The Waseca Language Package for the Lower Elementary Classroom is a continuation of the Primary Classroom materials and allows students coming into Elementary an opportunity to pick up where they left off with the progression of the Reading Program and Readers. There can be a lot of variation in Reading levels with this age group.
For emergent readers, our Reading Program uses a four step approach. First, the children spell the word depicted on the card with a moveable alphabet (a process that involves encoding or using the phonetic principle introduced to make a word). Next, the child lays out all of the cards and matches the label cards, thereby decoding the phonetic information. Additional practice in decoding, the third and fourth steps, involves writing the words and reading words that follow the same phonetic principle in a booklet.
As the Elementary children progress through the Reading Program and gain confidence in their abilities, the focus will shift to spelling and handwriting practice. Our Biome Readers for the Continents use color coding that follows the Reading Program progression. When a class is studying a continent the readers provide independent reading material relevant to the area of study. Animals and people that are encountered in the Biome Cards for the Continents (included in the Continent Studies Package) are represented in the readers’ stories tying the language and cultural studies together.
Waseca Sentence Building, a new addition to our Language Materials, is a fun and engaging way to expand reading skills. Now, a child can build sentences to describe gorgeous, original illustrations with words based on the phonetic elements they have mastered through their work with the Waseca Reading Program! The materials are color-coded to follow the progression of the Waseca Reading Program and correspondingly increase in sophistication, both in vocabulary and grammar, starting with simple sentences and building to complex sentences that contain subordinate clauses and parenthetical phrases. As it seamlessly integrates with the Waseca Reading Program and our Continent Readers, Waseca Sentence Building will be replacing Language Works in our Language Materials classroom packages this year. We believe the materials will be useful not just for bolstering reading skills but also for inspired extensions with writing and grammar studies!
For more experienced readers, each drawer of the Grammar Boxes introduces a new part of speech. The sequence of introduction builds on the noun, making phrases and, then, sentences. Each part of speech has a color coded symbol associated with it. Our wooden Grammar Symbols can be used to symbolize long sentences. The Grammar Stencil is also included. The experienced reader will no longer find Language Works and the Biome Readers for the Continents necessary. The Waseca Reading Program can be used in this scenario to be used as a spelling program.
Classroom packages include all materials shown on this page. Classroom shelving is sold separately and can be found here: https://wasecabiomes.org/pages/furniture
