English Reading and Writing for Grade 2 – 3 Tentative Course Schedule and Topics

Instructor: Hanson Dai

Fall Semester 1 (September – January) 16 weeks

Unit 1 – Parts of Speech (September – November)

Focus Topics: Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Action Verbs, Main Verbs, Helping Verbs, Past, Present,
Future Tense, Irregular Verbs, Adverbs

Included Topics: Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, Grammar, Writing, Public-Speaking

Additional Topics: Alphabetization, Synonyms and Antonyms, Sentence Structure: Subjects and Predicates,
Prefixes and Suffixes

Unit 2 – Sentences (November – January)

Focus Topics: Parts of Sentences, Statements, Questions, Exclamations, Commands, Capital Letters, End Marks,
Punctuation, Agreement of Subjects, Combining Sentences, Joining Sentences, Expanding Sentences, Avoiding
Run-on Sentences

Included Topics: Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, Grammar, Writing, Public-Speaking

Additional Topics: Outside Reading, Summarizing, Cause and Effect, Context Clues, Main Idea, Crafting Titles,
Fact vs. Opinion, TREC Essay Format (Topic Sentence, Reason, Explanation, Conclusion)

Spring Semester 2 (February – June) 16 weeks

Unit 3 – Mechanics (February – March)

Focus Topics: Capital Letters, Abbreviations, Initials, Commas, Colons, Apostrophes, Contractions, Direct
Quotations, Dialogue, Titles, Spelling

Included Topics: Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, Grammar, Writing, Public-Speaking, The Giver

Additional Topics: Advertising, Crosswords, Analogies, Homophones, Rhyming, Syllables

Unit 4 – Vocabulary and Usage (March – April)

Focus Topics: Compound Words, Homographs, Troublesome Words, Word-for-Word Meaning, Related Words,
Sensory Words, Formal and Informal Language, Subject and Verb Agreement

Included Topics: Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, Grammar, Writing, Public-Speaking, The Giver

Additional Topics: Phonics, Forming and Asking Questions, Active/Passive Voice, Seasons

Unit 5 – Writing (April – May)

Focus Topics: Writing Paragraphs, Using Enough Details, Keeping to the Topic

Included Topics: Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, Grammar, Public-Speaking, The Giver, Debate

Additional Topics: Common Expressions, Letter Building, Word Construction, Modal Auxiliary Verbs

Unit 6 – Research Skills (May – June)

Focus Topics: Using a Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, the Internet. Parts and Kinds of Books, Reading for
Information, Taking Notes, Outlines, Rough Drafts

Included Topics: Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, Grammar, Writing, Public-Speaking