The Whole Child Curriculum: English & Language Arts K-8

Kindergarten
Ocean Charter School's Kindergarten is designed to lay a strong foundation for the formal academic curriculum of the later grades. The language arts component focuses on oral story telling, helping pupils acquire the listening and speaking skills crucial to the reading and writing success. Music, games, and finger plays develop rhythm and counting skills. Hands-on activities such as gardening and cooking introduce science, math, and geography skills, concepts, and vocabulary. Weekly walks and a nature table develop and encourage a sense of understanding and appreciation for the natural world. At this developmental stage, the children require a program that allows for play, movement, and social interaction. OCS will cultivate creativity, imagination, and initiative through the serious and vital activity of play. Kindergarteners learn good habits of memory, attentiveness, and orderliness through daily, weekly, and yearly activity rhythms such as circle time (which includes storytelling, songs, re-enacting stories, etc.), free play, cooking, cleaning, carpentry, arts, beeswax modeling, drawing, and watercolor painting. Meals are rituals of care and attention to food and ambience. Allowing children's imagination to develop in kindergarten prepares them for the high level of cognitive thinking required in the higher grades. Our intention at the Ocean Charter School is to keep the kindergarten a play-based environment.

1st Grade
Language Arts continues in first grade with a pictorial and phonetic introduction to letters. Initially the aim is to lead the children to experience the qualities of the spoken sounds and sentence melody, while the shape, name and meaning of the capital letters are taught. By allowing the shape of a letter to emerge from a picture that stands for the character of the sound, the children can develop their own relationship to the individual letters and later to the whole activity of writing. The children create their own illustrated books as each letter is presented. Consonants are evolved out of pictograms, vowels out of interjections and expressions of feeling. This process is accompanied by much phonetic work in songs, poems and games that help establish a joyful and living experience of language.

Oral work plays an important role in the class with equal emphasis on both speaking and listening. Good skills at both are prerequisites for the development of literacy skills. As well as the daily recitation of poetry and verses, many of which are designed as speech exercises to strengthen pronunciation and articulation, the children are encouraged to describe their experiences and recall the stories they have heard.

The children learn to recognize and memorize symbols with lots of practice involving movement, versus, drawing, and writing. During the first year the class acquires the good habits of classroom life and work which will form the basis of their time together in the early grades and indeed for all subsequent learning at school. The teachers aim to lead the children into becoming a socially cohesive group who care for and listen to each other.

When the children have mastered the sounds of the letters and can name and write them, they are ready for their first reading experience. An integrated combination of whole word, phonic and contextual methods is used to develop reading, though with an emphasis on whole sentences/whole phrases. Comprehension will be emphasized from the beginning. Words will not be presented in isolation, but integrated into sentences and stories that are meaningful to the child. The episodes of a story are illustrated by a series of pictures drawn on the blackboard by the teacher and in notebooks by the children. The class composes short descriptive sentences to accompany each picture. The wording is then copied from the teacher's model. Through these activities the children learn word and sentence structure without conscious effort and from their own writing, they learn to read.

We draw on the strong need of the first grader to move, and we accompany the speaking of poems and verses with steps and meaningful gestures. Literature, poetry, and oral storytelling, integrated into the curriculum, will present plants, animals, the seasons and the elements in an imaginative context. This provides a stimulating segue into later, more advanced investigations of the natural and physical sciences and also provides a rich medium for the students development in the art of listening, speaking and writing.

Formal reading instruction will begin in First Grade. Ocean Charter School is in agreement with many educators that find that reading problems can be created by forced early instruction. The best reading programs are those that emphasize all aspects of language, including phonics, vocabulary development and oral language (poetry, song, and storytelling). Comprehension will be emphasized from the beginning. Words will not be presented in isolation, but integrated into sentences and stories that are meaningful to the child. OCS will use poems, verses, and songs that the children have recited and memorized as their first "readers". It is OCS's contention that good reading involves more than learning to "decode" words, and that a broad base of mental growth is necessary to take reading beyond a hollow exercise. First experiences in reading will also be accompanied by exposing the class to rich and complex oral language structures. As the children hear narrated stories, their power to form internal mental pictures and images provides the basis for their later ability to read with comprehension. This ability to form visual imagery while listening to a story constitutes an important visual and verbal linkage.

