Language Arts For Elementary School

Before I donned my majestic Teacher Cape, I had no idea what the phrase "language arts" meant. I mean, what a term straight from academia! Back in the good ol' days, when ink wells and slates were the norm, it was simply called "reading and writing." Nice and straight; nice and forward.

At first I thought "language arts" was one subject.

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

It's not one subject, but a big ol' set of subjects. So when I look at ways to boost my kids' reading and writing skills, I work on ten components separately. Ten. Here they are.

Ten Language Arts Components for Elementary School

Listening: Listening to books is something kids can do from an early, early age. Every other language arts skill is more appropriate for grade schoolers, and starting before that is like nailing Jello to a wall. Reading to kids builds their attention span, and exposes them to words, words, and a whole boatload of words. The more words a kid hears, the more quickly the other skills take hold.

Reading: Once a child learns to read on her own, I'm a big proponent of carving out space and time for this to happen at least thirty minutes a day. I stock a shelf in my house with library books of all shapes and sizes. Board books, picture books, science books, chapter books, how-to books--you name it. I find that if books are accessible (and screen time is limited), my kids will pick from the shelf and read at will.

Handwriting: Part of the writing process is the ability to put words on paper. I know. Seems kinda obvious, right? But I've known a lot of parents (*points to self*) who expect their kids to journal and create and express their loving hearts out on paper before this skill has taken root. For some kids, the fine motor control just isn't there until age eight or so. Until then, don't feel like you're "cheating" if your child is verbalizing answers and sentences while you write them down.

Spelling: Again, I've learned not to marry "spelling" with "handwriting." One of my boys would end up in a puddle of tears every time I made him s-p-e-l-l a word on p-a-p-e-r. I then started having him spell the words out loud, which quickly showed me that spelling wasn't the problem--handwriting was. Ah. That I sorta knew how to fix, and we were both a lot happier.

Memory work: This is the brain's way of "practicing" with good words. Choosing something of quality to memorize is great exercise for the brain.

Copywork: The practice of seeing something on a page (or board) and copying that to paper trains the brain to hold larger and longer chunks in memory in the process. First it's one letter at a time. Then it's a word or two, then a phrase, and then a sentence. And guess what? *ding ding ding* This is the kind of skill that "writers" call on every time they sit down to write. Choose wisely when picking things out for your child to copy--good vocabulary words, solid sentences, quality poems and verses. Why? Because a child who copies good writing becomes a child who creates good writing.

Dictation: I gotta be honest. The first time I read about "dictation," all I could picture was the ginormous machine I used during my secretarial days. You know, before everyone could type on their very own computers at their very own desks. Granted, that was fifteen years ago, but that is my one and only association with "dictation." In the language arts world, it simply means--the child writes down exactly what the teacher is saying. It's another exercise in holding a thought in memory and then getting it down on paper.

Narration: To “narrate” is to “report” on something. If you've been paying attention, the best reporters speak in longer than one-word sentences and tell their stories in a clear, concise manner. Therefore, it is good for our future writers and speakers to learn how to answer in complete sentences and summarize what they've heard or read.

Grammar: No, this is not the gal married to Grampar. It's the good ol' parts of speech, sentence structure, and all the lovely rules about capitalization and double negatives and how ain't ain't a word cuz teacher says it ain't.

Creative thought: This is where originality comes in. Most of the skills listed above deal with writing and reading other people's words. But grade schoolers have thoughts and feelings of their own, and it's good for them to express them, even if they're nothing more complex than, “I like pizza.” You know what? I do too.

Is there anything I've missed from this list? Soon I'll take each of these components and list what resources I've used that have worked.


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