Skip to main content

English

BJU Press’s elementary English product line connects skills in writing, mechanics, listening, speaking, and viewing to provide students with a solid English language arts foundation. Students study one part of speech at a time, mastering English conventions through spiral review and regular practice of each skill. Proofreading activities give students practice in analyzing sentences, identifying grammatical errors, and correcting errors within the context of writing. Students follow the writing process to write opinion pieces, informational texts, and narratives. Teacher modeling and student collaboration help students develop their craft as they write in various genres for real-world contexts.

Program Approach for English

diverse children playing ball

Language as God’s Gift

Our program teaches students that language is one of the first and best gifts God gave to humanity. Language is how God chose to communicate and fellowship with His people since Creation. With language, we can understand God and others, express thoughts, and influence others. Lessons begin with a particular biblical worldview focus, using the Bible as the guide to teach students to be Christlike communicators. The lesson’s introduction explains how the biblical worldview focus influences students’ application of the skill. Journal activities at the end of the lesson reinforce the lesson’s worldview and skill focus by having students write something to demonstrate their understanding of that knowledge. Literature Links also promote the biblical worldview focus of the chapter. Valuing language as God’s gift gives importance to and incentive for the study of language.

Foundations of Grammar and Mechanics

Through teacher modeling, guided practice, and independent practice, our materials teach standard English conventions. Each grammar lesson introduces new concepts through a teaching section that explains grammatical rules with definitions and sample sentences. Because mechanics are foundational to good writing, the grammar chapters emphasize continual practice of foundational grammatical concepts by applying grammar rules in real-world writing examples. These chapters also show how to apply grammar and mechanics to speaking and listening through critical-thinking exercises.

Study and Reference Skills

Students practice interacting with informational texts and primary sources for the purpose of gathering information. Students can apply study and reference skills when using their textbooks and reference materials and as they read fictional and nonfictional materials. Early in the program, students learn how to identify various parts of a book such as the author, illustrator, publisher, the table of contents, etc. The student editions also guide students in best practices for finding and evaluating information found online. Lessons on study skills show students example note cards and outlines and provide texts for students to analyze, take notes on, and make outlines of. By the end of the program, students learn how to compile notes and record documentation accurately to produce a research report.

 a girl writing at her desk

The Writing Process

The five steps of the writing process in our Elementary English program are planning, drafting, revising, proofreading, and publishing. This process helps writing become more manageable for students by separating writing steps into clearly defined actions, and it creates better results because of the careful attention given to each step. This writing process is our standard approach for teaching writing at each grade level, and it applies across genres of writing such as narrative, informative, and expository. Students first learn the process through teacher modeling. Teachers can work through each step for each new genre with the whole class before students apply the process in their own work. Teacher and peer conferences happen during the revision stage, allowing students to get encouragement and feedback about their work to sharpen writing skills. These suggested conferences along with rubrics create a multi-step grading process to accurately asses students’ writing.

Clear and Effective Writing

Students develop clear and effective writing by analyzing mentor texts and through constant practice. Student worktexts contain carefully selected literature links that illustrate skill in grammar and in a particular genre like informational, literary, or opinion texts. These texts help students visualize concepts they are learning and guide them in applying lessons to their own writing. Students also regularly practice writing in a real-world context through journal assignments and the worktext pages, which give students daily opportunities to practice and strengthen their writing skills. Writing chapters assign projects like personal anecdotes, letters, newspaper articles, imaginative essays, and much more to diversify students’ ability and to refine their skills across genres.

Developing Digital Literacy

Digital literacy skills require students to use cognitive and technological skills to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information. The student editions have exercises that develop digital literacy by asking students to find digital content for research reports. In Grade 3, students begin applying their study and reference skills to sources found on the internet. Lessons about the internet include instruction on internet safety and using the acronym TOOLS to teach students how to use technology wisely. Students also learn how to navigate electronic sources like encyclopedias, informational articles, and educational videos. Upper elementary research reports help students find useful information and resources online and accurately document their internet research.

a girl giving an oral presentation

Skill Development

Our elementary English program provides many opportunities for developing 21st century skills. The teacher editions suggest activities for collaboration that involve students’ working together one-on-one, such as in group discussions, brainstorming activities, information exchanges, and writing evaluations. Students ask each other questions to get information and express their own ideas, or the whole class discusses ideas to reach a conclusion together.

