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State College Friends School |
Welcome to our
Upper School Language Arts page!
The Upper School Language Arts curriculum is based on “Lessons that Change Writers” by Nancie Atwell. This curriculum is based on the belief that students become the best writers they can become when they:
are given regular blocks of time to write;
use their own topics as writing subjects;
learn mechanics of writing in context;
read a wide-ranging variety of texts including prose, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction;
receive personal responses on their writing from teachers and peers.
Our language arts program is similar in structure throughout the four years of upper school, but the content changes as our students get older. We begin each day with a poetry study and a mini-lesson before proceeding to writing and reading workshops.
For Reading Workshop, we read many books for enjoyment and learning. Some books are chosen by the students, while others are selected by the teacher. As students move into seventh and eighth grades, they are are still encouraged to read self-chosen books but they are steered toward more literary selections as the year progresses.
Students respond to each book with a letter-essay addressed to the teacher, who writes replies to each of them. At least twice a year, the entire class reads and discusses the same novel. The novels are chosen for their literary merit and a reading level appropriate to the age group.
Some of the novels we have recently read in our fifth and sixth grade classes are: King of Shadows by Susan Cooper, Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer, Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, and The Giver by Lois Lowry.
In our seventh and eighth grade classes, we have read and discussed: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Animal Farm by George Orwell, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston.
We also have book sharing time, during which students share great reads with the class. In addition, students are expected to read for at least 20 minutes five days a week, and they complete a series of root word, prefix and suffix lessons suitable for their grade level.
During Writing Workshop, we explore a number of different types of written pieces during the year. For fifth and sixth grades, these include: three to five poems, a memoir, a picture book, a thank you letter, a business letter, two reviews, an essay, and gifts of writing (written pieces which can given to others). For seventh and eighth grades, they include: 3 to 5 poems, two essays (one persuasive and one informational with research and works cited), a condolence or get well letter, a business letter, a memoir, a review of a book or movie, a restaurant review, an extended definition, a persuasive speech (seventh grade only), a graduation speech (eighth grade only), and gifts of writing.
We study mini-lessons on conventions, genres, topics, and process. With teacher guidance, students edit and revise until each piece is free of mechanical and content errors. Each student keeps a language arts notebook that contains the mini-lessons for easy reference, poems and short stories we have read, drafts of their work, and finals of their work. This serves two purposes; it helps the students with organization and serves as a resource for the school year and beyond.
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