**Please read the course description in its entirety to ensure that this will be a good fit for your child**

A total of FOUR essays will be written for this course.

 **No class age range exceptions** A response to requests for exceptions will not be made as there are courses in the Writing Academy for upper elementary and those younger than the age range for this course.

Students will learn how to write a structured five paragraph essay.

The essays include: Definition, Compare and Contrast, Persuasive, and Analysis.
Each lesson will begin with a mini-lecture along with an example writing excerpt.  

Week 1: Day 1: Expository  Writing 
Material Needed: lined writing paper, pencil/pen, eraser
Objective: Student will learn how to develop an outline.
Student will practice structuring paragraphs (topic sentence, main idea, and thesis statements).
Student will select a word or phrase to define.

Week 2: Compare and Contrast 
Material Needed: lined writing paper, pencil/pen, eraser
Objective: Student will select two things to compare and contrast using formal writing.
Student will include their outline (point-by-point or subject-by-subject).

Week 3: Persuasive 
Material Needed: lined writing paper, pencil/pen, eraser
Objective:  Student will learn to support claims with logical reasoning.
Student will learn the persuasive elements: pathos, ethos, logos.

Week 4: Opinion 
Material Needed: lined writing paper, pencil/pen, eraser
Objective:  Student will learn to identify the author's purpose (identifying literary devices and theme).

Completed essays should be submitted to the Outschool classroom as a .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf, or through GoogleDocs.  If these writing applications/programs are not available, they may be typed in the chat.

*Please note, grades (letter/percentage) are not issued for this course.

*DUE DATES ARE ASSIGNED*
Along with teaching classes and providing feedback, teachers have additional classes they may teach and household responsibilities which requires scheduling for completing the feedback.   This is why due dates are assigned to be considerate of teacher’s time and to ensure that the workload isn’t overlapping for learners.

Feedback is provided privately to each learner and work is not shared in class unless the learner decides to post their work in the class.  Feedback is provided in written form.  Revisions are not required as learners are asked to review their feedback and apply the recommendations towards each assignment.