An important part of students’ development is using their auditory senses to process language. Listening activities in the teacher edition help students differentiate sounds and learn proper formation of words. These activities also encourage students to develop their ability to recognize grammatical errors so they can speak with clarity and accuracy. Follow-up questions to the listening exercises encourage students to think about and evaluate what they hear.

Speaking skills are also an important part of language development. The student worktext and teacher edition provide opportunities for both formal and informal speaking activities. Examples of formal speaking activities for students could be giving oral presentations or reading published writing projects out loud. Some examples of informal speaking activities are conversations between students or with the teacher, small group discussions, or whole classroom discussions. Informal activities still encourage students to speak in complete sentences and apply correct grammar.

Visual analysis skills encourage students to understand infographics and connect images to accompanying spoken or written words. Our student editions include illustrative pictures, diagrams, and tables. These images provide additional information and context about the material, while allowing students to practice decoding visuals as they do with words. Students answer questions in the worktext to help them evaluate the images and demonstrate understanding.

a girl mailing a letter

Communicating to Serve Others

Students with a biblical worldview learn that deceptive or untrue communication does not show love to other people, but language that comes from a heart of service and love can create a sense of fellowship and community. Student worktext assignments encourage students to produce writing that shows love and concern for others. Our program helps students hone the craft of writing and emphasizes excellence, equipping students to communicate truth, beauty, and goodness effectively to others. With good writing, students can help other people know God better and love true and beautiful things.

Vision

To equip students to master foundational grammar and writing skills, enabling them to craft effective written and oral communication that honors God and serves others.

Goals

  • To foster an appreciation of language as a gift from God
  • To develop a foundational knowledge of English grammar and mechanics
  • To develop study and reference skills
  • To teach the writing process for narrative, informative, opinion, and expository writing
  • To encourage clear and effective writing through mentor text analysis and regular practice of writing in real-world contexts
  • To develop digital literacy
  • To guide the development of collaboration, listening, speaking, and viewing skills
  • To provide space for reflection on communication that serves others

Materials

Student Worktext

The student worktexts provide guided practice through teacher- and mentor-text modeling and independent practice to strengthen skills in writing and grammar. Communication skills are taught through relevant and meaningful oral and written activities. Students learn writing skills using the five steps of the Writing Process across many genres. Chapter reviews at the end of each unit and cumulative reviews provide a spiral review of previously learned skills. Each worktext also contains a Writing Handbook with a dictionary, thesaurus, writing models, and more.

Teacher Edition

The teacher editions provide a thorough presentation of English instruction with a balance of grammar study and writing practice. Suggestions for differentiated instruction and for working with ELL students appear in many lessons. Instructional aids enhance lessons by providing definitions, sample sentences, or essential teaching visuals. These editions also give teachers tools for developing students’ critical-thinking skills and biblical worldview through discussions and activities. Each teacher edition has reduced worktext pages with answers for corresponding lessons.

Assessments

Each test packet contains one age-appropriate test per grammar chapter, covering the most important concepts taught in the lessons.

Scope & Sequence

textbook cover

Phonics & English 1

Prewriting Skills

Interpreting pictures, matching sounds with pictures, print awareness

Listening

Listening comprehension: interpreting information, listening for facts and details, following directions

Oral Communication

Singing songs, discussions, action rhymes, pantomimes, recitation, retelling stories, collaboration (Turn and Talk and Think-Pair-Share activities), reading aloud; Dictating a word, a phrase, or a sentence; describing an experience; sharing ideas

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

Using auditory and visual discrimination as well as letter-sound association for each of the 44 English sounds and their variant spellings; Identifying consonant blends and digraphs, short and long vowel patterns, diphthongs, r-influenced vowels; Recognizing rhyming words; Recognizing hard and soft c, hard and soft g, the silent consonants patterns; Recognizing syllable types; Decoding 130 phonograms or word families; Developing word recognition skills

Vocabulary

Determining meaning from context; Synonyms, antonyms, compound words, contractions, analogies

Structural Analysis

Counting syllables, syllable division; Prefixes, suffixes, suffix rules

Study Skills

Using alphabetical order, following directions; reading a color key

Written Communication

Sentences: Complete thought, completing a sentence, writing words in sentence order, identifying sentence parts (subject part, verb part), writing original sentences; Types of sentences: statements, questions, exclamations; Paragraphs: topic, topic sentence, supporting detail sentences; completing the five-step Writing Process; Genre: informative (facts about a topic, biographical paragraph), personal narrative, poem, letter writing, opinion; Journaling

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage

Sentence features: beginning uppercase letters, appropriate spacing, end punctuation mark; Capitalization: beginning of a sentence, proper nouns; Punctuation: end of a sentence (period, question mark, exclamation point); commas in a letter and in a series; apostrophe in contractions and possessive nouns; Parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs (action and linking), adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions; Sentences: subject-verb agreement; Past, present, and future tenses

Reading for Comprehension

Reading phrases and sentences with comprehension

textbook cover

English 2

Parts of Speech

Noun: common, proper, singular, plural, collective, possessive; Verb: action; linking; helping— has, have; present and past tenses; regular and certain irregular verbs; Pronoun; Adjective; Adverb

Sentence Structure

Sentence: fragment, run-on sentence, combining sentences, expanding sentences; Sentence parts: subject part, subject, predicate part; Sentence types: statement, question, command, exclamation

Conventions

Capitalization: proper nouns, titles, abbreviations, initials, book titles; Punctuation: period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, apostrophe

Usage

Pronoun reference, contractions, subject-verb agreement

Writing Skills & Support

Shared writing; Independent writing; Paragraph development; Writing process: plan, draft, revise, proofread, publish; Writing traits: ideas, organization, word choice, conventions; Using a dictionary; Using a thesaurus; Conferencing with teacher and peer; Graphic organizers: word web, time-order chart, senses chart, note cards; Using a rubric for self-assessment

Writing Projects

Poetry: Hebrew poem, couplet, shape poem; Personal story, friendly letter, instructions, opinion paragraph about a book, research report

Study and Reference Skills

Reference skills: parts of a book: title, page, table of contents; library: fiction, nonfiction, biography; information sources: encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, magazine, DVD; electronic card catalog; computer: safety/etiquette, keyword search; Dictionary skills: alphabetical order, guide word, entry word, definition, sample sentence; Study skills: listening: following directions, listening strategies, identifying facts and details; taking notes

Listening and Speaking Skills

Listening skills: following directions, listening strategies, identifying facts and details; Speaking skills: audio recordings, collaborative conversations, reading orally

textbook cover

English 3

Parts of Speech

Noun: common, proper, singular, plural, possessive, abstract, collective; Verb: action; linking; helping; present, past, and future tenses; irregular verbs; Pronoun: subject, object, possessive, singular, plural, courtesy order; Adjective; Adverb; Preposition

Sentence Structure

Sentence: fragment, run-on sentence, compound sentence; Sentence parts: complete subject, complete predicate, simple subject, simple predicate; Sentence types: declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory; Diagramming; combining sentences; expanding sentences

Conventions

Capitalization: proper nouns, titles, abbreviations, initials, book titles; Punctuation: period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, apostrophe

Usage

Pronoun reference; contractions; subject-verb agreement

Writing Skills & Support

Shared writing; Independent writing; Paragraph development; Writing process: plan, draft, revise, proofread, publish; Writing traits: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, presentation; Writing conference with teacher and peer; Graphic organizers: opinion chart, word web, time-order chart, story map, paragraph model, note cards; Checklist for self-assessment; Rubric for summative assessment; Proofreading marks to improve writing and make corrections; Using a thesaurus

Writing Projects

Informative/explanatory: game instructions, research report; Opinion: book review, persuasive essay; Narrative: friendly letter; Poetry: sound poem; Journal and reflection activities

Study & Research Skills

Reference skills: parts of a book, using the library; Non-print sources: internet, electronic catalog, videos; Study skills: taking notes, internet safety, keyword search

