It’s very nice to meet you all here. I’d like to consult anyone who might be familiar with 6-7th grade English Arts textbooks. As a kid of my family will be preparing for an ACT as the next big step, and he is learning Mcdougal Litell writing (6th grade) now (almost done), we’d like to know if there are any other good English Arts textbooks (literature/writing/reading) that you know of we could use in the summer to help him advance his learning process. He likes this book but he wants to excel in his literature reading comprehension and writing skills with good grades at current level.
Your recommendations are greatly appreciated’
Most of the stuff that is in the ACT and SAT is only taught in high school, and most of it is scaffolded on what your kid will learn in middle school.
Seriously, though. Middle school is difficult enough for kids. My kid is amazing and did great on her SATs. I still do not know how we all survived her Middle School years. It’s enough that they go to school, do their homework, and don’t get in to much trouble. Adding “you need to prep for your ACTs which you will take in another six years” is really really not advisable.
That’s exactly what he should be doing
My recommendation is: do not start getting your kid to prepare for the ACTs.
In fact, forget about the ACTs altogether until your kid is in 9th grade. The absolute best prep for SATs and ACTs at this stage is to work hard at his classwork.
Everything that a kid needs to know for the ACTs and SATs is in the school curricula.
Let your kid be a kid. It’s not as though they have a second chance.
Most schools have largely abandoned grammar, vocabulary, and direct writing instruction as well as complex literature analysis in favor of discussion, feelings, and the use of much shorter selections of text. Newly published works contain shorter sentences and fewer challenging words. So, anything in the traditional sense of English instruction is very helpful in terms of test prep.
(Please do not construe this as advocating for fewer inclusive authors, superiority of white authors, need for fewer representative texts, etc. because these are all positive changes. But there needs to be better balance with rigorous instruction and a more core of materials and at the moment, we don’t have it.)
I’m curious, on what are you basing this sweeping, all-encompassing claim? I would hope that you would have some citations (and NOT, please, an opinion piece, based on a couple of anecdotes).
My kid attended an elementary school in one of the most progressive communities in the USA. I can absolutely promise you that they 100% did NOT “abandon grammar, vocabulary, and direct writing instruction as well as complex literature analysis”. In fact, they did these EXTREMELY well. My kid graduated High School in 2019. It was a public K-12, BTW.
Read, read, read! At this stage, short story collections and easy classics. The public librarian is your friend. Make a weekly visit together. Then, if a certain author’s short story clicks with them, try more from that author. Look at 100 best classic novel lists, and feed her ones you enjoyed. Good writing comes from having read voluminously.