Elementary School English Tutoring

First grade:

• » Literature ➝ Answer questions about detail in text, retell stories, describe characters.
• » Reading foundational ➝ Understand features of a sentence, long vs. short vowel sounds, spelling single-syllable words by blending sounds.
• » Writing ➝ Basic opinion pieces, explanatory writing about text, characters.
• » Language ➝ Print all upper- and lowercase letters, use common, proper, singular and plural nouns with matching verbs. Expand vocabulary of verbs, adjectives, conjunctions.

Second grade:

• » Literature ➝ Understand key details in text (who, what, when, where, why, how), recount stories and understand their central message or lesson, describe how characters respond to major events, describe the overall structure of a story.
• » Reading foundational ➝ Distinguish long and short vowels, know spelling sound correspondences, decode two syllable words, recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
• » Writing ➝ Write informative/explanatory texts including introducing a topic and using facts and definitions to develop points, write narratives recounting an event or short sequence of events.
• » Language ➝ Use collective nouns, irregular plural nouns, reflexive pronouns (myself, ourselves), past tense of irregular verbs (e.g., sat, told, hid), produce and rearrange complete, simple and complex sentences, demonstrate understanding of capitalization, punctuation and spelling.

Third grade:

• » Literature ➝ Recount stories from diverse cultures and determine the central theme, message or moral, determine the meaning of words and phrases within a text, understand various parts of a story, drama or poem (chapter, scene, stanza, etc.).
• » Reading foundational ➝ Know the meaning of most common prefixes and suffixes, decode multisyllable words, read grade-appropriate irregular words.
• » Writing ➝ Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view, use linking words, provide concluding statement, write informative texts to examine a topic, support with facts, write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events.
• » Language ➝ Explain the function of various forms of speech, form/use regular and irregular plural nouns and verbs, produce simple, compound and complex sentences.

Fourth grade:

• » Literature ➝ Refer to details and examples in a text and draw inferences, determine temes, understand the meaning of words and phrases within a text, understand structural elements of poems and dramas.
• » Reading foundational ➝ Apply analysis skills to decode words, use strategies to accurately read unfamiliar words in and out of context, read grade-level texts with sufficient fluency to support comprehension.
• » Writing ➝ Introduce a topic, state an opintion and create an organizational structure in which ideas support the writer’s purpose,
• » Language ➝ Use relative pronouns and adverbs, use progressive verb tenses, order adjectives within sentences according to conventional patterns, form prepositional phrases, produce and recognize complete sentences (vs. fragments or run-ons).

Fifth grade:

• » Literature ➝ Determine the theme of a story from details in the text, compare and contrast two or more characters or events, determine the meaning of words including figurative language such as metaphors and similes, describe how the narrator’s point of view influences how events are described.
• » Reading foundational ➝ Use knowledge of letter-sound correspondences and syllabication to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words, read grade-level text with purpose and understanding, use context to confirm or correct word recognition and understanding.
• » Writing ➝ Introduce a topic, state an opinion and create a structure to logically group ideas and support the opinion, provide general observation and focus, provide a concluding statement, develop topic with facts and concrete details or quotations.
• » Language ➝ Use conjunctions, prepositions and interjections, use the perfect verb tenses, recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense, use correct punctuation to separate items in a series.