Quarter(s): 3,4

Day(s): Thu

Open Spots: 4

Reading and writing affect a student's achievement in all aspects of schoolwork, so strong language arts skills are fundamental to success in homeschooling and beyond. This weekly class is a small group of 3-6 students* who read and write at a similar level. Students follow a comprehensive language arts curriculum under the guidance of an experienced reading specialist. Each class meeting will include a short story with select vocabulary words, a graphic organizer, main themes, and embedded learning objectives. Students will continue to practice language arts skills at home with easy-to-implement "page a day" workbook activities assigned by the instructor and implemented by the parents. For most early elementary learners, enrollment in Reading Rally can serve as a complete, self-contained language arts curriculum where families will not need additional resources in reading, comprehension, composition, spelling, and grammar.

Weekly readings are organized around thematic units. The instructor will teach students how to approach a new story as a fun reading puzzle. For example, before reading aloud in class, students will conduct a "picture walk" to overview and predict elements of the story from the illustrations, review a graphic organizer to assist in writing sentences, define vocabulary words, and preview summary questions. Then, the instructor will read the story aloud, model good reading practices, and encourage students to read. Students will only be asked to read aloud when they feel comfortable and have built trust in their group. All follow-up activities are designed around learning objectives such as decoding, comprehension, prediction, visualization, and verbalization.

READINESS: As a comprehensive language arts curriculum, a student must be at a similar grade level ability in reading, comprehension, and writing. Early readers who have not learned to write, for example, or emerging readers who struggle with comprehenion, may not be a good fit for this class. In addition, students must have the hand-eye coordination and basic handwriting skills to be able to copy the instructor's many notes, examples, and definitions from the classroom white board into their own notebook.

Grade level references in Reading Rally are based on scope, sequence and pacing that correlate to the Grade Level Equivalent (GLE) standards of learning. Students who are more than one year behind in GLE in language arts or who have a difference in skill level between their reading and writing may be recommended for 1-on-1 private instruction to make up ground in reading or writing skills. Additional class meetings or private instruction will be an additional cost.

ATTENTION! (1) Parents should not register for a Reading Rally class until they have had a Language Arts Skills Inventory (i.e. brief assessment) and placement determination by the reading specialist. This must be scheduled separately through Compass at a cost of $125.00. The fee is due prior to the assessment and is not refundable in the event the child is not recommended for a reading group. (2) Parents should not assume a specific reading section until the student has been evaluated. Reading skill levels are not interchangeable, and refunds will not be issued if you do not "get" the level you prefer. It is recommended you get your reading group assignment before scheduling other classes. (3) The instructor has experience working with reluctant and fearful readers, those who are late bloomers, neurodivergent, dyslexic, and ESOL students. However, she might recommend a more complete evaluation by another professional if she suspects other learning differences are impacting the student's langauge arts learning. (4) Pricing is based a minimum 3 students in a level. In the event only 2 students are assigned to one level, the family will be asked to pay the upcharge to a 2-person semi-private class. With only one student, a class will be canceled, but the student has the option to pursue 1:1 instruction. (3) Students will work from a spiral bound copy of reading textbook and workbook by Pearson. A class fee of (varies by reading level) is due payable to the instructor for the required books.

Students continuing from one semester to the next will receive priority registration to remain with their reading group.

Quarter(s): 3,4

Day(s): Thu

Open Spots: 2

Reading and writing affect a student's achievement in all aspects of schoolwork, so strong language arts skills are fundamental to success in homeschooling and beyond. This weekly class is a small group of 3-6 students* who read and write at a similar level. Students follow a comprehensive language arts curriculum under the guidance of an experienced reading specialist. Each class meeting will include a short story with select vocabulary words, a graphic organizer, main themes, and embedded learning objectives. Students will continue to practice language arts skills at home with easy-to-implement "page a day" workbook activities assigned by the instructor and implemented by the parents. For most early elementary learners, enrollment in Reading Rally can serve as a complete, self-contained language arts curriculum where families will not need additional resources in reading, comprehension, composition, spelling, and grammar.

