Description
Description
The 10 lessons will include skills and materials to help ensure that students gain adequate mastery of a range of skills and applications. A Kickstart Write, Vocabulary, Formative and Summative Assessments and other online resources.
Lesson 1: Foundational Skills
During this class, the students’ prior knowledge will be engaged to explore the various parts of speech, such as adjectives and pronouns. They will incorporate more structure in their writing while learning terms like syntax and adverbs. The students will engage in activities that provide a foundation for the rest of the skills we will be using in subsequent lessons.
Lesson 2: Morphology Madness
The students will learn ways to form new words using parts of words they already know. They will learn how to approach Language Arts like Math, adding and subtracting prefixes and suffixes to root words in order to form new words, and break down novel words they encounter in text into meaningful ideas. This class will include an activity to give them practice with these new concepts and opportunities to form their own words.
Lesson 3: Literary Terms
This lesson will be used to learn parts of sentences that make reading more engaging for the audience. They will be introduced to topics like conjunction, preposition and interjection. I will inform the children about how to use these important grammar skills to increase the sophistication of their writing.
Lesson 4: Commas, Clauses and Context! Oh My!
During this lesson, the students will learn the proper ways to use commas in their writing so they are able to produce longer sentences, while tying together different thoughts. This lesson will also guide students in how to use context clues to determine unfamiliar vocabulary. Activities will engage students in identification and application of these new-found skills.
Lesson 5: Literal and Figurative Language
This class will be dedicated to reinforcing the figurative language the students learned in previous years with higher level skills. Topics will include concepts such as personification and . This will include an activity that allows me to gauge the students’ writing level and survey their feelings about the class, which will inform the rest of my lessons. We will also practice ways to bring a setting to life by exploring descriptive words for the 5 senses, while examining higher level similes and metaphors.
Lesson 6: Synonyms, Antonyms and Homonyms
This class will cover words that have similar meaning as other words, and explore several ways to say the same thing, with more precise description. Students will recognize words that are opposites, and we will discuss contrast. When it comes to words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, we will put an end to the confusion! This lesson will also clarify homophones, those pesky words that sound the same but are spelled differently.
Lesson 7: Connotation, Denotation and Alliteration
The class will look at ways to understand the hidden power behind words in different situations. Topics will include concepts such as diction and semantics while the class explores the subtle meanings of words, as well as their intended meaning, in various contexts. They will see how language is personal and can be used to evoke emotion and imagery, and how words can influence a situation.
Lesson 8: Characterization Catalog
In this lesson, students will identify the types of characters, and learn the 5 ways to characterize a character. They will read various character descriptions and characterize these personas. During this class, students will be assigned a task to create a character and develop a story using the skills they have acquired, which will be due before Lesson 10.
Lesson 9: Idioms and Colloquialisms
This class will focus on some of the sayings and slangs (figures of speech) present in American society, teaching skills that will allow them to transition into American culture with ease while adapting their language to suit the context. This class will also include a deeper examination of figurative language and its effects on the audience.
Lesson 10: Mood, Tone & Voice
In this class, we will focus on the assignment which the students were given as homework. If there is time, students will also learn literary devices to analyze passages of fiction. We will read several author’s styles, and identify the tone, mood, and voice, and discuss the effects of these literary choices. Students will write their own descriptive passages that convey a specific tone and mood, using their own unique voice.
Target Students:
4-5th graders
About the teacher
Ms. Lara has taught English for fifteen years in different countries around the world. After getting her BA in Sociology and Photography at the University of California, San Diego, she worked with students with special needs for several years, trying to understand every kind of learner and diverse modalities of helping students to utilize their strengths and access learning from their own points of view. She has taught in Honduras and Hungary, as well as many kinds of schools around the US. After teaching English, Science, Art, and Music to 2nd, 6th, 10th and 11th grade students in the Caribbean, she came back to the
US, and got her teaching credential at California State Monterey Bay. Following this, she taught at a small high school in Santa Cruz, CA for twelve years, where she instructed 9-12th grade English, Art, Digital Photography, and History as well as Advanced Placement classes for 5 years. In 2012, she took a hiatus to complete a year as a Fulbright exchange teacher in Budapest, where she taught ESL and was an ambassador for the US. She was nominated for Teacher of the Year in 2015, and received a commendation for her work in 2018. She now tutors students in many subjects, while being a student herself, pursuing another degree. She enjoys working with students and learning from them, and finding new ways to communicate and understand the world around us.
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