New classes have been added for primary through middle school!
and contact me to register.
Mary Frederick
(916) 990-3494
Spring classes are finally here!
Class Descriptions
Lower Elementary
2/3 Fun With Math!
Spring Focus: Money and Time
This semester, students will explore money and time through engaging, hands-on, and higher-level thinking activities. We will build on their previous currency knowledge and cover coin and bill recognition, value, counting, adding and subtracting. We will also practice telling time to the hour, half hour, quarter hour and minute. The semester will culminate with a class store where the students will be able to budget their class money and purchase their lunch.
2/3 Write On! ELA
This semester it’s all about insects! We will be focusing on expository writing. The students will learn about a new insect each week. They will practice reading and understanding informational text, organizing information, and writing expository sentences and paragraphs. The focus of our writing will be learning how to write to inform. Students will complete an informational narrative on an insect of their choice. They will also create their own new bug and write a detailed informational description to introduce it to the world.
Beginner Writer's Workshop (2nd-4th grade)
This exciting class will focus on teaching beginning writing skills and encouraging the love of writing. Students will participate in a variety of interactive, hands-on activities designed to increase their confidence, ability, and knowledge of the mechanics and art of writing. We will learn and practice everything from pencil position, handwriting, word placement, and spacing, to sentence structure, paragraphs, and punctuation. Join us and learn to LOVE writing!
Upper Elementary (4-5)
Elementary Write On!
Spring Semester will be focused on research writing with a twist. Students will create an engaging and beautiful ABC Book of Facts about the state of their choice. Along the way, they will learn to research, focus, organize, and summarize information gained from a variety of sources. This assignment will satisfy the required state project for this grade level, and the book created is sure to be a keepsake for many years to come. We will also take a field trip to the library as part of this project.
Writer’s Workshop: The Five-Paragraph Essay
Grades 5 and up
The focus of this class is teaching students how to respond to a prompt and write an effective, organized, well-developed five paragraph essay. Throughout their educational journey (including standardized testing), students will be required to write well-developed paragraphs or essays on-demand. This type of writing is completed in-class, in a limited amount of time. On-demand writing requires students to develop the ability to focus a topic, provide relevant evidence, select an appropriate organizational structure, and complete the task within one setting. This class is designed to provide practical, step-by-step instruction in how to approach in-class prompts and successfully write clear, concise, organized, and creative responses in a timely manner. We will begin with tactics for writing well-developed paragraphs, and move on to five-paragraph essays. The class will follow a writer’s workshop model, with brief topical instruction, followed by individualized writing support.
Novel Study
This interactive class is completely literature-based and fun! We read, discuss, and analyze super engaging, age-level appropriate novels. Each week the students will read and annotate focusing on various aspects of the novel including mood, theme, characters, conflict, literary devices, and personal connections. There is optional homework students can complete
for a grade to prepare them for discussion, increase their critical thinking skills, and satisfy state curriculum requirements. This class is perfect not only for students who love to read, but for students who are resistant
readers as well. All books will be provided and are included in the class tuition. Spring semester novels will be announced soon. Come join us and READ ON!
Journalism/Newspaper (5th through high school)
In this active class, students will become sleuths and reporters! We will learn and engage in the various aspects of journalism including interviews, research, investigation, article writing, editorials, photography, editing, publishing, reporting, and broadcasting. The class will work together to create a Foothill Learning Academy Newspaper which will be reproduced and distributed the last week of classes. Students will also get a flavor for broadcast journalism, as they script and film a news broadcast to be shown at the end of the year celebration. Class space is limited to 12 students.
Middle and High School (6-8)
Middle School Write On!
Our focus spring semester will be poetry and fiction. Students will expand their understanding of the poetry genre and increase their confidence as poetic readers and writers.Through the process they will learn to recognize the features and characteristics of poetry, incorporate sensory details and figurative language into their writing, apply all five stages of the writing process, and create a large variety of original poems. This unit is sure to engage even the most reluctant writers! The semester will culminate with an Author’s Day where the students will have the opportunity to share their creations.
Writer’s Workshop: The Five-Paragraph Essay
Grades 5 and up
The focus of this class is teaching students how to respond to a prompt and write an effective, organized, well-developed five paragraph essay. Throughout their educational journey (including standardized testing), students will be required to write well-developed paragraphs or essays on-demand. This type of writing is completed in-class, in a limited amount of time. On-demand writing requires students to develop the ability to focus a topic, provide relevant evidence, select an appropriate organizational structure, and complete the task within one setting. This class is designed to provide practical, step-by-step instruction in how to approach in-class prompts and successfully write clear, concise, organized, and creative responses in a timely manner. We will begin with tactics for writing well-developed paragraphs, and move on to five-paragraph essays. The class will follow a writer’s workshop model, with brief topical instruction, followed by individualized writing support.
Novel Study
This interactive class is completely literature-based and fun! We read, discuss, and analyze super engaging, age-level appropriate novels. Each week the students will read and annotate focusing on various aspects of the novel including mood, theme, characters, conflict, literary devices, and personal connections. There is optional homework students can complete for a grade to prepare them for discussion, increase their critical thinking skills, and satisfy state curriculum requirements. This class is perfect not only for students who love to read, but for students who are resistant readers as well. All books will be provided and are included in the class tuition. Spring semester novels will be announced soon. Come join us and READ ON!
Journalism/Newspaper (5th through high school)
In this active class, students will become sleuths and reporters! We will learn and engage in the various aspects of journalism including interviews, research, investigation, article writing, editorials, photography, editing, publishing, reporting, and broadcasting. The class will work together to create a Foothill Learning Academy Newspaper which will be reproduced and distributed the last week of classes. Students will also get a flavor for broadcast journalism, as they script and film a news broadcast to be shown at the end of the year celebration. Class space is limited to 12 students.
Full-Curriculum Classes
Weekday Fun Seminars
Coming Soon
Private Tutoring in ELA (K-12) and Math (K-8)
$45/session (one full hour)