Welcome to English by the Books!  The scope of this intensive language arts course covers literary analysis, grammar, beginner sentence diagramming, and formal writing practice over a 12 week semester.  Students will experience a familiar and supportive group setting as we learn how to read deeply, think critically, and write confidently with the use of living books!  Additionally, teacher editing support is provided for one rough draft per week with additional written feedback. 

Each week, we'll make the story come alive as we discuss the character development and plot of our current novel while further delving into all of the subject matter that enriches the story in a socratic style novel discussion.  Next, we'll dive deeper into the reading by studying the author's use of English grammar.  Students will further interact with the grammar by practicing basic sentence diagramming. Finally, students will gain formal writing skills including key word outlines and stylistic techniques.  By the end of the course, students will have completed their own summaries, formal essays, and literary critiques with the weekly steps we work through in class.  Please see the itinerary below for further details.

*Note:  Both the grammar and writing portions of this class pick up where the semester 1 class ended.  Students will review semester 1 concepts throughout the course while being introduced to more advanced application of the grammar and sentence diagramming.  Completion of the semester 1 class is required to enroll unless approved by the instructor.  Please message me with any questions.

The book selection for this course includes:
1.  Adventure, Historical Fiction:  "The Apothecary" by Maile Meloy
2.  Science Fiction:  "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne
3.  Fantasy:  "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.  Classic Literature:  "Shakespeare Stories" by Leon Garfield (see note in "Materials" section)
5.  Mystery: "Book Scavenger, Book 1" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
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Class Itinerary

Week 1 -  "The Apothecary" 
Class 1:
a.  Reading discussion, Chapters 1-7
b.  Grammar:  Review of semester 1 grammar

Class 2:
a.  Reading discussion, Chapters 8-14
b.  Writing:  Summarizing a reference

Week 2 - "The Apothecary" 
Class 3:
a.  Reading discussion, Chapters 15-21
b.  Grammar:  Adjectival and Adverbial Clauses

Class 4:  
a.   Reading discussion, Chapters 22-28
b.  Writing: Summarizing a reference

Week 3 - "The Apothecary"
Class 5:
a.  Reading discussion, "The Apothecary", Chapters 29-33
b.  Grammar:  Voice of verbs

Class 6:  
a.   Reading discussion, "The Apothecary", Chapters 34-38
b.  Writing: Summarizing a reference

Week 4 - "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"
Class 7:
a.  Reading discussion, Pt. 1 Chapters 1-10
b.  Grammar:  Interjections

Class 8:  
a.  Reading discussion, Pt. 1 Chapters 11-20
b.  Writing: Introductions and final clinchers, rough draft

Week 5 - "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"
Class 9:
a.  Reading discussion, Pt. 1 Chapters 21-23, Pt. 2 Chapters 1-5
b.  Grammar:  Nouns and pronouns

Class 10:  
a.   Reading discussion, Pt. 2 Chapters 6-14 
b.  Writing: Essay response

Week 6 - "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" / "The Hobbit"
Class 11:
a.  Reading discussion, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", Pt. 2 Chapters 15-23 
b.  Grammar:  Adjectives

Class 12:  
a.   Reading discussion, "The Hobbit", Chapters 1-4 
b.  Writing: Writing from pictures

Week 7 - "The Hobbit"
Class 13:
a.  Reading discussion, Chapters 5-7 
b.  Grammar:  Verbs

Class 14:  
a.   Reading discussion, Chapters 8, 9 
b.  Writing: Formal essay model

Week 8 - "The Hobbit"
Class 15:
a.  Reading discussion, Chapters 10-13 
b.  Grammar:  Prepositions

Class 16:  
a.   Reading discussion, Chapters 14-19
b.  Writing: Formal essay model, rough draft

Week 9 - "Shakespeare Stories"
Class 17:
a.  Reading discussion, "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
b.  Grammar:  Conjunctions

Class 18:  
a.   Reading discussion, "Much Ado About Nothing"
b.  Writing: Formal essay model, final draft

Week 10 - "Book Scavenger"
Class 19:
a.  Reading discussion, Chapters 1-7
b.  Grammar:  Adjectives

Class 20:  
a.   Reading discussion, Chapters 8-14
b.  Writing: Formal literature critique

Week 11 - "Book Scavenger"
Class 21:
a.  Reading discussion, Chapters 15-21
b.  Grammar:  Adverbs and verb mood

Class 22:  
a.   Reading discussion, Chapters 22-28
b.  Writing: Formal literature critique, rough draft

Week 12 - "Book Scavenger"
Class 23:
a.  Reading discussion, Chapters 29-35
b.  Grammar:  Final review

Class 24:  
a.   Reading discussion, Chapters 36-42
b.  Writing: Read final drafts in class