Listening, Speaking & Viewing Skills

Listening skills: collaborative discussions, think-pair-share, active listening stories; Speaking skills: reading orally, presenting reports; Viewing skills: visual analysis, image brainstorm; Presentations: oral report with visual display, audio recording, video recording

Biblical Worldview

Communication in relation to Creation, Fall, Redemption using the themes of friendship, authority, work, celebration, and people

textbook cover

English 4

Parts of Speech

Noun: common, proper, singular, plural, possessive, abstract, collective; Verb: action, linking, helping, simple tenses, progressive tenses, irregular verbs, frequently confused verbs; Pronoun: personal pronouns, correcting unclear pronouns, courtesy order, indefinite pronouns, reflexive pronouns, relative pronouns; Adjectives: articles, demonstrative adjectives, proper adjectives, order of adjectives, comparative, superlative; Adverb: comparative, superlative, relative adverbs; Preposition; Conjunction

Sentence Structure

Sentence; fragment; compound sentence; complex sentence; Subjects and predicates: complete, simple, and compound; Phrase, dependent clause, independent clause; Diagramming

Conventions

Capitalization: proper nouns, proper adjectives, titles, abbreviations; Punctuation: period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, apostrophe, quotation marks

Usage

Homophones; Pronoun reference; Contractions; Frequently confused verbs; Double negatives; Subject/verb agreement

Writing Skills & Support

Shared writing; Paragraph development; Writing process: plan, draft, revise, proofread, publish; Writing conference with teacher and peer; Graphic organizers: word web, events/details chart, opinion, chart, plot pyramid, T-chart, timeorder chart, Venn diagram; Proofreading marks; Using a thesaurus; Checklists for self-assessment; Rubrics for summative assessment

Writing Projects

Poetry: acrostic poem; Opinion: book review; Narrative: realistic story, tall tale; Informative: compare-contrast essay, research report

Study & Reference Skills

Reference skills: parts of a book, types of reference books, using the library, using the internet; Study skills: taking notes, outlining, internet safety, keyword search, reliability of sources

Listening & Speaking Skills

Listening skills: collaborative discussion, summarization, peer conferences; Speaking skills: presentations, peer conferences; Viewing skills: visual analysis

Biblical Worldview

Communication in relation to Creation, Fall, Redemption using the themes of Source of Language, Truth, Goodness, and Craft

 

textbook cover

English 5

Parts of Speech

Noun: common, proper, singular, plural, possessive, abstract, collective; Verb: action, linking, helping, simple tenses, progressive tenses, perfect tenses, irregular verbs, frequently confused verbs, mixing verb tenses; Pronoun: subject, object, possessive, reflexive, intensive, indefinite; with antecedent; Adjective: articles, demonstratives, proper adjectives, comparative, superlative; Adverb: comparative, superlative; Preposition; Conjunction: coordinating, correlative, subordinating; Interjection

Sentence Structure

Simple sentence; compound sentence; complex sentence; Sentence patterns; Subjects and predicates: complete, simple, and compound; Phrase, dependent clause, independent clause; Correcting fragments, comma splices, and fused sentences

Conventions

Capitalization: proper nouns, proper adjectives, titles, abbreviations; Punctuation: period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, apostrophe, quotation marks

Usage

Homophones; Pronoun reference; Contractions; Frequently confused verbs; Double negatives; Subject/verb agreement

Writing Skills & Support

Paragraph development; Writing process: plan, draft, revise, proofread, publish; Writing conferences with teacher and peers; Proofreading marks; Using a thesaurus; Checklists for self-assessment; Rubrics for summative assessment

Writing Projects

Poetry: diamante and sense poem; Opinion: book review, persuasive letter; Narrative: personal narrative; Informative: compare-contrast essay, research report

Study & Research Skills

Reference skills: parts of a book, types of reference books, using the library, using the internet; Study skills: taking notes, outlining, internet safety, keyword search, reliability of sources

Listening, Speaking & Viewing Skills

Listening skills: collaborative discussion, peer conferences; Speaking skills: presentations, peer conferences; Viewing skills: visual analysis

Biblical Worldview

Communication in relation to Creation, Fall, Redemption using the themes of Personality, Perception, Precision, and Pleasure