There is no prerequisite requirement for this class.

Semester One and Semester Two are completely self-contained and can be taken in any order.

English, Literature

I have been a lover of books since I was 9 years old and had to have surgery.  My mother, who understood a few things about her child, read the first book in a series to me with all the voices and enthusiasm any book could want.  Then she read the first 2 chapters of the next book.  And then she stopped.  The larger picture of why she stopped at that moment isn't important.  What is important is that she lit a flame in me.  I wanted to know how it finished.  From that point on, I've been a reader.  

This early experience truly informs the books I choose for my young readers.  I want the books to fire their minds, I want them to touch their hearts.  Reading a book is starting a conversation with a person you've never met and truly hearing them.  I want to build lovers of reading not just hit that magical 30-minute reading time.  

The Details
We will be reading through five wonderful books over the course of 15  weeks.  Each book will increase in word count helping your learner's reading fluency gradually improve.  This is the perfect, light-reading class to keep everyone reading through the whole semester.

Classes will follow a general structure:

Welcome
Discussion (questions provided)
Introduction of next class assignment
Vocabulary to look out for

Every week the student will need to complete the reading and the Discussion Questions to be ready for the following week's class.  There is no homework to hand-in.

Below is our schedule.  I've noted the two weeks that will have a video class.

Assignments by week
Week 1 – January 12, 2021 – No assignments due at first class.

Homework due Week 2 – January 19, 2021 at the beginning of class
The Whipping Boy, by Sid Fleischman
Read 13 Chapters (approximately 44 pages or 6-9 pages per day)
Chapter 1 – In Which We Observe a Hair-Raising Event
Chapter 2 – Wherein the Prince Cannot Write His Name
Chapter 3 – The Runaways
Chapter 4 – Containing Hands in the Fog
Chapter 5 – Hold-Your-Nose Billy and Cutwater
Chapter 6 – In Which the Plot Thickens
Chapter 7 – Being an Account of a Great Mix-Up
Chapter 8 – The Ransom Note
Chapter 9 – Revealing Jemmy’s Plan to Trick the Villains
Chapter 10 – In Which Prince Brat Lives Up to His Name
Chapter 11 – Containing a Great Deal of Shouting
Chapter 12 – Wherein Jemmy is Betrayed
Chapter 13 – The Chase


Homework due Week 3 – January 26, 2021
The Whipping Boy, by Sid Fleischman
Read 7 Chapters (approximately 46 pages or 6-9 pages per day)
Chapter 14 –In Which is Heard a Voice in the Forest
Chapter 15 – Of the Hot-Potato Man and Other Matters
Chapter 16 – Wherein the Prince Neither Bawls or Bellows
Chapter 17 – Petunia to the Rescue
Chapter 18 – Of Assorted Events in Which the Plot Thickens Thicker
Chapter 19 – Being a Full Account of the Happenings in Dark Sewers
Chapter 20 – In Which the Sun Shines and We learn What Befell the Whipping Boy, the Prince and Everyone Else
Note

Homework due Week 4 – February 2, 2021
The Mouse and the Motorcycle, by Beverly Cleary
Read a Letter and 5 Chapters (approximately 63 pages or 9-13 pages per day)
A Letter from Kate DiCamillo
Chapter 1 – The New Guests
Chapter 2 – The Motorcycle
Chapter 3 – Trapped!
Chapter 4 – Keith
Chapter 5 – Adventure in the Night

Homework due Week 5 - February 9, 2021
The Mouse and the Motorcycle, by Beverly Cleary
Read 4 Chapters (approximately 55 pages or 8-11 pages per day)
Chapter 6 – A Peanut Butter Sandwich
Chapter 7 – The Vacuum Cleaner
Chapter 8 – A Family Reunion
Chapter 9 – Ralph Takes Command
	

Homework due Week 6 - February 16, 2021
The Mouse and the Motorcycle, by Beverly Cleary
Read 4 Chapters (approximately 67pages or 9-13 pages per day)
Chapter 10 – An Anxious Night
Chapter 11 – The Search
Chapter 12 – An Errand of Mercy
Chapter 13 – A Subject for Composition

Homework due Week 7 - February 23, 2021
Stuart Little, E.B. White
Read 7 Chapters (approximately 46 pages or 6-9 pages per day)
Chapter I – In the Drain
Chapter II – Home Problems
Chapter III – Washing Up
Chapter IV – Exercise
Chapter V – Rescued
Chapter VI – A Fair Breeze
Chapter VII – The Sailboat Race

Homework due Week 8 - March 2, 2021
Stuart Little, E.B. White
Read 6 Chapters (approximately 53 pages or 8-11 pages per day)
Chapter VIII – Margalo
Chapter IX – A Narrow Escape
Chapter X – Springtime
Chapter XI – The Automobile
Chapter XII – The Schoolroom

Homework due Week 9 - March 9, 2021 
Stuart Little, E.B. White
Read 3 Chapters (approximately 31 pages or 4-7 pages per day)
Chapter XIII – Ame’s Crossing
Chapter XIV – An Evening on the River
Chapter XV – Heading North

Homework due Week 10 – March 16, 2021
Nurk-The Strange, Surprising Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew, by Ursula Vernon
Read 5 Chapters approximately 44 Pages or 6-9 pages per day
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Homework due Week 11 – March 23, 2021
Nurk-The Strange, Surprising Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew, by Ursula Vernon
Read 4 Chapters approximately 54 Pages or 7-10 pages per day
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

Homework due Week 12 – March 30, 2021
Nurk-The Strange, Surprising Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew, by Ursula Vernon
Read 4 Chapters approximately 33 Pages or 4-6 pages per day
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13

Final Class Wrap up of Discussion Questions and Full Class Discussion
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