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Lower Elementary for Academic Year

CURRICULUM

Our classes for our lower elementary students (3rd graders) are two hours long.  Students come in once a week.  The maximum number of students per class is generally about 9.  These classes are categorized as enrichment classes.  Enrichment classes are for students who are at or above grade level and want to go above and beyond what they are learning in their regular school classes. 

Our Lower Elementary Reading and Writing Program is broken up into two semesters.  However, a new student can begin our program at any time and does not have to wait for the next unit to begin.

1st Semester

Biographies and Autobiographies

August 23, 2022 to January 27, 2023

During the fall semester, our 3rd-grade students will focus their attention on reading exciting biographies and autobiographies written by famous and not-so-famous figures. Students will pick apart the writer’s storytelling techniques they have used to recreate a personal memory in a way that helps the reader envision or feel like he/she is experiencing the moment. We have hand-picked, reviewed, and read each narrative to ensure they are challenging enough to be above-grade level and will prompt students to think, respond, and analyze what they read.

Reading Goals

• Identify the essential parts of the story map: exposition, setting, protagonist, antagonist, conflict, complications, turning point, climax, resolution, denouement

• Zoom in, hunt for, annotate, and take notes on the specific details for each story map elements

• Articulate the story’s main ideas in order to summarize the general beginning, middle, and end

• Learn the important technical elements of a story that create a personal feeling or point of view: action sequences, narration, dialogue, interior monologue, and sensory description

• Hunt for factual details the author sprinkles into the story to build historical context and authenticity

• Identify the different types of literary devices and their purpose within text (simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and alliteration)

• Find the shifts in place, time, or mood that keep the plot moving forward

• Identify unfamiliar vocabulary words and use context clues to aid in determining the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text

Our 3rd-grade students will practice the full writing process (prewriting, organizing, drafting, revising, editing) to write narratives with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Using the same narrative techniques studied in our readings, students will write their own firsthand narrative. Through the writing process, our students will develop essential writing habits and a growth mindset when putting words on paper. Our goal is to show students that you cannot just write something and be done with it. Good writers plan out their writing before drafting it out. And writers find greater satisfaction when taking the time to revise and edit their writing into a finalized piece that is better than when they first started.

Writing Goals

• Write about firsthand experiences in their life

• Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize a story in a clear sequence of events that unfolds naturally

• Brainstorm the specific details to recreate the moment and aid the reader in visualizing the exact time, place, and situation

• Maintain organization so that a central idea is continued throughout the story and the focus and sense of unity is clear

• Use dialogue and detail descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or to show the response of characters to situations

• Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events

• Use concrete words and phrases, sensory details, and figurative language (similes, personification, hyperbole, alliteration) to convey experiences and events precisely

• Use a thorough but quick prewriting process that helps students to outline, organize, and think deeply about the details of each story element (characters, setting, plot sequence) before writing anything down

• Take ownership during the drafting phase of writing by writing intentionally, thoughtfully, neatly, and with proper mechanics and spelling

• Learn valuable revising tools to improve their drafts (incorporate Bridges writing rules to elevate language, sentence fluency, elaboration of detail)

• Learn standard editing tools to independently find their own mechanical (punctuation, capitalization, tensing), spelling, and formatting errors

2nd Semester

Literary Analysis through Short Stories and Novels

January 31, 2023 – May 26, 2023

During our spring semester, our 3rd-grade students will read and analyze above-grade level novel. Students will read together for the purposes of slowing down the reading, practicing close-reading strategies, and reading with a pencil in hand. The value lies in taking the time to closely read, stop, think, and write deeper analysis of the story’s characters, themes, mood, point of view, and purpose. Each story we will read is written by our favorite authors who have their own unique style of writing, with unique plot lines, multi-dimensional characters, and complex themes. Introducing stories that have multi-layers as well as historical backdrops, our goal is to give students ample opportunity to develop a greater confidence in reading harder texts while also discovering under-the-surface implications, figurative language, and unfamiliar vocabulary. Each week, we will make sure to develop greater confidence in comprehension of texts.

Reading Goals

• Rekindle the joy of reading through short stories with an enjoyable plotlines and fun-filled conflicts, relatable characters with their own personalities, and morals or lessons that are worthy of discussion

• Develop confidence in the comprehension of longer passages with figurative language, higher-level vocabulary, and multiple meaning words

• Learn the difference between explicit and implicit meaning, practicing the skill of hunting for on-the-surface details (explicit) as well as under-the-surface ideas (implied meanings that require inferences)

• Participate in thoughtful and challenging discussions about the stories’ conflicts, characterization, and themes

• Analyze characterization and the author’s ability to develop a character’s personality or feelings based on physical traits, actions, reactions, and the way they talk to other characters

• Compare and contrast multiple settings and the way each author portrays the landscape, weather, architecture, and background characters to enhance the mood, conflict, and themes

• Identify and take notes on underlying messages embedded throughout the story and understand how an author can convey that message through the characters, setting, and plot

• Build the practice of strong annotating in the text margins

Our 3rd-grade students will use the writing process to complete literary analysis paragraphs and response-to-literature paragraphs in a highly structured and clearly defined system of repeatable steps for brainstorming, organizing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing final writing. Through the writing process, our students will develop essential writing habits and a growth mindset when putting words on paper. Our goal is to show students that you cannot just write something and be done with it. Good writers plan out their writing before drafting it out. And writers find greater satisfaction when taking the time to revise and edit their writing into a finalized piece that is better than when they first started.

