Description
English II: Foundations Course Description
English II: Foundations is designed for middle schoolers. Students will learn grammar, poetry, literature, writing, and vocabulary to build upon the skills from English I and is designed to flow into the next course (English III). Students are ready for English II if they can meet the following criteria:
- Recognize the following parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, and conjunctions
- Can identify a sentence’s subject and predicate
- Can read on at least a 5th grade reading level
- Can write in good complete sentences or basic paragraphs
Grade Levels
- 5th – 8th grade
English II: Foundations Prerequisites
- English I recommended but not required
Curriculum
- Visit www.royalfireworkspress.com to view Michael Clay Thompson’s Grammar Town, Caesar’s English I, Practice Town, and Paragraph Town (video about MCT’s books).
- Novels include Tuck Everlasting, The Giver, Number the Stars, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and various short stories provided by the instructor. ISBN numbers for the novels don’t matter.
English II:Foundations Course Outline
FALL SEMESTER
Week 1
- Introduction and Overview
- Begin Grammar Boot Camp: Nouns
- Poetics: Introduction
- Finding Nouns Quiz
- Read pages 5-12 (“Forward to Students” and “Introduction”) of Caesar’s English I.
- Watch School House Rock “Nouns” video.
Week 2
- Grammar Boot Camp: Pronouns
- Read Chapter 1 of Paragraph Town.
- Finding Pronouns Quiz
- Read Tuck Everlasting chapters 1-6
- Take Tuck Everlasting Quiz 1
Week 3
- Grammar Boot Camp: Adjectives (Part 1)
- Poetry: Sounds
- Discuss Chapter 1 of Paragraph Town.
- Vocabulary Lesson I
- Read Tuck Everlasting chapters 7-14
- Take Tuck Everlasting Quiz 2
Week 4
- Grammar Boot Camp: Adjectives (Part 2)
- Poetry: Sounds (continued)
- Read Chapter 2 of Paragraph Town.
- Read Tuck Everlasting chapters 15-19
- Take Tuck Everlasting Quiz 3
Week 5
- Grammar Boot Camp: Verbs (Part 1)
- Poetry: Sounds (continued)
- Discuss Chapter 2 of Paragraph Town.
- Vocabulary Lesson II
- Read Tuck Everlasting chapters 20-Epilogue
- Take Tuck Everlasting Quiz 4
Week 6
- Grammar Boot Camp: Verbs (Part 2)
- Poetry: Patterns of Sound
- Read Chapter 3 of Paragraph Town.
- Writing assignment: What would you do with forever?
Week 7
- Grammar Boot Camp: Adverbs
- Poetry: Patterns of Sound (continued)
- Read Flowers for Algernon short story.
- Flowers for Algernon Quiz
- Vocabulary Lesson III
Week 8
- Grammar Boot Camp: Conjunctions
- Poetry: Patterns of Sound (continued)
- Read Chapter 4 of Paragraph Town.
- Read The Giver chapters 1-7.
- The Giver Quiz 1
Week 9
- Grammar Boot Camp: Prepositions
- Poetry: Patterns of Sound (continued)
- Discuss Chapter 4 of Paragraph Town.
- Vocabulary Lesson IV
- Read The Giver chapters 8-15.
- The Giver Quiz 2
Week 10
- Grammar Boot Camp: Interjections
- Poetry: Meter
- Read Chapter 5 of Paragraph Town.
- Read The Giver chapters 16-23.
- The Giver Quiz 3
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 1, 2, & 3
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 4, 5, & 6
Week 11
- Grammar Boot Camp: Parts of the Sentence (Subject & Predicate)
- Poetry: Meter (continued)
- Discuss Chapter 5 of Paragraph Town.
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 7, 8, & 9
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 10, 11, & 12
Week 12
- Grammar Boot Camp: Parts of the Sentence (Direct & Indirect Objects)
- Poetry: Meter (continued)
- Read Number the Stars chapters 1-4.