Weekly readings are organized around thematic units. The instructor will teach students how to approach a new story as a fun reading puzzle. For example, before reading aloud in class, students will conduct a "picture walk" to overview and predict elements of the story from the illustrations, review a graphic organizer to assist in writing sentences, define vocabulary words, and preview summary questions. Then, the instructor will read the story aloud, model good reading practices, and encourage students to read. Students will only be asked to read aloud when they feel comfortable and have built trust in their group. All follow-up activities are designed around learning objectives such as decoding, comprehension, prediction, visualization, and verbalization.

READINESS: As a comprehensive language arts curriculum, a student must be at a similar grade level ability in reading, comprehension, and writing. Early readers who have not learned to write, for example, or emerging readers who struggle with comprehenion, may not be a good fit for this class. In addition, students must have the hand-eye coordination and basic handwriting skills to be able to copy the instructor's many notes, examples, and definitions from the classroom white board into their own notebook.

Grade level references in Reading Rally are based on scope, sequence and pacing that correlate to the Grade Level Equivalent (GLE) standards of learning. Students who are more than one year behind in GLE in language arts or who have a difference in skill level between their reading and writing may be recommended for 1-on-1 private instruction to make up ground in reading or writing skills. Additional class meetings or private instruction will be an additional cost.

ATTENTION! (1) Parents should not register for a Reading Rally class until they have had a Language Arts Skills Inventory (i.e. brief assessment) and placement determination by the reading specialist. This must be scheduled separately through Compass at a cost of $125.00. The fee is due prior to the assessment and is not refundable in the event the child is not recommended for a reading group. (2) Parents should not assume a specific reading section until the student has been evaluated. Reading skill levels are not interchangeable, and refunds will not be issued if you do not "get" the level you prefer. It is recommended you get your reading group assignment before scheduling other classes. (3) The instructor has experience working with reluctant and fearful readers, those who are late bloomers, neurodivergent, dyslexic, and ESOL students. However, she might recommend a more complete evaluation by another professional if she suspects other learning differences are impacting the student's langauge arts learning. (4) Pricing is based a minimum 3 students in a level. In the event only 2 students are assigned to one level, the family will be asked to pay the upcharge to a 2-person semi-private class. With only one student, a class will be canceled, but the student has the option to pursue 1:1 instruction. (3) Students will work from a spiral bound copy of reading textbook and workbook by Pearson. A class fee of (varies by reading level) is due payable to the instructor for the required books.

Students continuing from one semester to the next will receive priority registration to remain with their reading group.

Quarter(s): 3,4

Day(s): Thu

Open Spots: 2

Middle school students will learn how to improve their critical thinking for a deeper understanding using strategies in reading comprehension, research, and debate. They will discuss and define critical thinking and learn the skills associated with it: researching, sorting information for a variety of purposes, identifying underlying assumptions, defining terms, evaluating evidence, considering opposing points of view, and spotting classic logical fallacies. In this semester, students will be asked to present opinions or consider dilemmas and claims ranging over a wide variety of historical or contemporary topics that may be drawn from literature, law, religion, or comparative worldviews. Students will learn to ask, "Is this a good argument? Is it well constructed and convincing?" They will discover how to break a whole concept into its component parts to formulate and build clear, compelling, persuasive arguments. The semester will build up to an exciting debate in the Lincoln-Douglas format. Students will have to choose a contemporary question (e.g. "Is AI bad for society?"), and they will work together to research arguments for or against that question. The Positive and Negative teams will develop arguments, write speeches, and work to develop arguments for their positions! Middle school students should expect to spend an average of two hours per week on reading and short written responses for this class. Topics in this series include: Topics in this series include: Comprehension Connections (Semester 1) and Critical Thinking (Semester 2).