By the end of First Grade, students:

• Recite in chorus, in contexts including short plays, simple speech exercises and tongue twisters, short verses, and multiplication tables. Some may recite individually-as in 'birthday verses'.
• Retell scenes and events from stories told by the teacher.
• Share experiences with the class.
• Follow verbal instructions given by the teacher.
• Draw, paint, model, or otherwise artistically represent the content of stories they've heard in class.
• Understand that writing is a symbol for speech
• Recognize sounds, shapes, and names of all vowels and consonants in capital letters and most of the lower case letters
• Distinguish vowels from consonants
• Recognize initial sounds and become familiar with digraphs 'th,' 'ch,' and 'sh.'
• Become familiar with common word families
• Read familiar words and sentences out loud from the board or Main Lesson books.
• Spell a few very familiar words
• Copy words and sentences correctly from the board
• Know that writing moves from left to right and from top to bottom
• Understand and use spacing to separate words o Understand and use periods at the end of a sentence and capitalization at the beginning
• Write a few simple things independently

2nd Grade
The second grade builds upon the foundations laid in the first grade. While much of the same approach is still followed, learning with movement, imagination, and color, additional themes are woven into this year. Poems are recited in chorus as well as spoken solo in front of the class. Short poems are enacted or accompanied by gesture. The pupils retell stories they have heard and the experiences they have had. Speech and articulation exercises such as tongue twisters are practiced. Fables, legends of saints and heroes, local folklore and stories concerned mainly with animals and the local environment are the story material. In their content these reveal a broad scale of human activity and relate to the natural world. The stories are told and listened to several times before the class engages in conversation several days later. While fables satisfy the children's deep interest in the animal kingdom, legends highlight the noblest human qualities. These fables and legends form the basis of the classes' reading and writing.

READING
The pupils continue to practice reading with texts they have written themselves. A differentiated approach is used including whole class reading, child to adult, child to child and solo reading. There is regular practice in the recognition of auditory, visual and kinesthetic patterns through teacher led exercises. Spelling is based on a whole language approach reinforced by contextual and kinesthetic exercises with an emphasis on phonics. Word games and simple readers are also introduced in grade 2.

WRITING
The transition to lower case cursive script is prepared by suitable form drawing exercises. The content of written work is related to the main lesson themes and the pupil's own experiences. About a third of the writing is composed by the pupil and the other two thirds comprising texts prepared by the teacher and copied from the board or dictated by the teacher. The children learn cursive writing by joining up the printed letters of last year.

GRAMMAR
Grammar is introduced kinesthetically by acting out stories in which the children can experience the contrast between doing words (verbs), naming words (nouns) and describing words (adjectives and adverbs). Punctuation is taught on the basis of the spoken rhythms which indicate when the sentence starts, finishes, or pauses.

By the end of second grade, pupils:

• Recognize, write and read printed letters and cursive script
• Have familiarity and practice with word families
• Learn to read and spell letter combinations in common words including: sh, th, ch, wh, ph, gh, wr, kn ee, oo, ei, ea, ai, igh, oa, ui, ow
• Work with word endings, such as ly, ing, er, able, ed, est, ness
• Work with word beginnings, such as un, in, ex, re
• Read, write, and spell days of the week, months, numbers, and other commonly used words such as was, were, are, said, their/there, have.
• Have increased skills in word recognition and sounding out
• Use of context clues to guide understanding
• Read out loud, in chorus, and individually
• Read with developing enthusiasm, read teacher-created books and their own books with basic skills in comprehension, fluency, and expression
• Read simple stories on their own for pleasure Writing Skills
• Spell using 3 letter blends
• Students help compose a class summary of a story they've heard
• Begin composing little summaries of things they have done as a class
• Students write short descriptive or narrative accounts, based on stories they've heard or recent experiences.
• Create own books with stories or poems copied from the teacher (E)
• Use initial capitalization, periods, and question marks ‘, (E), (L)

3rd Grade
READING
In Grade 3 reading expands to a differentiation of reading material and reading for different purposes i.e. to understand tasks, to find information and to read timetables. Children are encouraged to use reference material and regular reading lessons are introduced. Children are directed to a wide range of reading material according to ability. Reading aloud is practiced with an awareness of content and punctuation. As in grade 2, a range of reading techniques is used including whole class reading, group reading, individual reading, and paired reading (child to child, child to adult). The emphasis is on 'real' books and quality literature. Oral work plays an important role throughout the classes with equal emphasis on both speaking and listening. Good skills at both are prerequisites for the development of all literacy skills. As well as the daily recitation of poetry and verses, many of which are designed as speech exercises to strengthen pronunciation and articulation, the children are encouraged to describe their experiences and recall the stories they have heard. The teacher's own language serves as a model for the use and form of spoken language. This emphasis on oral work provides a basis for the subsequent understanding of grammatical structures and punctuation. It is important that the child experience how the printed word arises out of the spoken word and becomes alive again through reading.

