Humanities
No brief outline of a school’s curriculum can illustrate with perfect clarity and completeness what will occur during a school day or school year. Nevertheless, we have summarized the essence of each area of the curriculum with attention given to the philosophy behind what the school does, as well as to some of endeavors in which students engage.
It should be noted that we hope and expect that in a given year the course of the curriculum will change and evolve as it is influenced by the dynamics of the group of students, the whims and inspirations of the teachers, as well as by the students’ own passions, interests and ideals.
We rotate three core themes, and each year is organized around one of them:
Year One: Freedom and Revolution (U.S. History, Civil Rights)
Year Two: Flight and the Pursuit of the Holy Grail (World Religion)
Year Three: Mapping a More Perfect World (Utopia, U.S. and World History)
The core theme allows for the opportunity to place the subjects we study into unified (but open) context, so that students can return to and reexamine topics, while deepening thought about concepts and ideas over the course of the year.
The three-year cycle is designed to have over-lap, so that topics studied one year will inform studies in the following year. At
the same time, students can always be referring back to the studies of the previous year.
Generally speaking, the art and art history topics are linked with the social studies focus; the literature studied is linked to the core theme and social studies; math is often linked to art and science; and students are encouraged to link science studies with art and creative writing, philosophy essays, ethical inquiry, math, science, community service, and
No matter what year in the cycle, students are continually involved in creative autobiographical student self-government.
It should be noted that we hope and expect that in a given year the course of the curriculum will change and evolve as it is influenced by the dynamics of the group of students, the whims and inspirations of the teachers, as well as by the students’ own passions, interests and ideals.
We rotate three core themes, and each year is organized around one of them:
Year One: Freedom and Revolution (U.S. History, Civil Rights)
Year Two: Flight and the Pursuit of the Holy Grail (World Religion)
Year Three: Mapping a More Perfect World (Utopia, U.S. and World History)
The core theme allows for the opportunity to place the subjects we study into unified (but open) context, so that students can return to and reexamine topics, while deepening thought about concepts and ideas over the course of the year.
The three-year cycle is designed to have over-lap, so that topics studied one year will inform studies in the following year. At
the same time, students can always be referring back to the studies of the previous year.
Generally speaking, the art and art history topics are linked with the social studies focus; the literature studied is linked to the core theme and social studies; math is often linked to art and science; and students are encouraged to link science studies with art and creative writing, philosophy essays, ethical inquiry, math, science, community service, and
No matter what year in the cycle, students are continually involved in creative autobiographical student self-government.
An Interdisciplinary Approach
The North Branch School curriculum is based on an interdisciplinary approach which seeks to remove the walls that separate fields of knowledge. Subjects, topics and themes are integrated so that each body of knowledge unfolds in an open context, enabling students to make broad connections and deepen understanding. Students’ own experience and interests are incorporated into each area of study, so that learning is a personalized process intimately connected to each student. The themes provide a focus and touchstone across subject areas so students view subjects from myriad perspectives and broad philosophical depth.
If, for instance, the theme is African American Studies, we may read the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, study the art of Jean Michel Basquiat, and read selections from The Confessions of Nat Turner. We may make clay models to replicate a slave auction or a lunch-counter sit-in. We may visit the photography exhibit of Teenie Harris, African American photographer, learn and sing the songs of the Freedom Singers, make a time-line of significant events in African American history, and have a guest musician who’ll play and discuss ragtime music. We will make connections between our own class Constitution and Bill of rights and the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. We may read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry or To Kill A Mockingbird. We may have a guest speaker who discusses his or her involvement in the Civil Rights movement, and we may write essays in which we analyze the views and actions of various historical individuals throughout the course of African American history. We will watch “Glory,” “Malcolm X,” and “Amistad,’ with attention given to the art of film–making as well as to the subjects and independent projects on topics of individual interest, and these projects will be presented to the class. Discussions will revolve around concepts related to power, prejudice, tolerance, oppression, and be related to the students’ own class government and social structure.
For Religion, we may spend time hiking and snowshoeing the Spirit in Nature interfaith trails in the Ripton woods. We will have speakers from a wide variety of faiths lead us on the trails to examine the relationship between faith and nature. We will visit various places of worship, discuss philosophical concepts such as God, the soul, good and evil, innocence and experience, family religious history, the role of religion in war and peace, and personal theology, We will watch films like “The Little Buddha,” “Romero,” “The Mission”, “Schindler’s List” and “Life of Brian” to see various views of religion. We will examine religious art, seeking to discover diversity, similarity and difference.
