Saint Andrew's Orthodox Church School

Language Arts

Teaching of the English Language includes the following elements:

These language skills are foundational in education. They are the skills that children will need to engage with any academic subject they study (at primary school and beyond). It is critically important that they acquire these skills properly. An excellent basis in language arts at primary school is the toolkit that will allow children to apply themselves to their other learning. It will make the rest of their schooling easier and more productive.

At Saint Andrew’s Orthodox Church School we use a Classical language arts programme produced by Memoria Press. We have chosen to follow their curriculum because it is very thorough. It is careful to drill every student in these basic skills until they have mastered them. The programme is also very much literature based. Throughout the course children engage with a multitude of storybooks of the highest quality. The curriculum is diligent about choosing the great books that meet a Classical School’s requirement of teaching the true, the good and the beautiful.

The methodology used to teach Language Arts is different from the way we teach the other subjects. As you read through the Introduction to Our Curriculum and the documents detailing the other subjects, you will notice that Saint Andrew’s Orthodox Church School is a lively environment with a lot of emphasis on interactive group activities. The Language Arts classes are the time in our day when we teach our students to sit calmly and focus quietly.

Our students learn English, and at the same time they practice the dedicated concentrated work that is required for scholarly excellence. Children learn to apply themselves to developing their skills in reading and writing, experiencing something of the peacefulness and quiet joy of hard work at their books.

We take this approach in the Language Arts class for two reasons. The first is that it is an opportunity for a few hours in the day when students can practice this necessary style of study. Our students find it easy to apply themselves during these times because they are only expected to show such restraint for a limited amount of time in the day. Secondly, we have chosen Language arts as the time for more individual quiet work because this approach befits the subject matter. Penmanship, grammar, spelling and phonics require careful repetitive work to master. Listening to books being read is its own sort of exciting, and writing requires you to focus inwards and order your own thoughts.

The benchmarks covered in each year are as follows:

Primary 1

Phonics

Students will:

Reading

Students will:

Writing

Students will:

Spelling

Students will:

Grammar

Students will:

Primary 2:

Phonics

Students will:

Reading

Students will:

Writing

Students will:

Spelling

Students will:

Grammar

Students will:

Primary 3:

Phonics

Students will:

Reading

Students will:

Writing

Students will:

Spelling

Students will:

Grammar

Students will:

Primary 4

Reading

Students will:

Writing

Students will:

Spelling

Students will:

Grammar

Students will:

Penmanship

Students will:

Primary 5

Reading

Students will:

Composition

Students will:

Spelling

Students will:

Grammar

Students will:

Penmanship

Students will:

Primary 6

Reading

Students will:

Composition

Students will:

Spelling

Students will:

Grammar

Students will:

Penmanship

Students will:

• Continue perfection of legibility and beauty in handwritten material

Primary 7

Reading

Students will:

Composition

Students will:

Spelling

Students will:

Grammar

Students will:

Penmanship

Students will: