Schedule for GEMS
GEMS Suggested Daily Schedule
Daily Activity | Time per Activity | Activity Explanation | |
Journal | 10 minutes |
Students need to practice moving their thoughts from their heads to the paper or screen. They do this through free writing. The students should write for ten minutes every day. This writing should not be read by anyone but the student. Sharing their writings should be the student’s decision alone. They can write about their feelings, their day, their hopes, their disappointments, their hobbies, or whatever is on their mind. They can write the same sentence over and over if they so desire. They should not be concerned with punctuation, spelling, grammar, or mechanics. The purpose is to practice moving their thoughts from their head onto paper or their computer. This should be done each day the student works this curriculum. Journal topics are located in the GEMS Supplement. |
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Editing Exercises | 5-7 minutes |
This is the place where writing mechanics are taught. The students will learn one to four rules per day, and the students only need to do these twice per week. This should take between five and ten minutes.
These exercises are in the Editing Exercises book. |
|
Grammar Lessons | 20 minutes |
Students are to master each objective before moving on to the next lesson. They follow these steps:
Students begin with GEMS Volume I: Parts of Speech. GEMS Volume II: Parts of a Sentence, GEMS Volume III: The Expository Essay. They matriculate through all three volumes to complete the course.
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Reading |
20 minutes | Students read at least 20 minutes a day from a book of their choosing. A list of recommended books for each grade level is located in the GEMS Supplement. | |
Vocabulary |
10 minutes |
Students choose two to three words twice per week from their reading. These should be new or unfamiliar words. See Vocabulary for All Ages.
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Weekly Schedule
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Journal for 10 minutes Editing exercises Grammar Lesson Read book |
Journal for 10 minutes Grammar Lesson Read book Vocabulary 2-5 words |
Journal for 10 minutes Editing exercises Grammar Lesson Read book |
Journal for 10 minutes Grammar Lesson Read book Vocabulary 2-5 words |
Students read, write, and study grammar every class day. They alternate the editing exercises and the vocabulary using the GEMS curriculum. Over the course of a year, the students will have learned all of the editing rules and increased their vocabulary through reading. This curriculum will improve your students reading and writing skills.