Seventh Grade Language Arts with Time4Learning

A seventh grade language arts program should be taught using a system of seventh grade reading lesson plans including interactive activities, learning games, printable worksheets, assessments, and positive reinforcement. Guided reading is a vital part of a seventh grade language arts program.

And seventh grade language arts lessons should cover all English language arts strands. The major language arts strands for a seventh grade reading program are vocabulary development, reading comprehension, literature, writing strategies, writing applications, English language conventions, listening and speaking. While these language arts strands might surprise you, they are all critical lessons for a seventh grade reading program.

Seventh grade reading lesson plans, reading worksheets, and reading activities teach reading skills covering all the language arts strands. Seventh grade reading activities provide an opportunity for students to describe and connect essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives by using a knowledge of text structure, organization, and purpose. These students learn through guided reading, reading worksheets, language arts games, and many creative methods that make the seventh grade reading program fun for them.

A seventh grade reading program includes vocabulary and concept development. Reading skill develops as students continue to learn with grade level appropriate reading material. Seventh grade reading program students describe and connect essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives found in various texts by using a knowledge of text structure, organization, and purpose. They apply this knowledge to achieve fluent oral and silent, seventh grade guided reading skill.

For example, the seventh grade reading program requires students to apply their knowledge of word origins and word relationships, as well as historical and literary context clues, to determine the meaning of specialized vocabulary and to understand the precise meaning of grade level appropriate words. Language arts lesson plans help seventh grade reading skill students identify idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes in prose and poetry.

The seventh grade reading level also requires them to use knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon roots and affixes to understand content-area vocabulary. In seventh grade students clarify word meanings through the use of definition, example, restatement, or contrast. When reading they should assess the adequacy, accuracy, and appropriateness of an author’s evidence to support claims and assertions, noting instances of bias and stereotyping.

A seventh grade reading program includes language arts lesson plans that help children learn about the structural features of informational materials. For example, they are expected to understand and analyze differences in structure and purpose between various categories of informational materials including textbooks, newspapers, instructional manuals, and signs. They learn to locate information by using a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents, and analyze text that uses the cause-and-effect organizational pattern.

The seventh grade reading level is tested with reading skill comprehension strategies and analysis of reading skill level appropriate text. Seventh grade students identify and trace the development of an author’s argument, point of view, or perspective in text. After doing this, they will understand and explain the use of simple mechanical devices by following technical directions.

Seventh grade guided reading includes comprehension and analysis of reading level appropriate text. Seventh grade students learn to analyze a range of responses to a literary work and determine the extent to which the literary elements in the work shaped those responses. To strengthen seventh grade reading comprehension, students are asked to read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. Seventh grade language arts lesson plans guide students to demonstrate reading skill by clarifying ideas and connecting them to other literary works. Seventh grade reading program students are expected to demonstrate the reading skill of literary response and structural feature analysis by articulating expressed purposes and characteristics of different forms of prose including short stories, novelas, and essays).

Another vital component of the seventh grade reading program is narrative analysis of reading skill appropriate text. Students identify events that advance the plot and determine how each event explains past or present action(s) or foreshadows future action(s). After guided reading, students are asked to analyze characterization as delineated through a character’s thoughts, words, speech patterns, and actions; the narrator’s description; and the thoughts, words, and actions of other characters. Also in a seventh grade reading program, students develop reading skill by identifying and analyzing recurring themes across works such as the value of bravery, loyalty, and friendship, or the effects of loneliness. Language arts lesson plans for seventh grade students help them contrast points of view, examining first and third person, limited and omniscient, and subjective and objective in narrative text, explaining how they affect the overall theme of the work.

Time4Learning teaches a comprehensive seventh grade language arts curriculum using fun, seventh grade reading activities to build a solid reading foundation. To find out more about the seventh grade language arts program at Time4Learning, try out one of the demo lessons, ask a question in our parents forum, or even view the entire seventh grade language arts scope and sequence. Sign up today to let your seventh grader experience the fun and learning encompassed in the Time4Learning Seventh Grade Language Arts Program.

Posted under grade levels, homeschool curriculum, language arts, middle school curriculum, online reading, reading curriculum, seventh grade curriculum

This post was written by Kerry on August 19, 2009

Sixth Grade Language Arts with Time4Learning

A sixth grade reading program should be taught using a system of sixth grade reading lesson plans including interactive activities, learning games, printable worksheets, assessments, and positive reinforcement. Guided reading is a vital part of a sixth grade reading program.

And sixth grade language arts lessons should cover all English language arts strands. The major language arts strands for a sixth grade reading program are vocabulary development, reading comprehension, literature, writing strategies, writing applications, English language conventions, listening and speaking. While these language arts strands might surprise you, they are all critical lessons for a sixth grade reading program.

Sixth grade reading activities provide an opportunity for students to describe and connect essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives by using their knowledge of text structure, organization, and purpose. Students learn through guided reading, reading worksheets, language arts games, and many creative methods that make the sixth grade reading program fun for them.

