Language Arts

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Our language arts program centers around the reading program, Voices. This program uses fiction and nonfiction texts to introduce reading strategies along with skills to promote reading comprehension. This series presents material in the themse such as Identity Awareness, Perspective Taking, Conflict Resolution, and Social Awareness. The students also focus on a number of different genres throughout the year: biographies, realistic and historical fiction, fantasy, fables, and others. Literature circles involve the use of trade books. Small groups of students read the same book and have time in class to discuss the book with their classmates.

November means Poetry in the Park. Students in each class master a poem which is shared with the whole Lower Division during this special event. The children have fun learning their poem and hearing other classes share theirs. Throughout the year, students also have ample opportunity to compose and share their own original poetry.

Over the course of the year, students are guided through several research projects. They learn to use the library as a research source, as well as the Internet as a tool to gather information. The basic goals are for the children to learn note taking skills, how to organize their ideas, and the mechanics of composing quality sentences and paragraphs. Research projects typically focus on Florida, Native Americans, and European explorers.

Language and writing skills are further developed through the use of the Wordly Wise program, the Write Source text, and Daily Language Review activities. Literary devices (simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, personification, hyperbole, and alliteration) are a topic of study in both the computer lab and third grade classrooms. They are all excellent resources for developing and enhancing the consistent use of correct grammar and mechanics. The students are given many opportunities to write in a variety of genres, including but not limited to descriptive writing, letters, biographies, and poetry. The writing process is practiced throughout the year using the framework of Six Traits.