Grammar & Conventions (Grades 1-6)

73 core topics + 35 prerequisite topics taught as needed · approximately 30 hours of instruction including spaced review

How the course runs

An adaptive diagnostic (up to 40 questions) places the student on the course's knowledge graph - topics already known are credited, and instruction begins exactly at the learning frontier. Every topic is taught with a worked-example lesson and auto-graded practice; a topic is mastered at 75%+ and then maintained through spaced reviews on an expanding schedule. Mixed checks follow every 6 lessons; each unit ends with a 12-item quiz, and course-wide assessments appear at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% mastery. Prerequisite gaps below the course are detected and taught rather than skipped, so completion certifies the whole tower, not just the top.

Core curriculum

Sentence & Capitalization Basics · 5 topics

What Makes a Sentence [E]	Tell a complete sentence from a group of words.
Naming Part and Telling Part [E]	Split a sentence into who it is about and what happens.
Capital Letters and End Marks [E]	Start every sentence with a capital and end it with a mark.
Choosing the Right End Mark [E]	Use a period, question mark, or exclamation point.
Capitalizing Names [E]	Capitalize names, places, days, months, and the word I.

Nouns & Verbs · 8 topics

What a Noun Is [E]	Name the words that stand for a person, place, or thing.
Common Nouns and Proper Nouns [M]	Tell a general noun from the name of one particular thing.
What a Verb Is [E]	Name the words that tell what someone does.
Finding the Verb in a Sentence [M]	Pick out the verb inside a whole sentence.
Verbs That Do Not Show Action [M]	Find is, are, was and were doing a verb's job.
One Word, Two Jobs [M]	Decide whether a word is a noun or a verb from the sentence it is in.
Making the Verb Match [M]	Choose a verb form that matches one thing or many things.
Finding Both Parts [M]	Pick out the noun and the verb in the same sentence.

Adjectives, Adverbs & Pronouns · 9 topics

What an Adjective Is [M]	Name the words that tell what a noun is like.
Which Noun the Adjective Describes [M]	Match an adjective to the one noun it is telling you about.
Comparing: -er and -est [M]	Use the right form of an adjective to compare two things or many.
What an Adverb Is [M]	Name the words that tell more about what happened.
How, When, Where, How Often [M]	Say which question an adverb is answering.
Adjective or Adverb? [H]	Choose between a describing word and its -ly form.
What a Pronoun Is [M]	Replace a noun with the pronoun that fits its job.
The Noun a Pronoun Stands For [H]	Track a pronoun back to the noun it replaced.
I or Me, He or Him [H]	Pick the right pronoun form even when another person is named too.

Sentence Types, Fragments & Run-Ons · 7 topics

The Four Kinds of Sentence [M]	Tell a statement, question, command, and exclamation apart.
Spotting a Fragment [M]	Tell when a group of words stops before it is a sentence.
Fixing a Fragment [M]	Add what is missing so a fragment becomes a sentence.
Spotting a Run-On [M]	Notice when two sentences have been jammed into one.
Three Ways to Fix a Run-On [H]	Repair a run-on, and choose the repair that fits the meaning.
Joining Two Sentences [H]	Combine short sentences with the joining word the meaning needs.
Sentence, Fragment, or Run-On? [H]	Sort any group of words into complete, too short, or too long.

Verb Tenses & Subject-Verb Agreement · 8 topics

Past, Present, or Future? [M]	Tell from the verb whether a sentence is about the past, the present, or the future.
Building the Past Tense with -ed [H]	Add -ed to a verb and make the spelling changes the ending forces.
Verbs That Do Not Take -ed [H]	Use the past tense of the irregular verbs, and keep it apart from the participle.
Actions Caught in the Middle [H]	Use am, is, are, was, were and will be with an -ing verb to show an action in progress.
Have, Has and Had [H]	Use have, has and had with a past participle, and say what had adds.
Keeping the Tense Steady [H]	Notice a sentence that slips into a different tense and put it back.
Making the Verb Match Its Subject [H]	Match a present-tense verb, including am, is and are, to its subject.
Subjects That Trick You [H]	Find the real subject when a phrase, a group word or a There sentence hides it.

Commas, Quotation Marks & Apostrophes · 9 topics

Commas in a List [M]	Separate three or more items in a sentence with commas.
The Comma After an Opener [M]	Close off a word or phrase that comes before the main sentence.
The Comma Before and, but, or, so [H]	Use a comma when a joining word connects two whole sentences.
Commas Around the Person You Are Talking To [H]	Set off the name of the person being spoken to.
Commas in Dates, Places, and Letters [H]	Punctuate a full date, a city and state, and the lines of a letter.
Quotation Marks Around What Someone Says [H]	Punctuate a spoken line and the words that tell who said it.
Apostrophes in Contractions [M]	Put the apostrophe exactly where the missing letters were.
Apostrophes That Show Ownership [H]	Show who owns something with 's or s'.
its, it's, and the Plural That Needs No Apostrophe [H]	Choose between look-alike words that an apostrophe tells apart.

