This course provides an opportunity for students to independently read a variety of fiction, narrative nonfiction, nonfiction, and poetry for appreciation and comprehension. Students will compare literary elements, participate in shared Inquiry discussions, formulate questions, build generalizations, and give academic responses to literature. Students will also plan, draft, revise, and edit narrative, descriptive, and expository writing with attention to composition and written expression as well as sentence formation, usage, and mechanics. Students will begin the study of word origins and continue vocabulary development. These experiences prepare students for the reading Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) exam.