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Polaris Learning
Polaris’s K-6 Stellar Reading and
Star Power Writing Programs provide challenging integrated lessons in order to build advanced readers, writers, and thinkers. GATE recommended.
"I thought I was just getting a writing program, but it was so much more."
– Leslie Kiefaber, Homeschool Parent
“Your lessons were so organized and easy to teach.”
– Mandy Murrietta 6th Grade Teacher
“The use of literature as a vehicle to teach writing skills in this program was excellent. Teaching the various writing genres in this way proved to be both easy and stimulating for the students.”
– Marcia Glover, 4th Grade Teacher
“I was very impressed with the quality of exercises and with the presentation of the material!”
– Maren Separa, 4th Grade Parent
Parents and educators agree that competent reading and writing skills are essential to strong academic performance, but many people become lost when they try to teach something as complex as writing. The Star System, with Stellar Reading and Star Power Writing, provides a logical method to build these essential skills.
What are the abilities necessary to become good readers and writers?
The best writers are good readers. They have a sense of the way language sounds, and how words work together to create memorable images and lasting impressions. Stellar Reading begins with an oral reading of the text. In the words of Maya Angelou, “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with the shades of deeper meaning.” After the initial reading of the text, students participate in a discussion during which they are required to go back to the text to answer questions of analysis, interpretation, and application. The ability to apply the lessons of literature to their individual lives is an important part of these discussions.
Components of Stellar Reading include:
- Literature and expository text to be read aloud
- Reading Comprehension Questions
- Reading-based Vocabulary
- Discussion Questions
- Reading-based Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics
The momentum of the discussion should naturally lead into the writing assignment for each section. Star Power Writing uses a unique and memorable graphic organizer for each style of writing. Students use the organizer to analyze text and plan their own essays. Paragraph guides then show them how they transfer the information they have planned into essay form. Afterwards, they check their writing on the Star Points Rubric to see their strengths and weaknesses. The Star Chart shows them the level their writing should attain. Student samples provide the criteria against which to measure their own abilities.
Star Power Writing stresses prewriting and planning rather than revision. Realistically, students will spend most of their academic careers writing on a deadline, and they need to learn to be their own best editors as they write. Too many writing programs stress infinite revisions, which encourage mediocrity in initial drafts. With many state mandated writing tests, and the new writing requirement on the SAT, students need to learn to write their first draft as close to a final draft as they can. Star Power Writing shows students what to write, so they can concentrate on how to write.
Components of Star Power Writing include:
- Graphic Organizers
- Paragraph Guides
- Star Points Rubrics
- Star Chart Grading System
A great disservice of public education is that subjects have been separated into individual classes that eliminate key and vital relationships between subjects. All of Polaris’s books have at least one cross-curricular link—cross-training—that shows how subjects connect to form a broader picture. For example, in “Einstein and a Wrinkle in Time,” the science behind the science fiction is explained in a series of interesting and informative articles.
A successful reading and writing program should fuel student’s sense of wonder and natural curiosity. Reading beyond the text is a major component of Stellar Reading.
Reading beyond the text is encouraged with:
- Related Websites
- Additional Reading Selections
- Fun and informative enrichment activities
- Lessons that encourage inductive reasoning
Polaris
Learning
Web: http://www.polarislearning.org
Email: info@polarislearning.org
Phone: 1-800-948-0900
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