Is
it possible to come up with a plan to present the rules and forms of our
language (grammar) to a child without turning the study of language into a dry
and boring chore? Is there a way to present the parts of language while
continuing to foster an appreciation for the beauty of the whole?
Language is a most beautiful expression of the human person. Our ability to
communicate from the depths of the heart was lost after the Fall and the
invention of the written and spoken word is an outward expression of our
deepest desire to be in communion with one another. Language is the
tool by which we share ourselves, our deepest thoughts and innermost feelings
with others. How quickly the discovery of this beautiful tool is turned
into a task for many children.
In
designing a language main lesson for our children, we wanted to preserve the
beauty of the whole as we processed through the parts. Exposure to
well-written literature is the primary and most essential ingredient in
teaching language to children, but at some point the whole must be dissected
and the parts must be identified and understood. After recently
discovering Ruth Heller's World of Language series, we've designed a main
lesson block that will concentrate on the parts of speech, rhythmically weaving
each part into the fabric of our children's curriculum.
For
the next few weeks we will begin our long term study of language with a focus
on nouns. Using Heller's beautifully illustrated picture book Merry-Go-Round:
A Book About Nouns as well as her companion book A Cache
of Jewels and Other Collective Nouns, we will spend time each week reading
about this important part of speech within the context of enjoying beautifully
illustrated and well-written verse.
In
planning this unit it was important that the needs of all our children were
met. We wanted something that would offer each child exactly what he or
she needed at the time. Whether it was an introduction for the youngest children
or a review for the older ones, we found that Heller's books offer the correct
amount of grammatical food for each child within the framework of one cozy
family read-aloud.
Using their imagination and expressing these abstract concepts creatively, the
older children are left with the work of incorporating the understanding of
language into their own writing. Whereas the young child is prompted to
identify the particular element of language in the world around him, the older
child is given the instruction to identify this part of speech in the weekly
writing assignment.
As part of Along
the Alphabet Path, our older children are writing
fairy tales along with other written narrations. As they try their
hand at this literary genre, we have asked them to highlight the part of speech
we are studying each week throughout their weekly rough draft.
The plans will change a bit each week as we continue to uncover the mystery
of our language. Of course, those plans will be posted here and main
lesson book samples will be kept in a sidebar album.
As we cycle through the World of Language we will cover nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, interjections, and
conjunctions. And while these richly illustrated books may appear at
first sight to be a simple series of picture books, the amount of grammar dealt
with in their pages is surprisingly advanced.
Comments or Questions?