- Number the Stars Quiz 1
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 13 & 14
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 15, 16, & 17
Week 13
- Grammar Boot Camp: Parts of the Sentence (Subject Complements)
- Poetry: Meter (continued)
- Read Number the Stars chapters 5-11.
- Number the Stars Quiz 2
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 18 & 19
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 20, 21, & 22
Week 14
- Grammar Boot Camp Review: Parts of Speech
- Poetry: Meter (continued)
- Read Chapter 6 of Paragraph Town.
- Read Number the Stars chapters 12-afterword.
- Number the Stars Quiz 3.
- Vocabulary Lesson V
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 23 & 24
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 25, 26, & 27
Week 15
- Grammar Boot Camp Review: Parts of Speech & Sentence
- Poetry: Meter (continued)
- Discuss Chapter 6 of Paragraph Town.
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 28 & 29
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 30, 31, & 32
SPRING SEMESTER
Week 16
- Grammar Boot Camp: Phrases
- Poetry: Stanzas
- Read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Quiz 1.
- Vocabulary Lesson VI
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 33 & 34
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 35, 36, & 37
Week 17
- Grammar Boot Camp: Phrases (continued)
- Poetry: Stanzas (continued)
- Read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Quiz 2.
- Vocabulary Lesson VII
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 38 & 39
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 40, 41, & 42
Week 18
- Grammar Boot Camp: Phrases Review
- Poetry: Stanzas (continued)
- Read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Quiz 3.
- Vocabulary Lesson VIII
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 43 & 44
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 45, 46, & 47
Week 19
- Grammar Boot Camp: Clauses
- Poetry: Review
- Read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Quiz 4.
- Vocabulary Lesson X
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 48 & 49
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 50, 51, & 52
Week 20
- Poetry: Figures of Speech
- Read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Quiz 5.
- Vocabulary Lesson XI
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 53 & 54
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 55, 56, & 57
Week 21
- Poetry: Figures of Speech (continued)
- Vocabulary Lesson XII
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 58 & 59
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 60, 61, & 62
Week 22
- Poetry: End-stopped, Enjambed
- Read “The Most Dangerous Game” short story.
- “The Most Dangerous Game” Quiz
- Vocabulary Lesson XIII
- Poetry homework: Write a poem about a picture.
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 63 & 64
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 65, 66, & 67
Week 23
- Poetry: Chapter 6
- Read “The Landlady” short story.
- “The Landlady” Quiz
- Vocabulary Lesson XIV
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 68
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 69, 70, & 71
Week 24
- Poetry: Chapter 6 (continued)
- Read “Thank You, Ma’am” short story.
- “Thank You, Ma’am” Quiz
- Vocabulary Lesson XV
- In-Class Practice Town Sentence 72
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 73, 74, & 75
Week 25
- Poetry: Chapter 6 (continued)
- No reading this week
- Vocabulary Lesson XVI
- Write your own short story.
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 76
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 77, 78, & 79
Week 26
- Poetry: Overall Review
- Read The Witch of Blackbird Pond.
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond Quiz 1
- Vocabulary Lesson XVII
- In-Class Practice Town Sentence 80
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 81, 82, & 83
Week 27
- No poetry this week OR make-up.
- Read The Witch of Blackbird Pond.
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond Quiz 2
- Vocabulary Lesson XVIII
- In-Class Practice Town Sentence 84
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 85, 86, & 87
Week 28
- No poetry this week OR make-up.
- Read The Witch of Blackbird Pond.
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond Quiz 3
- Vocabulary Lesson XIX
- In-Class Practice Town Sentence 88
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 89, 90, & 91
Week 29
- Poetry: Study for comprehensive test.
- Read The Witch of Blackbird Pond.
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond Quiz 4
- Vocabulary Lesson XX
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 92 & 93
- Homework: Practice Town Sentences 94, 95, & 96
Week 30
- Poetry: Study for comprehensive test.
- Vocabulary Review
- In-Class Practice Town Sentences 97, 98, & 99
- Wrap-up
- Homework: Practice Town Sentence 100
Estimated Workload
- 4-5 hours of studying, reading, and homework completion
