I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.
Being part of the Homeschool Review Crew, my daughter and I have had the privilege to use and review the Level 5 Frog Prince grammar curriculum which is part of the Fix It! Grammar series from the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) company.
I was really excited to use and review this product. Our current grammar curriculum has been loved by all my children, and we’ve used it for years. But what it doesn’t cover is learning and using editing marks when correcting written text.
I had learned the editing marks when I was in school, and I’ve taught them to my kids on a need-to-know basis but Fix It! Grammar teaches and encourages using the marks from the very beginning.
Book Layouts
At the beginning of both the student book and the teacher’s manual there is an Instruction page, Additional Resource page, Scope and Sequence chart, Vocabulary List and a Table of Contents.
Instruction Page
The Instruction page introduces the teacher and student to the five components that make up each weekly exercise.
Learn It!
A new grammar concept is introduced to the student at the beginning of each week. Each new concept that is learned will be used and built on in the rest of the lessons.
Also, in the Learn It! section is instructions for marking and fixing that week’s story section for the new concept.
Read It!
Each day’s lesson has its own short Read It! passage. The passage is a part of the Frog Prince story. Within the passage, students can see any vocabulary words that are in a bold-faced type.
Students are encouraged to look up the word and choose the best definition. They can then keep a running list of vocabulary words and definitions on a separate piece of paper. The Teacher’s Manual includes the definitions.
Mark It!
Each day has a list of items to search for in the passage and to mark. The list of items is easily seen at the top of each student’s daily page, as well as how to mark the item.
Some items that students will identify in the passage is:
Nouns/pronouns
Coordinating conjunctions
Prepositional phrases
Main clauses
Adverb clauses
Subject-verb pairs
Openers
Each item to identify also has a coordinating number with it. This tells the student how many of the item they are looking for. For example, in week 11, day 4, the student has to find 8 nouns/pronouns in the passage. This is really helpful to make sure you catch the correct amount!
Fix It!
Each day’s Fix It! list gives the number and type of grammatical error that the student is to find. They are to mark the error with the appropriate editing mark directly in the passage on their daily page. They are also encouraged to use a different color pen from the one they used with the Mark It! items.
Grammatical errors to identify are:
Indent for paragraph
Insert
Delete
Capitalize
Lowercase
Reverse order
Add a space
Close the space
The Teacher’s Manual includes the passage with the correct editing marks and items that need corrected. Another helpful feature in the Teacher’s Manual is the explanation for each grammatical error. This is a tremendous help for when the student asks, “Why is it wrong?”.
Rewrite It!
The last component to each lesson is the Rewrite It! step. Each daily page has lines available for the student to rewrite the passage correctly without any editing marks.
The Teacher’s Manual shows exactly how the student’s passage should be written.
Additional Resources Page
The Institute for Excellence in Writing company has Fix It! Grammar Cards that are available as an add-on product that corresponds with their Fix It! Grammar curriculums.
These Fix It! Grammar Cards are laminated and sturdy. They’ll last a long time. They are color coded according to the type of concept it goes with.
Card game ideas are accessible from the link inside the box. These games and cards are perfect to have for quick and easy referencing and learning.
Scope and Sequence Chart
The Scope and Sequence Chart breaks down every concept and shows you the week number when it will be introduced. Once a concept is introduced it is practiced throughout the rest of the book.
The concept categories are:
Parts of Speech
Capitalization
Punctuation
Clauses
Phrases
Run-ons
Stylistic Techniques
Vocabulary Lists
The Vocabulary List is broken down by week also. There are four vocabulary words every week.
Table of Contents
The Table of Contents tells you what page each week starts on. If you want to see specifically what is introduced that week than you have to look at the Scope and Sequence Chart.
Appendices
Appendices pages are located at the back of each student and teacher book.
Appendix I: Complete Story
The complete Frog Prince story is available to read here. It’s a really cute story with a good reminder to be kind to others.
Appendix II: Collection Pages
The Collection Pages are blank charts where your child can collect special words that they like. Keeping these word lists handy will help your child remember what type of word each one is.
There are Collection Pages for:
Strong Verbs
Quality Adjectives
-ly Adverbs
Appendix III: Lists
List pages are for quick and easy reference. IEW has collected pronouns, prepositions, verbs, conjunctions, clauses, phrases, and sentence openers. Along with the lists, there are tips and examples to help you use these items correctly.
Appendix IV: Grammar Glossary
The Grammar Glossary is found only in the Teacher’s Manual. It contains fifty pages of explanations and examples for each concept. Having this glossary handy is perfect for any quick reference needs.
Fix It! Grammar Recommendation
I would highly recommend Fix It! Grammar from the Institute for Excellence in Writing.
The sequential small steps, the tips and helpful hints, ease of use, and the fun way each lesson is constructed makes grammar not only learnable but enjoyable too.
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Read More Reviews
The Homeschool Review Crew used and reviewed more of the student levels. If your child is not ready for level four, then take a look at the other reviews and see what you think!
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