The North Branch School curriculum is based on an interdisciplinary approach which seeks to remove the walls that separate fields of knowledge. Subjects, topics and themes are integrated so that each body of knowledge unfolds in an open context, enabling students to make broad connections and deepen understanding. Students’ own experience and interests are incorporated into each area of study, so that learning is a personalized process intimately connected to each student. The themes provide a focus and touchstone across subject areas so students view subjects from myriad perspectives and broad philosophical depth.
If, for instance, the theme is African American Studies, we may read the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, study the art of Jean Michel Basquiat, and read selections from The Confessions of Nat Turner. We may make clay models to replicate a slave auction or a lunch-counter sit-in. We may visit the photography exhibit of Teenie Harris, African American photographer, learn and sing the songs of the Freedom Singers, make a time-line of significant events in African American history, and have a guest musician who’ll play and discuss ragtime music. We will make connections between our own class Constitution and Bill of rights and the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. We may read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry or To Kill A Mockingbird. We may have a guest speaker who discusses his or her involvement in the Civil Rights movement, and we may write essays in which we analyze the views and actions of various historical individuals throughout the course of African American history. We will watch “Glory,” “Malcolm X,” and “Amistad,’ with attention given to the art of film–making as well as to the subjects and independent projects on topics of individual interest, and these projects will be presented to the class. Discussions will revolve around concepts related to power, prejudice, tolerance, oppression, and be related to the students’ own class government and social structure.
For Religion, we may spend time hiking and snowshoeing the Spirit in Nature interfaith trails in the Ripton woods. We will have speakers from a wide variety of faiths lead us on the trails to examine the relationship between faith and nature. We will visit various places of worship, discuss philosophical concepts such as God, the soul, good and evil, innocence and experience, family religious history, the role of religion in war and peace, and personal theology, We will watch films like “The Little Buddha,” “Romero,” “The Mission”, “Schindler’s List” and “Life of Brian” to see various views of religion. We will examine religious art, seeking to discover diversity, similarity and difference.
Social Studies
The Social Studies curriculum seeks to integrate class activity and discussion, independent research projects on related topics, field trips, guest experts, poetry and literature, and, if appropriate, films, documentary, art, and music.
The school emphasizes the use of primary sources, including memoir, political cartoons, diaries, poetry, photographs, eye-witness accounts, statistics, oral histories, speeches, slogans, documentary footage of actual events, original laws and amendments, contemporaneous editorials, pamphlets, literature, music and art—these become the foundation of the students’ understanding. Each year each student will devise research and present 2-3 independent social studies projects that are linked in some way to the broad touchstone topics.
Essential to the social studies and history curriculum is the development of critical reasoning and analytical skills, the ability to organize and evaluate information, and a facility to articulate subjective and objective responses to material. Persuasive argument, personal and expository essays, students’ own speeches based on historical information, role-playing and re-enactment are all utilized. As a subject unfolds, students assume the responsibility and freedom to choose particular branches of related study based on individual interests and are encouraged to discover and use a broad range of materials and sources by which to deepen their understanding.present their findings and work. These self-directed research projects allow students to become experts and teachers themselves as they present their findings and work.
Students are encouraged to follow their intellectual inclinations and passions as a way of becoming autonomous, self-directed learners. We encourage them to make responsible decisions about what they pursue, and we help them develop their areas of expertise by allowing them opportunities to integrate those areas into the larger curriculum. What they choose to pursue is as important as how they pursue it. Allowing students to deepen knowledge in a natural and comfortable way is integral to helping them develop skills as life-long learners.
Within the larger context of the curriculum students are given a wide range of avenues to express themselves, present their understanding, or approach questions. Within a social studies symposia or unit in science, for instance, they may have a choice of areas to research and present; in current events they can focus on issues they deem most important; in literature seminar they may select a passage or poem to analyze or a concept to illustrate; if they are leading class discussion, they may determine the teaching methods and focus of class activity. In all of these, students are encouraged to seek and use a variety mediums, materials and sources.
We ask our students to look at the ways in which they see themselves reflected in history. How do aspects of history mirror their own social or familial relationships? How are they affected by what they discover? What are the values, emotions, ideals and morals underlying the flow of historical time? When students are asked to make connections between his/her own thoughts and histories and what they are studying, the examination of history is freed from the abstract and urged into the moment.
