• Spelling & Vocabulary
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Through LePort Schools' unique program, your child will master the fundamentals of grammar (parts of speech, parts of the sentence, phrases, clauses, and punctuation) and will be able to apply them correctly, both orally and in writing. Learning grammar is made easy and fun with sentence diagramming, a highly effective method that appeals to students with differing strengths: linguistic, mathematical, or visual.

Grade Four

Parts of Speech

• Identify and diagram the eight parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection, pronoun), and prepositional phrases
• Identify and diagram the four types of verbs (transitive active, transitive passive, intransitive complete, intransitive linking)
• Identify and diagram the basic parts of the sentence (subject, predicate, direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, predicate adjective) in both simple and compound sentences

• Use a colon before a list (He had three favorite subjects: math, English, and French), between numbers in time (6:30 a.m.), and after a greeting (Dear Sir/Madam:)
• Use a comma around a noun of direct address (Yes, Nancy, I will)
• Use a hyphen in prefixes before proper nouns or proper adjectives (Pre-Raphaelite); in compound words used as adjectives (home-grown corn, well-meant lie); in fractions (two-thirds)
• Use a semicolon in compound sentences in which the coordinating conjunction is omitted (He left; I remained)

• Correctly use such intransitive/transitive verbs as sit/set, lie/lay; rise/raise
• Use verb tenses consistently throughout a piece of writing; refer to literature in literary present tense
• Use topic sentences to begin paragraphs
• Write different types of paragraphs: narrative, descriptive, expository

Grade Five

Review material from Grade 4 and introduce the following new material:

Parts of Speech

• Identify, diagram, and correctly use verbals and verbal phrases
• Identify, diagram, and correctly use appositives
• Correctly use perfect verb tenses
• Identify and correctly use mood (indicative, imperative, potential, infinitive, subjunctive – If I were president)

• Use commas after introductory participial phrases (Running down the street, he cried for help); long introductory prepositional phrases (In the chill early morning, I went jogging); multiple introductory prepositional phrases (At the end of the competition, we all cheered)
• Use commas around appositives (Mr. Smith, our math teacher, is retiring) and non-essential participial phrases (My friend, laughing with delight, shared her joke)
• Use dashes to indicate an abrupt break in thought (Dawn is busy – extremely busy – with the yearly report)
• Use ellipses for omitted words in quotations
• Use square brackets when a word is changed or inserted into a quotation
• Correctly punctuate long and short quotations used for textual evidence
• Use parentheses around parenthetical remarks in a sentence (Gina (the one wearing the red hat) is my friend's sister)

• Use the case for pronouns correctly (e.g. There is a deep bond between him and me; He and I went to the museum)
• Identify and correct pronoun reference problems, such as vague pronoun reference (That was the reason why I left)
• Correctly use adjective and adverb phrases, as well as verbal phrases, to clarify meaning; avoid misplaced modifiers, such as dangling participles

Review material from Grades 4 and 5 and introduce the following material:

Parts of Speech

• Identify, diagram, and correctly use independent and dependent clauses (adjective, adverb, noun)
• Identify and correctly use conjunctions (coordinating, subordinating, correlative) and conjunctive adverbs
• Identify and correctly use pronouns (relative, intensive, reflexive, interrogative)
• Identify and correctly form complex and compound-complex sentences

• Commas after introductory adverb clauses, around non-essential adjective clauses, to separate phrases and clauses in a series
• Semicolon and conjunctive adverb between compound sentences (I studied; however, I still failed)
• Semicolon between items in a series if the items themselves already contain commas
• Use proper MLA Documentation for title page, works cited page, quotations

• Use a variety of subordinate clauses correctly, and with increasing effectiveness (Because she worked very hard, she was successful)
• Use a variety of pronouns correctly
• Identify and avoid misplaced modifiers (especially adjective and adverb clauses)
• Write with parallel structure
• Write with increasing sentence clarity and cohesiveness
• Use knowledge of paragraph writing to begin a unit on formal essays (expository, argumentative, comparative)

Focus On:
Recognizing, describing, diagramming, and correctly using, in oral and written language, the language structures of standard English and its conventions of grammar and usage, including:

• Parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, prepositions, interjections
• Components of sentences: subject, predicate, object, predicate adjectives and nouns, prepositional and verbal phrases, main and subordinate clauses
• Simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences
• Agreement between subject and verb, and between pronoun and antecedents in terms of gender, number, case
• Consistent and appropriate verb tense (simple, perfect, progressive); voice (active, passive); and mode (indicative, subjunctive, potential, imperative, infinitive)
• Recognize, describe, and correct sentence errors in oral and written language (e.g. sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and comma splices)
• Use punctuation correctly, including the period, question mark, exclamation mark, comma, dash, apostrophe, colon, quotation marks, parentheses, and ellipses
• Adapt punctuation and capitalization for the special requirements of direct quotations, scripts, dialogue, and poetry
• Combine and expand sentences, using phrases (prepositional, appositive, infinitive, gerund, participial) and clauses (adjectival, adverbial, noun) for more precise, sophisticated writing

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