Elementa: Teaching Literacy with Latin
Looking for a way to add a little Latin to your life? You may have heard of Aequora, our free literacy and Latin after school program. It’s great, but to start an Aequora site, you need volunteers and you need students to show up after school. Now we are launching Elementa, a curriculum designed to be taught during the school day by anyone. Whether you are an English teacher wanting to add the occasional word root study, a Latin teacher looking for a full year curriculum, or a parent exploring the classical world with your kids, Elementa is the textbook for you.
Teaching Literacy with Latin
Like Aequora, Elementa takes advantage of the power of Latin and Greek to make students better language users. Each lesson is grouped around core literacy concepts based on the Common Core skills that help students succeed on standardized tests.
Teaching Latin with Literacy
At the same time, Elementa takes advantage of students’ natural interests in language to introduce them to Latin and Greek. Where do the parts of speech come from? How are English and Spanish related? These are questions that can spark a curiosity in children to start exploring ancient elements that underlie modern languages and cultures.
Latin Anywhere or Everywhere
The Elementa program is designed to be taught in a structured environment, such as the regular school day. Lessons can be taught once a week, exploring only the core concepts, or expand to multiple times per week. There’s enough Latin here for a full year-long curriculum — and even a little beyond in order to provide variables for teacher choice or student preference.
Great Materials
The curriculum comes with great supplemental materials including videos, cards, activity materials, assessments, and a workbook. With apple-shaped spinners to create silly Latin sentences, Guess the Coin boards with images of real Roman coins, and more spoken Latin games, it’s so engaging and delightful that your kids will look forward to Latin lessons every day. In addition to printable materials, the curriculum includes an optional subscription for digital resources such as videos and lesson presentations for 150+ lessons! The digital content is updated continuously throughout the year so that new material and developing ideas can be delivered as soon as possible.
Do It Yourself
If you’re already an experienced Magistra or Magister, you’ll love Elementa, but if not, the teacher’s manual plans every minute for you with scripted lesson plans and activities. You don’t need to know much Latin to teach Elementa. You can learn Latin as you go! The Paideia Institute will provide you with support to learn Latin as you teach it to your students.
Ready to explore more? Check out the Elementa curriculum here!
Jamel Daugherty is a former middle school Latin and French teacher and the current curriculum designer for the Paideia Institute.