The following is a selection of the major social studies topics studied over a three year period:
Year One
World Religion: Independent projects on: Native American religions, History of Christianity, Mayan religion, Egyptian religion, the Architecture of Cathedrals, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Mother Teresa, Greek and Roman Goddesses, Vodun, Rastafarianism, The Holocaust, religious festivals and ceremonies, The origins of religion and Animism, Wiccan, The Salem Witch trials.
Year Two
Utopia: Independent projects on: 19th Century Utopian Communities, Native American nations as Utopian Communities, Plato, Greek Myths, and the Golden Age of Athens, Shakers, Children in Intentional Communities/Ketura Kibbutz, Monasteries, convents, and Plum Village, Contemporary Utopian visionaries, Jim Jones and Jonestown, Dimetrodon, Ten Stones Community, UNICEF, Nelson Mandela, Apartheid, and South Africa, Nazism and Eugenics, Quakers, Sustainable Intentional Communities and Walden, The Beloved Community-Civil Rights Movement, Koininia, Co-Housing, Marxism, Communism, Socialism, Center for Victims of Torture, Gandhi, The art of Jenny Holzer and Advertising, Bread and Puppet Theater
Year Three
Revolution: Independent Projects on: Documents of revolution, Che Guevara, Luddites and Neo-luddites, John Brown and Nat Turner, revolution in Transportation, Seminole Resistance, African-American social revolutionary athletes, revolution in music, Spartacus, Gandhi and the Indian independence movement, Anti-Vietnam war protest and engaged Buddhism, Communist revolution, Toussaint L’Overture and the Haitian Revolution, Cinque and the Amistad, Darwin and Evolution, revolution in Art, the Industrial Revolution, revolution in science, Emma Goldman and women’s suffrage.
Freedom: the Slave trade and Slavery, Plantation Life, Abolitionism, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow South, The Ku Klux Klan, Rebels and Pioneers, Poets, Artists and Musicians, the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights movement, and Malcolm X and the Black Power movement; Films on African-American history, Jack Johnson, music of slavery and the civil rights, and the “Eyes on the Prize” documentary series.
The school emphasizes the use of primary sources, including memoir, political cartoons, diaries, poetry, photographs, eye-witness accounts, statistics, oral histories, speeches, slogans, documentary footage of actual events, original laws and amendments, contemporaneous editorials, pamphlets, literature, music and art—these become the foundation of the students’ understanding. Each year each student will devise research and present 2-3 independent social studies projects that are linked in some way to the broad touchstone topics.
Essential to the social studies and history curriculum is the development of critical reasoning and analytical skills, the ability to organize and evaluate information, and a facility to articulate subjective and objective responses to material. Persuasive argument, personal and expository essays, students’ own speeches based on historical information, role-playing and re-enactment are all utilized. As a subject unfolds, students assume the responsibility and freedom to choose particular branches of related study based on individual interests and are encouraged to discover and use a broad range of materials and sources by which to deepen their understanding.present their findings and work. These self-directed research projects allow students to become experts and teachers themselves as they present their findings and work.
Students are encouraged to follow their intellectual inclinations and passions as a way of becoming autonomous, self-directed learners. We encourage them to make responsible decisions about what they pursue, and we help them develop their areas of expertise by allowing them opportunities to integrate those areas into the larger curriculum. What they choose to pursue is as important as how they pursue it. Allowing students to deepen knowledge in a natural and comfortable way is integral to helping them develop skills as life-long learners.
Within the larger context of the curriculum students are given a wide range of avenues to express themselves, present their understanding, or approach questions. Within a social studies symposia or unit in science, for instance, they may have a choice of areas to research and present; in current events they can focus on issues they deem most important; in literature seminar they may select a passage or poem to analyze or a concept to illustrate; if they are leading class discussion, they may determine the teaching methods and focus of class activity. In all of these, students are encouraged to seek and use a variety mediums, materials and sources.
We ask our students to look at the ways in which they see themselves reflected in history. How do aspects of history mirror their own social or familial relationships? How are they affected by what they discover? What are the values, emotions, ideals and morals underlying the flow of historical time? When students are asked to make connections between his/her own thoughts and histories and what they are studying, the examination of history is freed from the abstract and urged into the moment.