A sixth grade language arts program includes vocabulary and concept development. Reading skill develops as students continue to learn using grade level appropriate reading material. Sixth grade reading program students describe and connect essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives by using their knowledge of text structure, organization, and purpose. They apply this knowledge to achieve fluent oral and silent sixth grade guided reading skills.

For example, the sixth grade reading program requires students to apply knowledge of word origins and word relationships, as well as historical and literary context clues, to determine the meaning of specialized vocabulary and to understand the precise meaning of grade level appropriate words. Language arts lesson plans help sixth grade reading skill students read narrative and expository text fluently and accurately and with appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression. Their reading level also requires them to identify and interpret figurative language and words with multiple meanings.

In sixth grade students recognize the origins and meanings of frequently used foreign words in English, and use these words accurately in speaking and writing. They should monitor expository text for unknown words or words with novel meanings by using word, sentence, and paragraph clues to determine meaning. Furthermore, a sixth grade reading program includes language arts lesson plans that help children understand and explain “shades of meaning” in related words, for example, “softly” and “quietly”.

The sixth grade reading level is tested with reading skill comprehension strategies.  They analyze text that uses the compare-and-contrast organizational pattern. Sixth grade guided reading includes comprehension and analysis of reading level appropriate text in order to connect and clarify main ideas by identifying their relationships to other sources and related topics. To strengthen comprehension, sixth grade reading program students are asked to clarify an understanding of texts by creating outlines, logical notes, summaries, or reports. Sixth grade language arts lesson plans require students to demonstrate reading skill by following multiple-step instructions for preparing applications (library card, bank savings account, sports club, and/or league membership). Also students in the sixth grade reading program are expected to make reasonable assertions about a text through accurate, supporting citations. In doing this they are instructed to note instances of unsupported inferences, fallacious reasoning, persuasion, and propaganda in text.

Another vital component of the sixth grade language arts program is literary response and analysis of reading skill appropriate text. Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. Also in the sixth grade reading program, students develop reading skill by analyzing the effect of character qualities such as courage or cowardice, ambition or laziness, on plot and conflict resolution. They also analyze the influence of setting on the problem and its resolution. Language arts lesson plans for sixth grade students help them define how tone or meaning is conveyed in poetry through word choice, figurative language, sentence structure, line length, punctuation, rhythm, repetition, and rhyme. Via guided reading, sixth grade students learn about point of view, identifying the main speaker and recognizing the difference between first-and third-person narration, not only in fiction but also in biographies and autobiographies. Another reading skill introduced in sixth grade is to identify and analyze features of themes conveyed through characters, actions, and images.

Time4Learning teaches a comprehensive sixth grade language arts curriculum using fun, sixth grade reading activities to build a solid reading foundation. To find out more about the sixth grade language arts program at Time4Learning, try out one of the demo lessons, ask a question in our parents forum, or even view the entire sixth grade language arts scope and sequence. Sign up today to let your sixth grader experience the fun and learning encompassed in the Time4Learning Sixth Grade Language Arts Program.

Posted under Homeschool, Online Learning, grade levels, homeschool curriculum, language arts, learning to read, middle school curriculum, online reading, reading curriculum, sixth grade curriculum

This post was written by Kerry on August 12, 2009

Sixth Grade Math with Time4Learning

A sixth grade math curriculum should be taught using sixth grade lessons including interactive activities, learning games, printable worksheets, assessments, and reinforcement. Manipulatives are very important for sixth grade math lessons.

And a sixth grade math curriculum should cover all the math strands, not just arithmetic. The major math strands for sixth grade curriculum are number sense and operations, algebra, geometry and spatial sense, measurement, and data analysis and probability. While these math strands might surprise you, they are all critical lessons for a sixth grade math curriculum.

Sixth grade math students build on what they learned in fifth grade math, which led them to the decimal base-10 number system, finding factors of numbers to 100, and multiplication of decimals to hundredths. In sixth grade math they work with numbers through the hundred thousands or more. They compare decimals to fractions, and add, subtract, multiply and divide decimals and fractions. Sixth grade math opens them up to a greater understanding of measurement techniques, geometry and algebraic thinking. It will be an exciting year full of new, complex math concepts.

During sixth grade, math students demonstrate a knowledge of word names and standard numerals for whole numbers, fractions, decimals through hundred-thousands, and percents. They read and write whole numbers and decimals in expanded form. Using graphic models, number lines and symbols they compare and order fractions, decimals, and common percents.

A sixth grade math student will be able to describe the meanings of positive rational numbers, will understand the relationships between fractions, decimals, and percents, and will be able to express quantities in various ways using fractions, decimals, and percents. Sixth grade math students learn about the inverse relationship of positive and negative numbers. Also during sixth grade math, students are expected to use all four basic arithmetic operations on whole numbers, fractions, mixed numbers, and decimals. They should be able to select the right operations and solve real-life problems with one and two step solutions.

