OPTIMUS LEARNING SCHOOL
INQUIRY FORM
Little Writers Penmanship (4 hours)
We all know how crucial a strong foundation is when building language skills. In this class, we start
with the basics and make sure students master the ability to identify, sound out,
and write each letter of the alphabet through a variety of activities that engage multiple senses for better memory retention.
2 hour / week: $160 / month
Tentative Schedule: Tuesday and Thursday 3:30 - 4:30 pm
Little Writers Sentences (8 hours)
After developing basic handwriting skills and a better foundation of letters, we move on to writing common
vocabulary words and sight words to make simple sentences. In later lessons, students will start adding
adjectives to describe what they are writing about. These are the first steps to being able to express ideas in writing.
2 hour / week: $160 / month
Tentative Schedule: Tuesday and Thursday 3:30 - 4:30 pm
Lower elementary students begin with writing fact-based information about themselves and subjects that they are familiar with. They also write many creative stories that help them to add detail and develop a fondness for writing. The majority of our focus at this level is towards sentence structure, correct use of vocabulary, proper punctuation, and overall clarity.
Little Writers Club (24 hours)
We want to encourage students to begin telling their stories through writing. In this class, students
will work on multiple sentence responses, working towards correct spelling, grammar, and simple punctuation.
Students will also start getting more detailed teacher feedback.
Junior Writing Club Beginner (12 weeks: 24 hours)
This class focuses on easy-to-understand grammar lessons with related essays that both review the
previous weeks’ grammar lessons and work with the current week’s lesson.
These writing assignments then receive feedback on the student’s proper use of grammar, mechanics, and overall structure.
Junior Writing Club Intermediate (12 weeks: 24 hours)
Our intermediate level writing class is a pivotal point at which students start learning how to incorporate what they’ve
learned into their essays. They begin by reading a non-fiction passage, from which they will learn some valuable
vocabulary words. Then, they write an essay on a related prompt and receive feedback on their work. At this level,
we also focus on student content and creativity. Students complete a final draft for homework.
Junior Writing Club Advanced (12 weeks: 24 hours)
After completing the intermediate level, students move on to non-fiction passages with more difficult vocabulary words
in them. Again, student content and creativity are looked at, as well as the amount of detail that is used and how well
the writing structure flows from one idea to the next. Students receive teacher feedback on their rough drafts.
Students complete a final draft for homework.
2 hour / week: $160 / month
Tentative Schedule: Tuesday and Thursday 4:30 - 5:30 pm
Students in upper elementary grades will continue writing creative stories and will also begin writing expository essays to introduce them to the idea of explaining in greater detail. These students work on using more complex sentence structures and more varied vocabulary.
Grammar Club (24 weeks: 48 hours)
This course goes over a total of 24 grammar lessons with everything from parts of speech to sentence types. At the end of each section (approximately every 4 weeks), students are given an in-class quiz to check their understanding of the grammar concepts they have been learning. Students will also write one essay per week that will help them practice and be mindful of that week’s grammar concept. They will receive teacher feedback on their rough drafts and will complete a final draft for homework.
Writing Styles Composition (24 weeks: 48 hours)
In preparation for middle school and high school essay composition, it is important to review and preview the different writing styles students will be assigned in school. We will be going over the 4 main types of essays: argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive.
Students will spend multiple class sessions learning the criteria of these essays, look at examples, and practice writing their own.
Each new essay type is discussed and modeled before students begin brainstorming their responses to the topic, which allows students to have a clearer idea of the goal and see a good example.
Students receive personal feedback on their writing and individualized coaching on the writing process.
2 hour / week: $160 / month
Tentative Schedule: Tuesday and Thursday 4:30 - 5:30 pm
Middle school students will prepare for the rigors of high school writing by being introduced to the more formal writing structure that will be expected of them in high school. They will also experience the full writing process, with each step being outlined and explained so that students understand the importance of an organized writing process. Grammar, punctuation, and word choice will still be a large focus in order to make sure students are strong in these areas before entering high school.
Critical Thinkers’ Writing Club
Here we return to the practice of incorporating what we have learned from a non-fiction passage into our writing. However, the focus here moves from summarizing what you have read and drafting a literary analysis essay. Students will learn to pay more attention to the prewriting process (i.e., brainstorming, outlining, thesis statement, etc.) and follow the standard structure. Rough drafts will be started in class and finished at home. They will receive teacher feedback the following week and will be expected to complete a final draft for homework.
Current Events Writing Club
Each week, students will read about a current event (local or global) to help improve their reading skills and give them a starting point for
their multi-paragraph essays. They will still be expected to use prewriting techniques to organize their writing, but they will work more independently
on that part. Teacher feedback will include suggestions to improve writing beyond simply correcting errors in grammar, mechanics, or structure.
2 hour / week: $180 / month
Tentative Schedule: Tuesday and Thursday 5:30 - 6:30 pm
