4th and 5th graders are at the perfect age to receive plenty of encouragement, freedom, and most importantly, guided assurance to express themselves freely through writing. At this age, writing becomes not only a task or pure enjoyment, but a form of social play. The social nature of writing for budding writers in the 4th and 5th grades, if channeled properly, will set them on a course that will pretty much run itself as they progress through later academic careers towards success in the humanity courses.
This 4-5th grade Language Arts course can be adjusted to fit writers of all levels at this age.
As an acceleration course, it takes place 4-5 times a week, designed to help struggling little writers to write more confidently and read more efficiently.
As an enrichment course, it takes place 1-2 times a week, and complements (or could substitute, in the absence of) standard 4-5th grade Language Arts program, through a more carefully curated and integrated content designed to best fit each student's particular needs.
For 4th graders, the aim of this course will be to introduce the five steps of writing a five-paragraph essay, with the emphasis on the pre-writing stage. Various pre-writing strategies will be introduced through pre-writing exerises. Students will be encouraged to express their views creatively and persuasively through writing, while learning how to organize their thoughts coherently. Students will also learn the strategies of revision, moving from arts and crafts revisionary activities to writing a true second draft.
For 5th graders, the aim of this course is to familiarize students with all of the five steps of writing a five-paragraph essay: planning, drafting, revising, proofreading, and publishing. Students will be introduced to basic research skills and learn how to incorporate research into their essays. Students will also practice the four modes of writing - narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive - and more importantly, integrate the four different approaches to writing into forming a distinct personal style.
The teaching material for this course will be a combination of McGraw-Hill Language Arts textbooks, Learning Language Arts Through Literature: the Orange Book, Prentice Hall Writing and Grammar, Houghton Mifflin Literature textbooks as well as age-appropriate full-length novels including Newbery-medal classics:
Below is a partial sample syllabus for a 5th grade enrichment course that meets once a week for a total of six classes:
Pricing for this course is dependent upon the number of students enrolled:
One-on-one teaching: $60 per student per hour-long class
2-4 students: $40 per student
5-8 students: $30 per student
Maximum enrollment per class is 8 students in order to make sure that each individual student receives ample attention and class discussion time.
(4th graders have the option of enrolling in 45-min long classes at a reduced rate)
Upon enrollment, student will be guided through the following process:
1. Placement: Student will receive a diagnostic screening (up to 30 min) in order to determine the student's needs. Parents will also receive a phone consultation in discussion of common goals.
2. Syllabus: Parent will receive a syllabus outlining the length, content, and delivery method of class, which will serve as a contract between parent and Boston Roundtable. Once parent and Boston Roundtable have reached mutual agreement regarding the syllabus, parent will choose and enroll in a tuition payment schedule.
3. Class begins as soon as the teacher, TA, and parents find a convenient schedule that works for all participants.