We believe that reading is the foundation for higher learning.
Literature and language come together in our Language Arts program, which begins in the preschool programs where reading readiness is taught in a literature-based program and culminates in our upper grades with creative writing and advanced novel reading. The following sections provide a grade-by-grade list of main concepts taught as part of St. Viator’s Language Arts curriculum.
Pre K 3 Year Old
- Name & letter recognition & formation
- Auditory & visual discrimination
- Listening comprehension
- Memory recall
- Literature appreciation
- Story dictation
- Finger plays
- Poems
Pre K 4 Year Old
- Name recognition
- Name formation
- Letter recognition
- Letter-sound association
- Letter formation
- Auditory and visual discrimination
- Listening comprehension
- Memory recall
- Literature appreciation
- Journal writing/drawing
- Story dictation
- Creating class books
Kindergarten
- Similarities and differences in letters and words
- Auditory and visual discrimination
- Sequencing
- Listening comprehension
- Letter formation (capital and lowercase)
- Letter recognition/matching capital & lowercase letters
- Identification of beginning sounds
- Rhyming words and word families
- Sight words
- Writing words, sentences, and stories
- Print awareness/reading from left to right
- Basic sentence formation: familiarization with capitals and periods; understanding spaces between words
- Creating class books
First Grade
- Writing sentences correctly
- Identifying nouns, proper nouns, and adjectives
- Writing stories & writing in journals
- Special activities to encourage reading: Guest readers, Apple Week, H.E.A.R.T.S. Club, Dr. Seuss Week
- Monthly book reports
- Stories are read daily to students
- Reading and story writing activities with 5th grade buddies
Second Grade
- Book Reports
- Reading Centers
- 300 book reading challenge for the room
- Weekly Reading selections
- Novel read alouds
- Monthly Poems
Third Grade
- Weekly stories and creative writing
- Novels: 4-5 per year
- Play performance
- Daily silent reading
- Monthly book reports
- Singing about nouns and playing the “Find a Noun” game
- Writing letters and leaving a proper telephone message
- Parts of speech & editing skills
- Completing autobiographies
Fourth Grade
- Reading age-appropriate material to improve reading skills
- Writing creatively for a specified purpose and audience
Junior High/5 through 8th Grade
- Creative writing: persuasive essay, restaurant reviews, memories & poetry
- Novel reading: fiction, nonfiction, myths, legends, tall tales, fables & folk heroes
- Sentence structure
- Oral reports
- Cross-curricular centers