English Language Arts

Work through the topics in order, or jump to the one you need.

  1. Vocabulary Grade 6 Honors vocabulary on the theme of explorers and courage: 15 power words with meanings and examples, breaking words into roots and affixes, four kinds of context clues, connotation (how strong a word feels), and a short story, "The Blue Hole", that uses every word.
  2. Synonyms & Antonyms Grade 5 vocabulary: what synonyms and antonyms are, how to tell them apart, and 45 power words from three nature units (Coral Reef Rescue, Rainforest Guardians, Wings and Blossoms), each with its meaning, a synonym, an antonym and an example sentence.
  3. Grammar Grade 5 grammar: prepositions and prepositional phrases, interjections and how to punctuate them, and compound sentences joined with a comma and a FANBOYS conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), with examples from GiagEdu stories and practice.
  4. Reading Comprehension Three original GiagEdu stories, "Kofi and the Coral Garden", "Ama and the Treetop Walk" and "Wings in the Garden", with background words, comprehension questions (recall, word clues, cause and effect, inference, theme) and the RACE method for answering with text evidence.
  5. Main Idea & Details Grade 5 reading skill: the main idea is the "table top" and key details are the legs that hold it up. Includes the original story "Maya's Garden of Change", 15 changemaker words, a main idea organiser, multiple-choice questions and the RACE method.
  6. Informational Text Grade 4 non-fiction reading: what a biography and an informational text are, time order and signal words, building a timeline, cause and effect, fact vs "people say", main idea and key details, sequence, and context clues, using a short biography of Abraham Lincoln and a text about monarch butterfli
  7. Character Traits Grade 4 story skills with the original story "Maya and the Lopsided Pumpkin": story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution), realistic fiction, character traits proved with text evidence, how a character changes, similes with like and as, and finding the theme.
  8. Theme Grade 5 reading: what happens vs what a story teaches, theme vs topic, the theme detective formula (characters + problem + choices + results), strong vs weak text evidence, the evidence ladder and the claim–evidence–explanation paragraph, with short original stories to practise on.
  9. Inference Grades 5–6 reading: what an inference is (what I know + what I read), fact vs inference, strong vs weak inferences, using evidence, first- and third-person point of view and perspective, with short original passages to practise on.
  10. Literature (Grade 6) Grade 6 Honors literature: an original GiagEdu story about Mira, who keeps a lighthouse burning through a storm. 15 academic vocabulary words, the full story, literal and inferential questions, and the C.O.R.E. method (Challenge, Options, Response, Extract the lesson) for finding and defending a the
  11. Writing Grade 5 writing: what narrative writing is, the story mountain (hook, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion), dialogue and its punctuation, using the five senses, showing instead of telling, transition words, strong endings, planning, and prompts to practise.
  12. Idioms What an idiom is, literal versus figurative meaning, 19 common idioms about weather, animals, food and the body, how to use context clues, and two original GiagEdu stories, "Break a Leg, Jada!" and "Zara's Safari Surprise", with questions and practice.