Language Arts Level 3

Academic Year Language Arts

The third level course builds the foundations students need to become independent problem solvers in language arts. Over the course of the year, students explore ancient Greece while developing targeted reading, writing, critical thinking, and grammar skills.

The course is divided into four quarters.

In the first quarter, students read Greek myths while they create their own mythological stories, learning the craft of narrative.

In the second quarter, we extend our study of Greek mythology by exploring the history of ancient Athens. Through this lens, students learn about the practice of history and produce an argument about Socrates, developing skills for reading and writing persuasive nonfiction.

In the third quarter, students are introduced to Greek theater, which becomes a platform for writing and staging their own plays.

Finally, in the fourth quarter, students embark on Homer's Odyssey, reading adaptations of the original stories while developing sentence-building, research, and narrative writing skills.

All of the projects, readings, and activities in the class are designed to foster reading, writing, critical thinking, and public speaking skills at a level that is appropriately challenging.

What happens in class?

Each unit of Language Arts Level 3 is framed as an overarching language arts problem that students need to solve. In the course of solving this problem, students learn and apply skills across the spectrum of language arts: reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, interpretation, and critical thinking. Each day of class includes a blend of the following types of activities:

• A critical reading and discussion component that introduces students to strategies for understanding and interpreting challenging reading material, and gives them practice engaging in a collaborative discussion with their teacher and classmates.
• A writing component, where students practice writing and grammar skills related to the text they explored at the beginning of class.
• A puzzle or performance component, where students engage in a challenging puzzle, class game, or performance to develop a deeper understanding of the day's topics.

Homework

Students should expect to spend about 1-2 hours on homework every week. Homework will include practicing the reading, writing, and grammar skills covered in class, working on ongoing writing projects, and completing reading assignments. Students are expected to read independently throughout the year from assigned novels and nonfiction books. Students will take weekly reading quizzes on the course homepage to ensure that they are keeping up with the reading.

Teacher Feedback

Students will receive direct, oral feedback from their teacher during class. This in-person feedback is key in helping students revise and improve their writing while they are working on the writing projects. At the end of each writing project, students will submit their work to receive evaluative written feedback from their teacher.

Exams

Students will take four in-class exams, one at the end of each quarter: weeks 9, 18, 27, and 36. Exams will focus on the grammar, vocabulary, reading, and writing skills students are learning in class. Each exam day will also include time for students to present their writing project for that quarter.

Course Texts

• Beast Academy Language Arts Practice Book 3A
• Beast Academy Language Arts Practice Book 3B
• Beast Academy Language Arts Practice Book 3C
• Beast Academy Language Arts Practice Book 3D

Reading Tab

Students will spend time reading at home every week. On the first day of each new unit, students will choose either a primary or alternate book to read. Students will receive a copy of the primary book during class. However, if students want, they can also choose to read the alternate book, which must be acquired either from a library or bookstore. Every week, students will read a part of their book for homework and then take a quiz on the Reading tab.

Syllabus

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Schedule in 2022-23

All times Pacific.