has twenty words. Each student is directed to the list that best suits her/him (based on a front of year assessment). We review the words and take a practice test the day before the "official" test.

Vocabulary tests come from our reading program and from the week's story. These lists are also given out at the front of the week. Students write the words in their planners and look up the words in their glossaries. We practice the words during the week and take a pretest the day before the test. The weekly list has six to ten vocabulary words. Students are required to know the definitions of the words, the part of speech, and how to use the words in sentences.

The weekly comprehension test requires students to answer multiple choice and essay questions about the week's story. Students are allowed to use their texts during the test and have one week to complete and turn in each test.

In addition, each student is required to read 400 pages each trimester. When a student finishes a book, s/he may 1) take an Accelerated Reading test and pass with 80% or above or 2) write a book report telling about the book, characters, plot, etc. Each book report must be signed by a parent.

I have purchased an online spelling program which goes along with our SRA Imagine It spelling/vocabulary program. Students may practice their weekly vocabulary and spelling words at this site: http://www.spellingcity.com/vdean/

Check out our many resources for Language Arts at http://deanadventures.com/schoolsite/school.htm and http://deanadventures.com/la/la.html