GRAMMAR
The work on writing, reading and speaking and listening in the first two grades provides a basis for introducing children to a systematic exploration of grammatical qualities in grade 3, starting with nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Grammar awakens living rational thought, the awareness of a qualitative difference between words that are 'naming', those that are 'doing', and those that are 'describing'.

WRITING
With the introduction of cursive script, the children's writing begins to become more individual. Emphasis is placed on well-formed, legible writing. The child has the task of making sure that what is written looks beautiful. The reason for writing beautifully is to express respect for the person who will be expected to read it by presenting him or her with clear, well formed letters and word-shapes. The children are encouraged to write longer, more complex compositions based on main-lesson themes and their own experience. Out of the emergent writing of the children the teacher takes up the issues of grammar and correct usage, sentence structure, punctuation, spelling, etc., and provides instruction and guidance as opportunity presents itself.

SPELLING
We will encourage pupils to read aloud and clear speaking is important for good spelling. Pupils will practice spelling systematically through guided word recognition, word families, similarities and letter combinations.

By the end of Third Grade, most children of normal ability range will be able to:

• Integrate Reading Skills
• Read out loud, at times together, at times individually, with expression, from class readers
• Progress from reading texts aloud to reading silently on their own
• Demonstrate understanding of what they have read through oral, written, and artistic responses. Develop vocabulary (synonyms and antonyms, homonyms, compound words)
• Form simple sentences from the content of their main lesson themes
• Recognize and characterize correct parts of speech (verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs)
• Show that they understand and recognize basic sentence structure (subject, verb, and object) Writing Skills
• Learn to write and read in cursive
• Write short descriptive or narrative accounts of stories or recent events.
• Write short informative accounts based on oral presentations of a factual nature (such as those related to farming, house building, etc)
• Keep a journal
• Write poetry
• Write summaries of stories or continue a story which the teacher has begun for them
• Write social or practical letters, such as thank you letters.
• Use punctuation -capital letters, end punctuation, commas, apostrophes for possessives and contractions, quote marks.
• Indent paragraphs
• Write in well-formed cursive script Spelling
• Spell vowel and consonant digraphs and simple compound words
• Practice spelling with words arising from lessons and review or expand lessons in word-formation as needed Speaking and Listening
• Recite longer poems, both individually and in chorus, and perform in short plays.
• Retell longer, more complex stories and tell about their own experiences in and out of school
• Participate in class discussions of topics drawn from the curriculum
• Give an explanation of what they are doing to an inquirer.
• Draw, paint, model or otherwise artistically represent content presented orally from across the curriculum

4th Grade
As more time is devoted to literacy skills, it is important to maintain the cultivation of spoken language through recitation and speech exercises, reporting and describing, discussing and listening. Class readers may be used but these are supplemented by access to a wide range of literature in the classroom and in the library. By the end of fourth grade, most children will be able to:

SPEAKING AND LISTENING

• Perform in a play before the school community, speaking both in chorus and several lines individually
• Recite poetry and prose passages, both individually and in chorus.
• Give short talks on topics drawn from the curriculum.
• Recall and talk about the main events, characters, and significant details of stories, myths and other presentations of a factual nature.
• Give oral book reports Writing
• Write narratives based on stories they have heard and experiences they have had in school and in daily life
• Write formal letters.
• Write informative reports or summaries based on what they've heard or read.
• Copy important texts such as sayings and quotations, poems and the texts of songs
• Know irregular plurals
• Know remaining vowel and vowel/consonant digraphs
• Write with an ink pen

READING

• Demonstrate increasing fluency in reading from class readers, supplemented by a wide range of literature.
• Show their understanding of a variety or reading materials, including literature and non-fiction, through oral, written, and artistic responses.
• Know how to use a dictionary
• Make a reasonable guess at unknown words in a text
• Read confidently and independently

GRAMMAR

• Identify and characterize the parts of speech, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, articles, and conjunctions.
• Use the comma and exclamation and question marks
• Show mastery of past, present, and future tenses.
• Identify the main clause in a sentence and distinguish between the four types of sentences: statement, question, exclamation, and command.