The following is a selection of the major social studies topics studied over a three year period:
Year One
World Religion: Independent projects on: Native American religions, History of Christianity, Mayan religion, Egyptian religion, the Architecture of Cathedrals, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Mother Teresa, Greek and Roman Goddesses, Vodun, Rastafarianism, The Holocaust, religious festivals and ceremonies, The origins of religion and Animism, Wiccan, The Salem Witch trials.
Year Two
Utopia: Independent projects on: 19th Century Utopian Communities, Native American nations as Utopian Communities, Plato, Greek Myths, and the Golden Age of Athens, Shakers, Children in Intentional Communities/Ketura Kibbutz, Monasteries, convents, and Plum Village, Contemporary Utopian visionaries, Jim Jones and Jonestown, Dimetrodon, Ten Stones Community, UNICEF, Nelson Mandela, Apartheid, and South Africa, Nazism and Eugenics, Quakers, Sustainable Intentional Communities and Walden, The Beloved Community-Civil Rights Movement, Koininia, Co-Housing, Marxism, Communism, Socialism, Center for Victims of Torture, Gandhi, The art of Jenny Holzer and Advertising, Bread and Puppet Theater
Year Three
Revolution: Independent Projects on: Documents of revolution, Che Guevara, Luddites and Neo-luddites, John Brown and Nat Turner, revolution in Transportation, Seminole Resistance, African-American social revolutionary athletes, revolution in music, Spartacus, Gandhi and the Indian independence movement, Anti-Vietnam war protest and engaged Buddhism, Communist revolution, Toussaint L’Overture and the Haitian Revolution, Cinque and the Amistad, Darwin and Evolution, revolution in Art, the Industrial Revolution, revolution in science, Emma Goldman and women’s suffrage.
Freedom: the Slave trade and Slavery, Plantation Life, Abolitionism, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow South, The Ku Klux Klan, Rebels and Pioneers, Poets, Artists and Musicians, the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights movement, and Malcolm X and the Black Power movement; Films on African-American history, Jack Johnson, music of slavery and the civil rights, and the “Eyes on the Prize” documentary series.
Writing
The school emphasizes the importance of writing as a cognitive tool and as a means of reflection and discovery in all subjects across the curriculum: in literature, art, current events, philosophy, science and history, students write about the issues they encounter, the questions they raise and the answers they find. The program in writing focuses on the power of the written word as a communicative skill through a variety of genres, including narrative autobiography, personal and expository essays, formal research papers, poetry, speech writing, creative fiction, reflective journals, and journalism (in the form of writing and reporting for The Current, the school Newsletter).
We begin with the belief that all students can write with passion and style, that they all have a voice to discover and some truth to tell— about themselves and about their understanding of the world. We emphasize the technical craft of writing, but we are equally concerned that our students discover that writing is an art requiring equal measures of emotional openness, intellectual rigor and personal discipline. The school fosters a “literary community”—work is developed and deepened in a supportive “workshop” environment, great writing is celebrated and shared, and students assume an integral role in maintaining an atmosphere which encourages and rewards creative risks and artistic revelation. All the best work is published at the end of the year in a literary magazine, The Undercurrent.
"Poetry...no, sorry; POETRY. The art of using words to make a blank page beautiful; an entertainment, a message, poetry. Anyone can write it, really—given space and the time to formulate an idea. “Incandescent,” “bitter,” “felled,” “red-hot”—all words that can be used. But any word can be a good word, if you think about it. "
— Doug Woos, ‘04
"Sparkling imaginations stroll about, the young adolescent minds are being put to the test. Many thoughts come through, writing for the right one, aha! I got it. Thinking of what to write, when in fact, I’m saying it."
— Steve Hoyt, ‘04
At the heart of the writing curriculum is a program focused on autobiographical narrative. In journals, short vignettes, longer stories and sometimes through poetry and plays, students are encouraged to explore their own experience, knowledge and emotions, to use the conflicts and discoveries of their own lives as their source and well-spring. Because early adolescents are by nature experiencing great physical, emotional, cognitive and social changes, the autobiographical narrative writing allows them an ideal time and space to work out some of the kinks, to begin to sculpt a sense of themselves into something more graceful and orderly.
The stories range in topic and theme, from the joys of childhood, experiences with rejection, triumphs and failures in school, sibling rivalry, friendships, relationships with parents, growing up, the loss of innocence, betrayal and loyalty, to death and love. As they encounter what mystifies or confines them they are given the permission to navigate and negotiate their own growth—to learn to understand themselves. The writing is a tool by which they may weave or assimilate experience into the narrative fabric of their lives until ultimately they begin to feel that their writing is something very much their own, something vitally important to their conception of themselves.