Writing Goals

• Practice the writing process for a literary analysis paragraph or response to literature paragraphs: a topic sentence, three details in the form of textual evidence, and a concluding sentence

• Build the good practice of categorizing and organizing story element details (setting, protagonist, antagonist, conflict, climax, and resolution) into outlined notes that will be accessible during drafting

• Practice writing a topic sentence to answer the given literary analysis

• Pick and choose the best and most appropriate textual evidence from the story (quotes) that will support the literary analysis prompt, making sure to include three non-overlapping details from the story

• Combine specific and concrete details from the text to effectively paraphrase the context without plagiarism

• Learn what commentary sentences are in literary analysis writing and practice interweaving paraphrased contextual statements with text evidence

• Encourage one to two commentary statements that do not simply restate the main claim but answer the so what, in what way, how, and as a result

• Build an attention to detail by encouraging students to revise each thought with additional questioning and returning to the text to draw out effective elaborations

• Integrate varying sentence structures using a tool set of sentence beginnings, phrases, clauses

• Enhance writing with strong word choice and elevated modifiers and descriptors

Back to Academic Year Programs

Fees, Information & Policies

• Covid Precautions:  We are taking various precautions to keep our students and teachers safe including:

  • Masks are optional.

  • Reducing the number of concurrent classes.

  • Installing air purifiers through the institute.

  • Desks will be wiped down between classes.

  • Students will bring all of their own writing instruments.

• How much does it cost? $50 per hour. Our classes are 2 hours per week for a total of $100 per week.

• What do I need to pay when I register? To register, you will need to pay a one-time registration fee of $45 on Eventbrite. Upon registration, you will also be charged for the number of weeks that your child will attend until the next regular billing cycle. For example, if your child will attend one week before the next regular billing cycle, then you will be charged $100. After this initial pro-rata charge, you will be billed every 4 sessions.

• How do I register? There are 2 simple steps to the registration process:

  • $45 Registration Fee. Please register online by clicking on the “Register” button to reserve your child’s spot in the class and pay the $45 registration fee. The registration fee is nonrefundable. After you pay the registration fee on Eventbrite, you will automatically be directed to the Registration Form.

  • Complete the Registration Form. After you pay the registration fee, the registration system will automatically direct you to the Registration Form. The Registration Form will require the parent’s contact information, student information, and credit card authorization for the recurring 4-session payments. Upon registration, you will also be charged for the number of weeks that your child will attend until the next regular billing cycle. For example, if your child will attend one week before the next regular billing cycle, then you will be charged $100. After this initial pro-rata charge, you will be billed every 4 sessions.

  • After you pay the registration fee and complete the registration form, we will send a Welcome Email within 2 to 3 days to confirm your child’s enrollment in our program.

• What are the terms of service? When you register you must agree to our Instructional Agreement. Please review it carefully. You may also download a pdf copy of the Instructional Agreement.

• How do I pay for the fees? Our billing cycle is every 4 sessions (not every four weeks). You will not be billed for holiday weeks. Every 4-session period, we will automatically bill your credit card for the next 4 sessions.

• Do I have to pay by credit card? Yes, and we do require a credit card to be kept on file for automatic billing. The online credit card form is secured by SSL protocol and data encryption through Formstack.

• Do you offer sibling discounts? Yes. For students with siblings in our program, the hourly rate is $45 for the additional sibling. For example, if there are 2 children from one family, one child will be at $50 per hour and the sibling will be at the reduced rate of $45 per hour.

• What is the class size? Up to 8 or 9 students. However, some classes could be larger.

• How do I get on the waitlist if the class is full? To be put on a waitlist for any of our classes, please submit a waitlist request and provide the requested information. At the beginning of the academic year, we are always adding new classes so please submit a waitlist request. We will pull students off the waitlist first when we open new classes.

• Is there a minimum contract period? There is no minimum contract period. We do not obligate you to any long-term contract, but you must give 30 days prior written notice to withdraw from classes.

• What is your absence policy? There are NO REFUNDS for absences. However, you may email us at info@brwi.org to request a make-up class for another day during the same week. Make-up classes are not guaranteed and are subject to availability.

• What if I am late to pick up my child? As stated in our Instructional Agreement, if the student in not picked up within 15 minutes after the end of class, there will be a $25 fee for each occurrence.

• Is there homework? Students at Bridges will not receive any homework. All work is done at Bridges.

• How many times a week does my child have class at Bridges? Students come to Bridges once a week.

• Can my child bring a snack to Bridges? In consideration of some of our students that have severe food allergies that could be life-threatening, we have a strict NO SNACK policy.

• Do you require an assessment prior to registration? No, an assessment is not required prior to registration. It is only necessary for students with reading & writing skills significantly below grade level. If you have any questions or would like to discuss your child’s reading & writing skills, we offer free consultations with our education director. Please submit a request by click on the Questions tab at the bottom of the page.