This is a 30 minute ongoing class.  

I am very excited about our book lineup for this year!  You can see the list at the end of this description.

This class  is meant for students who have a basic knowledge of the 8 parts of speech.    If your student  has not yet learned the 8 parts of speech I encourage them to take the 9 week course: Beginning Learning Grammar Through Literature.   Then they may pop into this class any time.  

  And as always I like to make time for learner suggestions.  

One of the best ways to learn grammar is to study the  examples from well written literature. 

Each week I will send a pdf of the passage with some additional pdfs for reference.  These will usually be sent out the Sunday before the class.  

I will give a brief summary of the book our passage was taken from.   If any of the students have read the book I encourage their input, thoughts and opinions.   

It is not necessary to read the book our passage was taken from but I do hope to inspire their reading and engage in The Great Conversation. 

We will read the passage together and discuss its context in the story.    We will identify new and challenging vocabulary, tricky spellings and other interesting parts of the passage.   

We will be annotating our passage as we look for the 8 parts of speech and parts of a sentence.   Many students prefer to use the Zoom annotating tools to mark the passage and others like to put pen or pencil to the printed page.   

Elements we may encounter in a given passage:
-discuss any unfamiliar vocabulary. 
-look at tricky spellings.
-discuss other mechanics of writing: contractions, capitalization, homonyms, homophones, antonyms, similes, sentence types, dialogue, punctuation and more!
-a deeper knowledge of the 8 parts of speech 
-learn about the parts of the sentence and locate them.
-learn about phrases and clauses and look for them.

Knowing the grammar of our language helps us to become better speakers.  Studying grammar in well written literature helps us to improve our own writing.

Here is our schedule for this year. (Subject to change)

Week of 
September 2 The Chocolate War
September 9 Anne of Green Gables
September 16   Jo’s Boys
September 23   Matilda
September 30   Harry Potter

Week of   
October 7 Coraline
October 14 Legend of Sleepy Hollow
October 21 Frankenstein
October 28 Dracula

Week of  
November 4 War Horse
November 11  A Horse and His Boy
November 18  Black Beauty
November 25 No Class.  Thanksgiving Break

Week of 
December 2 The Worst Christmas Pageant Ever
December 9 A Christmas Carol
December 16 No Class Christmas Break
December 23 No Class Christmas Break
December 30 No Class Christmas Break


Week of  
January 6 Robinson Crusoe
January 13 Swiss Family Robinson
January 20 Turtle in Paradise
January 27 Swallows and Amazons

Week of  
February 3 The Family Under the Bridge
February 10 The Invention of Hugo Cabret
February17 The Three Musketeers
February 24 A Tale of Two Cities

Week of 
March 3 Cheaper By The Dozen
March 10  Who Gets The Drumstick?
March 17 The Penderwicks
March 24 The Five Children and It
March 31 No Class Spring Break

Week of  
April 7 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
April 14 City of Ember
April 21  The Giver
April 28  Journey To The Center Of The Earth

Week of 
May 5 Student Choice
May 12 Student Choice
May 19  Last Class!