"I never understood the power of writing until my last story about my mom. I had read Katelyn's story and it made me cry in 7th grade, but it had never been anything I understood. All my stories before had been like the drawings Asher Lev makes for Mashpia - stagnant creations done for someone else. When I started writing my last story something came out of me that I didn't know I had. My first two pages were beautiful, and powerful. They scared the hell out of me and I didn't write for a while. I had a scream inside of me that scared me, but I had to write about it. "
— Gabe K.
We begin with the belief that all students can write with passion and style, that they all have a voice to discover and some truth to tell— about themselves and about their understanding of the world. We emphasize the technical craft of writing, but we are equally concerned that our students discover that writing is an art requiring equal measures of emotional openness, intellectual rigor and personal discipline. The school fosters a “literary community”—work is developed and deepened in a supportive “workshop” environment, great writing is celebrated and shared, and students assume an integral role in maintaining an atmosphere which encourages and rewards creative risks and artistic revelation. All the best work is published at the end of the year in a literary magazine, The Undercurrent.
"Poetry...no, sorry; POETRY. The art of using words to make a blank page beautiful; an entertainment, a message, poetry. Anyone can write it, really—given space and the time to formulate an idea. “Incandescent,” “bitter,” “felled,” “red-hot”—all words that can be used. But any word can be a good word, if you think about it. "
— Doug Woos, ‘04
"Sparkling imaginations stroll about, the young adolescent minds are being put to the test. Many thoughts come through, writing for the right one, aha! I got it. Thinking of what to write, when in fact, I’m saying it."
— Steve Hoyt, ‘04
At the heart of the writing curriculum is a program focused on autobiographical narrative. In journals, short vignettes, longer stories and sometimes through poetry and plays, students are encouraged to explore their own experience, knowledge and emotions, to use the conflicts and discoveries of their own lives as their source and well-spring. Because early adolescents are by nature experiencing great physical, emotional, cognitive and social changes, the autobiographical narrative writing allows them an ideal time and space to work out some of the kinks, to begin to sculpt a sense of themselves into something more graceful and orderly.
The stories range in topic and theme, from the joys of childhood, experiences with rejection, triumphs and failures in school, sibling rivalry, friendships, relationships with parents, growing up, the loss of innocence, betrayal and loyalty, to death and love. As they encounter what mystifies or confines them they are given the permission to navigate and negotiate their own growth—to learn to understand themselves. The writing is a tool by which they may weave or assimilate experience into the narrative fabric of their lives until ultimately they begin to feel that their writing is something very much their own, something vitally important to their conception of themselves.
"I never understood the power of writing until my last story about my mom. I had read Katelyn's story and it made me cry in 7th grade, but it had never been anything I understood. All my stories before had been like the drawings Asher Lev makes for Mashpia - stagnant creations done for someone else. When I started writing my last story something came out of me that I didn't know I had. My first two pages were beautiful, and powerful. They scared the hell out of me and I didn't write for a while. I had a scream inside of me that scared me, but I had to write about it. "
— Gabe K.
Literature
We want to stimulate students to become sensitive and discerning readers, to learn to respond to the subtleties of language and technique, and to develop the ability to discover how and when an author has revealed a vital truth. And because much of the literature is integrated with other studies and subjects, students have the opportunity to see literature in a broad context with dimensions extending beyond the covers of the book in hand.
In discussion-based seminars centered on novels, short stories, plays or poetry, our most basic expectation is that students understand the events, plot, characters and action of the given selection. More important, however, is for students to begin to understand the pleasures of close re-reading and the subsequent revelation of deeper meanings. Further, we encourage students to apply the meaning they discover to their conception of themselves and their view of the world so that reading becomes a personally relevant enterprise.
"There's a quote by C.S. Lewis that says: "We read to know that we're not alone." I totally agree with that. That's the point of literature. There is a sense of comfort in knowing that you're not the only one who's ever felt a certain feeling. One of the reasons why A Catcher in the Rye was one of my favorites is because Holden described things that I had felt. He knew things about himself that I knew about myself and to watch him make the same mistakes I have was comforting. No one ever wants to feel weird. Reading makes you feel normal and it makes you feel that there are people in the world who sympathize with you."
— Elizabeth A.