Conjunctions, Prepositions & Complex Sentences · 9 topics

Clause, or Just a Phrase? [H]	Tell an independent clause, a dependent clause, and a phrase apart.
Prepositions and the Phrases They Start [H]	Find a prepositional phrase and say where it starts and stops.
The Subject Is Never Inside the Phrase [H]	Ignore the prepositional phrase and match the verb to the real subject.
All Seven Coordinating Conjunctions [H]	Choose among the seven - and, but, or, so, for, nor, and yet - by what each one claims.
The Comma Before a Joining Word [H]	When a joining word holds two halves together, the comma goes in only if a whole sentence follows it.
Subordinating Conjunctions [H]	Use because, although, unless, until, and their kin to say how two ideas relate.
Where the Comma Goes in a Complex Sentence [H]	Comma after a leading dependent clause, none after a trailing one.
Conjunctions That Come in Pairs [H]	Use both...and, either...or, neither...nor, and not only...but also, with matching halves.
Simple, Compound, Complex [H]	Name the structure of any sentence by counting its clauses.

Capitalization & Titles · 9 topics

Naming Words and Names [M]	Tell a word that names one particular thing from a word that names a whole group.
Titles That Go With a Name [M]	Capitalize a title or family word when it is part of somebody's name.
Place Names and Directions [M]	Capitalize the name of a particular place, but not a kind of place or a direction.
Days, Months, and Holidays [M]	Capitalize days, months, and holidays - and leave the seasons alone.
Languages, Peoples, and School Subjects [H]	Capitalize languages, countries, and the people from them, but not school subjects.
Capitals Inside Quotation Marks [H]	Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence, and know when the second half does not get one.
Which Words in a Title Get a Capital [H]	Capitalize the first word, the last word, and every important word in a title.
Quotation Marks or Italics [H]	Choose quotation marks for a piece of a work and italics for a whole work.
Every Capital Rule at Once [H]	Check a whole sentence and name the rule behind each capital letter.

Spelling Patterns & Rules · 9 topics

Doubling at the End of a Short Word [M]	Double a final f, l, s or z after one short vowel.
Spelling /k/ at the End: ck, k or ke [M]	Choose ck, k or ke for the /k/ sound at the end of a word.
The Extra Letter a Short Vowel Asks For [M]	Write tch and dge after a short vowel, ch and ge everywhere else.
Same Sound, Different Place in the Word [M]	Use ai and oi inside a word, and ay, oy and y at the end.
Letters You Cannot Hear [H]	Spell words that keep a letter nobody says.
ie or ei [H]	Choose between ie and ei using the sound and the letter before it.
The /shun/ Ending: -tion, -sion or -cian [H]	Choose between -tion, -sion and -cian at the end of a word.
The Vowel You Cannot Hear [H]	Find an unstressed vowel by saying a related word out loud.
Catching It and Naming the Rule [H]	Find the misspelled word in a sentence and say which rule fixes it.

Prerequisite material - taught automatically when the diagnostic finds gaps

Phonological & Phonemic Awareness · 6 topics

Counting Syllables	Break a word into its beats.
Hearing the First Sound	Tell which sound a word starts with.
Hearing the Last Sound	Tell which sound a word ends with.
Hearing the Middle Vowel Sound	Find the vowel sound in the middle of a short word.
Blending Sounds into Words	Push separate sounds together to make a word.
Breaking Words into Sounds	Split a word into every separate sound.

Phonics: Letters, Sounds & Short Vowels · 6 topics

Capital and Lowercase Letters	Match every capital letter to its lowercase partner.
Letter Sounds	Say the sound each letter stands for.
Short Vowel Sounds	Hear and write the five short vowel sounds.
Reading Short Words	Sound out and read consonant-vowel-consonant words.
Spelling Short Words	Write the letter for each sound you hear.
Word Families	Read a whole set of words by learning one ending.

Phonics: Consonant Blends & Digraphs · 7 topics

Digraphs at the Start of a Word	Read sh, ch, th, wh and ph at the beginning of a word.
Digraphs at the End of a Word	Read sh, ch, th, ck and ng at the end of a word.
Counting Sounds, Not Letters	Count the sounds in a word that contains a digraph.
Blends at the Start of a Word	Read two and three consonants blended together at the start of a word.
Blend or Digraph?	Tell a blend from a digraph by listening to the sounds.
Reading Blend and Digraph Words	Sound out and read a word containing a blend or a digraph.
Spelling Blends and Digraphs	Write the right letters for a blend or digraph you hear.

Phonics: Silent-e & Long Vowels · 6 topics

Long Vowel Sounds	Hear a vowel saying its own name.
One Letter Changes the Word	Add or remove a silent e and read the new word.
Short Vowel or Long Vowel?	Decide from the spelling whether a vowel is short or long.
Reading Silent-e Words	Read a silent-e word accurately, without dropping the e.
Spelling with Silent e	Decide whether a word needs a silent e at the end.
When Silent e Breaks the Rule	Know the common words where a final e does not make the vowel long.

Prefixes & Suffixes · 7 topics

Finding the Base Word	Strip the extra parts off a word to find the word underneath.
What a Prefix Means	Know what the common prefixes do to a word.
Using a Prefix to Read a Word	Work out what a prefixed word means without being told.
What a Suffix Means	Know what the common suffixes add to a word.
Using a Suffix to Read a Word	Work out what a word with a suffix means.
Building Words from Parts	Put a prefix, base word, and suffix together into one word.
Spelling Changes When You Add an Ending	Apply the three rules for adding a suffix to a base word.

Writing Strong Sentences · 3 topics

Knowing When You Have a Sentence	Tell a finished sentence from a piece of one.
Joining Two Sentences	Put two related sentences together without making a run-on.
Choosing the Right Joining Word	Pick the joining word that states the real relationship.

🖨 Print / save as PDF ← All courses