Sixth grade math students learn to compare the decimal number system to systems that don’t use place value such as Roman or Egyptian number systems. They are trained to apply commutative, associative and distributive properties in the addition and multiplication of rational numbers. Sixth grade math students also learn about the order of operations used when solving problems - for example, operations inside parenthesis are computed first.

A component of sixth grade math is to know about proportional relationships and to be able to describe them. Students should be able to justify their choice of methods used for calculations. They should estimate to predict results and check the reasonableness of results. Sixth grade math students should know if numbers are prime or composite. They should use divisibility rules, determine prime factorization of numbers less than or equal to 100, and should be able to find the greatest common factor and least common multiple of two or more numbers.

Time4Learning is an online learning system for homeschool education, enrichment, e-tutoring, or for sharpening summer skills. We provide sixth grade math worksheets and sixth grade math games in a total curriculum. Each unit has multimedia lessons, interactive exercises, printable worksheets for reinforcement, and assessments. Click to see the details on Time4Learning’s online sixth grade math lesson plan.

There are 302 math activities in the sixth grade curriculum, and children can either move through them sequentially, or pick and choose from the lessons, using the Activity Finder. Parents can easily follow their child’s progress by logging into the child’s portfolio and viewing day by day lessons or a customizable and printable report than can be sorted by subject, lesson type, or date range.

To find out more about the sixth grade math program at Time4Learning, try out one of the demo lessons, ask a question in our parents forum, or even view the entire sixth grade math scope and sequence. Sign up today to let your sixth grader experience the fun and learning encompassed in the Time4Learning Sixth Grade Math Program.

Posted under Homeschool, grade levels, homeschool curriculum, math, math curriculum, middle school curriculum, online math curriculum, sixth grade curriculum

This post was written by Kerry on August 11, 2009

American History with Time4Learning

If you have been homeschooling long, you have probably had an experience where a subject you thought your children would be excited about was the very subject they were bored stiff by.  This is often the case with American History.

If presented as simply a series of chronological events, or as an unconnected grouping of historical literature, American History can be underwhelming, to say the least.  But if you are a homeschooler with Time4Learning, you have an opportunity to learn American History in a whole new way.

Time4Learning offers multimedia American History lessons for grades seven or eight that combine animation, text, and audio to enhance the learning process.  If your child enjoys learning on the computer, and would benefit from an interactive approach to studying history, then American History with Time4Learning may be the program for him or her.  (To try out one of the American History lessons, choose one of the demo lessons from the 6th to 8th grade category on the demo lessons page.)

The course is quite comprehensive, covering twenty-three units, from the Age of Exploration through the modern era.  Each unit includes multimedia lessons, resource pages, lesson quizzes, and unit tests.   The American History Lessons include such titles as: British Taxes, Issues Facing the Nation, Quest for the West, The Effects of Reconstruction, Post War Challenges, and Civil Rights Era.  And students enjoy the variety of both online and offline activities designed to help them master the material.

In addition, each unit includes a teaching guide that parents can use to help extend the lessons through intercurricular activities, discussion questions, and literature suggestions.  All in all, you probably won’t find a more in-depth - - and fun - - American History program for homeschool available anywhere.  Why wait?  Sign up for Time4Learning’s multimedia American History course today!

Posted under Homeschool, history, homeschool curriculum, middle school curriculum, social studies

This post was written by Kerry on May 27, 2009

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Middle School Homeschool Curriculum

A quality middle school homeschool curriculum needs to cover a wide spectrum of subjects in order to prepare students for the rigors and requirements of high school. Time4Learning provides grade appropriate lessons and activities that meet state and national standards for learning.

The curriculum is varied, and includes lessons, activities, quizzes, animations,  audio, and video instruction.  It was developed over more than a decade by CompassLearning, and offers language arts, math, science, and social studies.

The following is a sampling of topics covered in the middle school grades using the Time4Learning curriculum:

6th Grade – pi, inverse operations, adding and subtracting fractions, percents, parts of speech, reading styles, genres of literature, paraphrasing, commonly misspelled words, early civilizations, American immigration, plants, energy, force, and motion, electricity, and magnetism

7th Grade – rational operations, number theory, probability, polygons, graphs, permutations, vocabulary skills, summarizing, comprehension, literature, writing, US History from the explorers to the 1970’s

8th Grade – rational and irrational numbers, pre-algebra, plane geometry, 3D geometry, graphing, ratio, rate, and proportion, vocabulary skills, summarizing, predicting, comprehension, informational articles, sentence types

These are just a few of the core areas covered in the Time4Learning middle school homeschool curriculum.  If you would like to see samples of some of these lessons, head over to our demo page.  To find out how other members are using the Time4Learning homeschool curriculum with their middle school students, check out our Parents Forum, where you can read about their experiences and ask your own questions. 

Posted under grade levels, homeschool curriculum, middle school curriculum

This post was written by Kerry on April 22, 2009