We want to know which passages are especially moving or beautiful, and what specifically makes them so? What are the author's intentions, and to what degree has he or she succeeded? How has the author created the world of the story, and how deeply are the students drawn into that world? What are the conflicts, tensions, and moral dilemmas the story poses? In what ways can students empathize with the conflicts that the characters face? How are the characters heroes? What makes or defines a hero? We continually encourage students to formulate their own questions and to use textual evidence to articulate their own responses.
Generally, the class is broken into two literature groups: 7th grade literature and 8/9th grade literature. The groups' reading lists are distinct but usually contain two books in common.
The following is a sampling of the kinds of literature and writing explored in the school:
Books, Novels, and Poetry: The Pearl, Steinbeck, A Day No Pigs Would Die, Peck; Then There Was Light, Lusseyran; The Dhammapada, Siddhartha Gautama; To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee; Night, Weisel; The Secret Life of Bees, Kidd; Watership Down, Adams; Ellen Foster, Gibbons; Ask The Dust, Hesse; Call Me By My True Names, Hanh; My Name is Asher Lev, Potok; View With Grain of Sand, Symborska; Farenheit 451, Bradbury; Of Mice and Men and The Red Pony, Steinbeck; Lord of the Flies, Golding; Annie John, Kincaid; The Road, McCarthy, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain.
In discussion-based seminars centered on novels, short stories, plays or poetry, our most basic expectation is that students understand the events, plot, characters and action of the given selection. More important, however, is for students to begin to understand the pleasures of close re-reading and the subsequent revelation of deeper meanings. Further, we encourage students to apply the meaning they discover to their conception of themselves and their view of the world so that reading becomes a personally relevant enterprise.
"There's a quote by C.S. Lewis that says: "We read to know that we're not alone." I totally agree with that. That's the point of literature. There is a sense of comfort in knowing that you're not the only one who's ever felt a certain feeling. One of the reasons why A Catcher in the Rye was one of my favorites is because Holden described things that I had felt. He knew things about himself that I knew about myself and to watch him make the same mistakes I have was comforting. No one ever wants to feel weird. Reading makes you feel normal and it makes you feel that there are people in the world who sympathize with you."
— Elizabeth A.
We want to know which passages are especially moving or beautiful, and what specifically makes them so? What are the author's intentions, and to what degree has he or she succeeded? How has the author created the world of the story, and how deeply are the students drawn into that world? What are the conflicts, tensions, and moral dilemmas the story poses? In what ways can students empathize with the conflicts that the characters face? How are the characters heroes? What makes or defines a hero? We continually encourage students to formulate their own questions and to use textual evidence to articulate their own responses.
Generally, the class is broken into two literature groups: 7th grade literature and 8/9th grade literature. The groups' reading lists are distinct but usually contain two books in common.
The following is a sampling of the kinds of literature and writing explored in the school:
Books, Novels, and Poetry: The Pearl, Steinbeck, A Day No Pigs Would Die, Peck; Then There Was Light, Lusseyran; The Dhammapada, Siddhartha Gautama; To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee; Night, Weisel; The Secret Life of Bees, Kidd; Watership Down, Adams; Ellen Foster, Gibbons; Ask The Dust, Hesse; Call Me By My True Names, Hanh; My Name is Asher Lev, Potok; View With Grain of Sand, Symborska; Farenheit 451, Bradbury; Of Mice and Men and The Red Pony, Steinbeck; Lord of the Flies, Golding; Annie John, Kincaid; The Road, McCarthy, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain.
Grammar
Grammar is covered primarily through a contextual approach. Through intensive writing and a methodical process of drafting, self- and peer editing, revising and rewriting, reading and a methodical process of drafting, self- and peer editing, revising and rewriting, reading and publishing, a premium is placed on structural clarity and lyricism.
We cover and review: conjugation of verbs, case study, phrases and clauses, linguistic transformations, parts of speech, commas, punctuation, capitalization, sentences fragments, run-ons, complements, use of nominative and objective case, object and subject pronouns, proper nouns, using quotations, writing a business letter, and other incredibly fun and exciting grammar tidbits.
We cover and review: conjugation of verbs, case study, phrases and clauses, linguistic transformations, parts of speech, commas, punctuation, capitalization, sentences fragments, run-ons, complements, use of nominative and objective case, object and subject pronouns, proper nouns, using quotations, writing a business letter, and other incredibly fun and exciting grammar tidbits.
