Schools and teachers do the best they can to teach students everything they need to know, but the number of standards teachers are expected to cover in a single school year is almost impossible. Unfortunately, language arts skills are sometimes the first to go when teachers are deciding what they’re going to teach their students. It’s not that these skills aren’t important, it’s just that it’s impossible to do it all.
What skills should my child know?
The three main areas below are some of the most important things your child should learn in elementary school that will lay a foundation for years of success. Unfortunately, these are also some of the skills that often fall by the wayside.
Phonics
Phonics instruction can start from a very young age, and it is essentially learning to connect letters and groups of letters with the sounds they make. This lays the foundation for fluent reading.
Language arts
This is a very broad term that encompasses grammar, spelling, and generally being able to use language to communicate. Depending on your child’s grade in school, here are some language arts skills and terms he should know:
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Identifying letters of the alphabet
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Understanding parts of speech such as conjunctions, which are connecting words (and, but, or, etc.) and verbs, which are actions (run, jump, play, etc.)
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Understanding and using proper punctuation
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Learning vocabulary, spelling, and the meaning of words
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Being able to verbally communicate with others via formal and informal public speaking
Reading comprehension skills
Reading comprehension goes beyond just being able to say the words that you’re reading. Surprisingly, the fact that your child can read a book doesn’t actually mean that he can understand what he is reading. Some reading comprehension skills include being able to answer questions about a text, predicting what will happen next, and making connections between a text and the real world.
Why is this important?
If students miss out on learning and mastering these skills now, they’re going to continue to struggle as they move through the grades in school. Phonics and reading aren’t just going to magically come to them one day without being taught. If your child fails to master these skills now, you could quickly see him start to fall behind. As he moves through the grades, the teacher will move on with new skills, but your child will be left behind as he still struggles to comprehend the old skills.
What can you do?
Are you tired of buying workbook after workbook and scouring Pinterest for the perfect activities to help your child develop his language arts skills? We understand how exhausting and frustrating this can be. That’s why we have Reading Genie programs to teach your child these skills. You can trust that our curriculum is based on the common core standards and that our teachers are trained to help your child not only learn language arts, but learn to love language arts.
Sourced Through:
https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/what-exactly-is-language-arts-language-arts-part-1/
