MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS

We want all Holy Nativity Episcopal School language arts students to be critical thinkers and readers as well as effective communicators and writers.  The coursework focuses on all aspects of language arts including vocabulary, grammar, writing, speaking, listening, reading, and presenting. Courses are designed to engage students in relevant material and allow them to develop their own knowledge and understanding of literature and the broader world. Each grade is sequential and builds upon prior knowledge with certain skills being mastered at each grade level, allowing students to progress appropriately within grammar mechanics and vocabulary structure in middle grades in preparation for complex high school standards.

Students are expected to analyze, evaluate, and criticize literature with appreciation for poetry, nonfiction, short stories, and dramatic plays. Simultaneously, students choose their own independent novel to read in conjunction with classroom novel studies with specific focuses on realistic fiction, historical fiction, and dystopian literature. By the end of the year, all students should be able to compose a well-developed five paragraph essay illustrating the mastery of their affiliated grade level language arts structure and mechanics. This is accomplished throughout the year with a variety of essays, projects, tests, and project-based assignments.

We use the following curriculum to enhance student learning: Wordly Wise 3000, Scope Scholastic Magazine, EBAcademics, IXL, and novel studies.