The PATHFINDER Language Arts workbook series - now available for grades 3-8 - provides students with guided instruction and strategy-building exercises in order to help them develop essential language arts skills. Reading passages of varying difficulty allow for differentiated instruction. These workbooks have been designed to address a variety of learning styles and abilities. PART 1: READING The first part of each book is devoted to helping students grasp the reading comprehension concepts that are tested most state exams. Lessons explain major concepts including Theme of Central Idea, Context Clues, Purpose for Reading, Author’s Purpose, Text Organization, and Literary Conventions. Instructional sections are followed by 3-6 reading passages. Informal assessment checks ( Checking for Understanding ) have been built into the passages to allow teachers to gauge student process while they read and they serve to show the students the importance of critical thinking and evaluating while they read. Passages are followed by multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Each multiple-choice question is coupled with a brief hint to help struggling students focus on what the question is asking. PART 2: WRITING The second part of each book focuses on the writing and editing skills students will have to develop in order to succeed on state writing tests. Students are introduced to prewriting techniques including Lists, Webs, and Outlines and are shown how to go about getting their ideas down on paper in an organized fashion. Elements of good writing (including Sentence Structure, Word Variety, Spelling, Punctuation, Openings, Details, and Conclusions) are demonstrated through examples and comparisons with poorly written text. Each of the three types of writing prompts that typically appear on state tests (EXPLANATORY, SPECULATIVE, and PERSUASIVE) is explained in detail. Students are taught what each of these kinds of prompts calls for are shown how to go about composing strong responses. Pathfinder English Language Arts 3-8 is also available in ungraded versions for students who are working below grade level.
