Fifth Grade Language Arts

During our Ancient Civilizations block we’ve been focusing on Language Arts and there are various ways that focus takes form.

1. Dictations — In our weekly dictations I’ve been giving special attention to comma use. I’m trying to introduce the various comma rules through our dictation sentences. Everyday when we do the dictation in class, part of our review of it is a discussion of the commas and the purposes they serve. Every week I write the dictation so it will emphasize one of the comma rules. My students are definitely not in the habit of overusing commas, which I am grateful for, though they could definitely develop a more attentive eye towards using punctuation (in general) when necessary.
2. Language Arts class — In our weekly Language Arts class we have been working on putting together a “Grammar Guidebook.” Our first entries are all about the parts of speech. I’m using these great books from Mercurius that were developed for use in the high school but I appreciate that one side of the page is unlined, while the other side is lined. They make great grade school workbooks. As I take a closer look at the site, though, I see that they come in a variety of rulings, including graph paper. We’re putting titles and illustrations of each part of speech on the unlined page, followed by definitions, explanations and examples on the lined pages. Just perfect!
3. Weekly compositions — It is my goal to have the students write about our content once each week. We are working on developing an editing process (which I write more about here) but at this point my students are simply learning how to tell a story in written form. In fifth grade, rather than write a summary of the story (or the entire story from beginning to end), we are choosing one small image from each story and writing about it with great description and detail. To get the students to live into this way of telling a story I describe it in a couple of ways, which I’ll write about in a separate post.

Language Arts are my specialty and I really love teaching the subject to my students. There isn’t a great Waldorf Language Arts guide out there (unless one has been released that I don’t know about) so I rely a lot on traditional resources and apply my own Waldorf touch. My favorite resource, actually, is my own 7th grade textbook, Warriner’s Composition and Grammar. (Which I was astonished to find is going for nearly $200 on Amazon.) There are other great resources out there, though. Here are a few.

Write Source 2000: A Guide to Writing, Thinking and LearningThe Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: An Easy-to-Use Guide with Clear Rules, Real-World Examples, and Reproducible QuizzesThe Synonym Finder