SPELLING

• Learn to spell groups of related words and common, but difficult, words such as beautiful, experience, create.
• Know more irregular families of spellings
• Guess the pronunciation and spelling of unfamiliar words.

5th Grade
READING GOALS

• Read and analyze a wide variety of age appropriate genres, biographies, Ancient Greek and other Ancient Mythologies, literature and poetry
• Distinguish between ones own voice and that of others Grammar and Essay Writing
• Understand how verb tenses express time in language
• to relate how various parts of speech express different qualities to their own increasing variety of inner experience
• to understand declension, sentence structure, punctuation, prepositions, etc.
• to articulate different standpoints and varying relationships, and to distinguish between direct and indirect speech or active and passive modes defining the speaker's own position
• to write clear, focused essays using the multi paragraph essay structure, incorporating introduction, supporting evidence and conclusion
• introduce and develop skills of drafting, conferencing, revising, rewriting and editing

RECITATION
Pupils recite more complicated texts from their history lessons: early oriental works such as the Bhagavadgita, the Mahabharata, the Vedas or Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian or Ancient Grecian texts or poems. Such literature coming from so far away both in time and place astonishes the pupils and helps prepare the students to be open to other cultures and to respect and appreciate them.

LANGUAGE ARTS ASSESSMENT

• Perform in a play and speak numerous lines individually
• read confidently and independently
• read aloud fluently with awareness of punctuation including direct speech
• take down a dictation on a known subject with reasonable accuracy
• use a dictionary to find unfamiliar words for both spelling and meaning
• use a thesaurus
• use common suffixes and prefixes
• use quotation marks in direct speech, colon and semi-colon, and appropriate use of paragraphs
• know use and character of all major parts of speech; nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, repositions (time and space) the articles, conjunctions, interjections
• use simple and continuous verb forms in all tenses, including present perfect and forms of the future, in questions and negatives and active and passive moods.

6th Grade
SPEAKING AND LISTENING

• The students should experience the strength of language in all its forms.
• Recitation of ballads and nature poems
• Public speaking and elementary rhetoric can be taught through the presentation of short talks as well as through preparing and delivering exhortations, commands and directives (related to their Roman studies)
• Oral presentations associated with the study of geography Reading
• Read books in a range of styles and give a verbal summary of the main content
• Write clear and concise business letters using topics directly relating to the classroom experience, i.e. when a new building is being built, inquiries to a museum or campground regarding a class trip, or ordering musical instruments. (this is also duplicated in their foreign language studies)
• Speak in chorus and individually (continue to practice regularly)
• Read in a variety of genres
• Perform individually in the class play

GRAMMAR

• The subjunctive mood, sentence structure, kinds of sentences, i.e. interrogative, declarative, imperative (command) and exclamatory, metaphor and metaphorical exchange all make up the typical Grade Six grammar lessons.
• Further parts of speech learned at this time include: subject (simple and compound), predicate, clauses (i.e. dependent, independent, adjective, adverbial), and three compliments (direct object, predicate adjective, and predicate nominative.)

ESSAY WRITING
Students write descriptions in connection with nature studies, history and geography. Spelling continues to be practiced.

7th Grade
SPEAKING & LISTENING
Lyric poetry - spoken aloud, with especial attention to pieces teacher and pupils personally like.

NARRATIVE CONTENT
Historical novels, adventure stories centering on the Arthurian legends and voyages of discovery. Continuing work on biographies, creative writing, research papers, early play writing, and forms of poetry. Wide reading, fiction and non-fiction. Short book summaries and verbal reports.

GRAMMAR
Sentence structure. Writing exercises that express a wish or something the pupils admire, or something they are surprised about. Getting punctuation right is important.

ESSAY WRITING
Essays exploring subjects from opposite viewpoints are assigned in quick succession. Pupils need to weigh facts from various angles. Use their own mistakes to show them how to do it correctly. Students explore metaphor and imagery. They learn the craft of letter writing for different purposes - bank managers, eye-witness accounts, factual summaries, commentaries, notes, email, etc.

