Beginning Grammar

Grades K-2, approximately 4-8 years of age

Student Characteristics

  1. Obviously excited about learning

  2. Enjoys games, stories, songs, & projects

  3. Short attention span

  4. Wants to touch, taste, feel, smell, & see

  5. Imaginative, creative

Teaching Methods

  1. Guide discovering

  2. Explore, find things

  3. Use lots of tactile items to illustrate point

  4. Sing, play games, chant, recite, color, draw, paint, build

  5. Use body movements

  6. Short, creative projects

  7. Show and Tell, drama, hear/read/tell stories

  8. Field trips

Grammar

Grades 3-6, approximately 9-11 years of age

STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS

  1. Excited about new, interesting facts

  2. Likes to explain, figure out, talk

  3. Wants to relate own experiences to topic, or just to tell a story

  4. Likes collections, organizing items

  5. Likes chants, clever, repetitious word sounds (e.g. Dr. Seuss)

  6. Easily memorizes

  7. Can assimilate another language well

TEACHING METHODS

  1. Lots of hands-on work, projects

  2. Field trips, drama

  3. Make collections, displays, models

  4. Integrate subjects through above means

  5. Teach and assign research projects

  6. Recitations, memorizations

  7. Drills, games

  8. Oral/written presentations

Logic

Grades 7-9, approximately 12-14 years of age

STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS

  1. Still excitable, but needs challenges

  2. Judges, critiques, debates, critical

  3. Likes to organize items, others

  4. Shows off knowledge

  5. Wants to know “behind the scenes” facts

  6. Curious about ‘Why?’ for most things

  7. Thinks, acts as though more knowledgeable than adults

TEACHING METHODS

  1. Time lines, charts, maps (visual materials)

  2. Debates, persuasive reports

  3. Drama, reenactments, role-playing

  4. Evaluate, critique (with guidelines)

  5. Formal logic

  6. Research projects

  7. Oral/written presentations

  8. Guest speakers, trips

Rhetoric

Grades 10-12, approximately 15-18 years of age

STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS

  1. Concerned with present events, especially in own life

  2. Interested in justice, fairness

  3. Moving toward special interests, topics

  4. Can take on responsibility, independent work

  5. Can do synthesis

  6. Desires to express feelings, own ideas

  7. Generally idealistic

TEACHING METHODS

  1. Drama, oral presentations

  2. Guide research in major areas with goal of synthesis of ideas

  3. Many papers, speeches, debates

  4. Give responsibilities, e.g. working with younger students, organize activities

  5. In-depth field trips, even overnight

  6. World view discussion/written

 

Taken from the essay The Lost Tools of Learning, by Dorothy Sayers. It illustrates the application of the Trivium at New Covenant Christian Academy