Once learners "crack the code," or master the decoding of the English language, the real fun begins! The English language is complicated, fascinating, and entirely amazing. In this course, I will guide learners through a structured approach to examining the English language. 

This class is built on the Orton-Gillingham approach to instruction. It combines decades of the best reading science with strong practice and routines so students gain confidence and practice in a hands-on, integrated, and fun way. Each week, learners will focus on a new set of affixes or Greek and Latin Roots, practice new vocabulary, build reading fluency and comprehension, and practice new grammar and writing skills. Please see the detailed timeline below. While Orton-Gillingham instruction is beneficial for all learners, it is particularly helpful for learners with dyslexia.

Students will develop, use, and maintain an interactive notebook as a reference for all parts of the class. Resources will be provided and also created with students so that this notebook becomes a living document representing what they know and have learned about the English language.

Classes will include games, slides, video clips, discussion, and interaction among learners. 

Classes will generally follow the following format, though there may be flexibility within each week, depending on the specific content.

Day 1: Review previously learned morphemes, learn new affixes or bases, and introduction of necessary spelling rules. This will be done through consistent, detailed review, manipulation of learned morphemes, introduction of new morphemes through exploration and analysis, and hands-on practice with writing, spelling, and creating words using these morphemes.

Day 2: Vocabulary, Fluency and Comprehension through the use of a quality text, rereading, and analyzing. Vocabulary from an appropriate text will be previewed to assist in vocabulary building and comprehension. Texts will be read and reread using a variety of activities designed to increase fluency. Texts will be from a variety of genres and selected to enhance previously learned skills. Finally, we will analyze and discuss the text using a variety of methods to help students improve retelling, sequencing, clarifying, making inferences, and other important comprehension skills. Each week the emphasis may be on a different element of these facets of reading, as each element works together to reinforce the others. 

Day 3: Grammar and Writing. On our third day each week, in addition to review of learned morphemes, we will improve our understanding of the grammar of the English language, including parts of speech, figurative language, sentence structure, and syntax. 

New morphemes for each week, vocabulary strategy, grammar, and writing skills are outlined below:

Week 1: 
Morphemes: ed, ing, s/es
Vocabulary skill: Word Harvest
Grammar: Nouns
Writing: Capitalization

Week 2:
Morphemes: able/ible
Vocabulary skill: Context clues
Grammar: Nouns continued
Writing: Punctuation-ending marks

Week 3:
Morphemes: ful/less
Vocabulary skill: word maps
Grammar: Adjectives
Writing: Commas

Week 4:
Morphemes: un-, dis-, in-
Vocabulary skill: shades of meaning
Grammar: Pronouns
Writing: Commas

Week 5:
Morphemes: Latin bases -rupt, form
Vocabulary skill: vocabulary chart
Grammar: Verbs (kinds)
Writing: Apostrophes (possessives)

Week 6: 
Morphemes: Latin bases port, struct
Vocabulary skill: multiple meanings
Grammar: Verbs (tenses)
Writing: Apostrophes (contractions)

Week 7:
Morphemes: Latin bases dict, cred
Vocabulary skill: multiple meanings
Grammar: Adverbs
Writing: Figurative language-simile

Week 8:
Morphemes: Latin aud, vis/vid
Vocabulary/spelling: idioms
Grammar: Prepositions
Writing: Figurative language-metaphor

Week 9: 
Morphemes: Greek bases: graph/gram, phon, photo, tele
Vocabulary skill: vocabulary cartoons
Grammar: Conjunctions
Writing: Figurative language--hyperbole

Week 10:
Morphemes: Greek bases: bio, (o)logy, phobia, hydr(o)
Vocabulary skill: Taboo
Grammar: interjections
Writing: Run-on sentences

Week 11:
Morphemes: inter, ject, ion (prefix, Latin base, suffix)
Vocabulary skill: Cloze exercises
Grammar: subject/predicate
Writing: Figurative Language-personification

Week 12:
Morphemes: er/or, est
Vocabulary skill: Put it all together 
Grammar: Review needed concepts
Writing: Denotation and Connotation

********For learners to be successful in this course, they should be generally able to decode most words in a beginner's chapter book. Reading should no longer be sound-by-sound, and learners should be ready to write and spell basic words with some accuracy. If you have questions about whether your learner is ready for this class, please feel free to send a message! The class includes content generally taught in 2nd-4th grades**********