8th Grade
Shakespeare, epic and dramatic poetry, continue literature, grammar, spelling, essay writing, business and practical writing, write skits and short plays.

SPEAKING & LISTENING

• Students perform in a major play or dramatic presentation before the school community.
• Students speak on prepared topics, including more formal oral presentations based on their own research.
• Students recite, individually, and with expression, epic and dramatic poetry and prose pieces.
• Students participate in class discussion and dialogue, including expressing an opinion or point of view and explaining the reasons or experiences that led to that viewpoint.
• Students draw paint, sculpt, or otherwise artistically represent content presented orally from across the curriculum.

READING

• Students read a wide range of classical and modern literature, including at least one book per month during the school year.
• Students demonstrate understanding of a variety of literature, including novels, poetry, short story, and drama, through oral, written, and artistic responses to the ideas and themes presented.
• Students read a variety of non-fiction, for information and to discover new ideas, making effective use of reference materials to develop and support their own research projects and classroom work.

WRITING

• Students write informative essays on topics drawn from the curriculum and reports based on their own reading and research.
• Students compose original pieces of creative writing, which may include poems in various forms, short stories, or dramatic dialogues.
• Students write narratives, which may include historical accounts, biographies, journals, stories and accounts of their own experiences.
• Students proofread, edit, and revise their own drafts.

GRAMMAR

• Students show their knowledge of the grammar taught in previous years, including sentence structure, punctuation, compound and complex sentences, etc.

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS IN THE LANGUAGE ARTS

• Students perform in a major play or dramatic presentation.
• Students speak on prepared topics, including formal oral presentations based on their own research.
• Organize the presentation with a clear purpose or main idea
• Effective use of research materials to support and develop their topic, providing appropriate documentation.
• Speak clearly and effectively, showing through their diction, pacing, use of eye contact, expression, etc. that they're aware of the needs of the audience o Effectively explain and illustrate the ideas presented, through the use of examples, visual illustrations, demonstrations, or other aids to effective communication

EXAMPLES OF STUDENT ASSIGNMENTS

• Students may prepare individual oral reports on topics from the curriculum, including biographies of historical figures, authors, poets, or inventors, or particular events from history. Preparation typically includes research into source materials at the school or local library and/or articles obtained through computer research. Oral presentations are usually accompanied by a written summary or outline, with a bibliography of sources used.
• Students in the 8th grade traditionally prepare a longer and more in-depth report for presentation to the wider school community. They choose their own topics for the "8th Grade Project." and present them to the teacher for approval. Many teachers ask students to present a rationale for their proposed topic, explaining why they wish to research this topic and what interest or value it might have for a broader audience. Part of the challenge for students in this assignment, however, is that they are given the freedom and responsibility to develop the project out of their own interests. The 8th Grade Project usually includes a written report, an oral presentation, and an artistic or hands-on presentation.

Some examples of topics 8th grade students have researched and presented: Feng Shui, Karate, Biofeedback, Black and White Photography, The Samurai Code of Honor, Wiccan, Japanese Internment Camps, Hybrid (gas-electric) Cars, Major Naval Battles of World War Two, The Hidden World of Ballet (pressures on young dancers), Pollution of the Oceans, The Construction of a Guitar, Children in Nazi Concentration Camps, Gettysburg, J.R.R. Tolkien, The History of the Comic Book, The Magic of Cats, The Art of Vincent Van Gogh.

CRITERIA FOR EXAMINING STUDENT PERFORMANCES AND PRODUCTS

• Perform a speaking role in the play or presentation
• Deliver their lines clearly and audibly, from memory
• Show they have developed an understanding of the character portrayed, through their spoken expression, gestures, posture, costume design, etc.
• Show their understanding of and support for the presentation as a whole, through their interaction with other actors and through their participation in the design and construction of sets, costumes, sound or light effects, posters, etc.

Examples of Plays and Musicals performed by 8th Grade classes: Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer; Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice; Romeo and Juliet, The Hobbit (musical adaptation), Alice in Wonderland (musical adaptation), Cheaper By the Dozen, The Mouse That Roared, Our Town, Steal Away Home (musical), You Can't Take it with You, A Servant of Two Masters.

(See also"Waldorf Learning & Assessment Project" (LEAP), an initiative of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education APPENDIX F)

For more information about the curriculum, please email: curriculum@oceancharterschool.org