Textbooks: Elements of Literature ($49.95) and Elements of Language ($40.65) both published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Access the publisher's website for more information about the literature curriculum. The publisher's website also has language instruction and activities that reinforce writing, critical-thinking, and media-literacy skills.

Grading procedure: For more information, please visit the web page of your child's language arts teacher.

Recommendations for summer reading: Read any Newbery Medal and Newbery Honor books, Texas Bluebonnet Award winners and, of course, classic novels.

Great websites: Click on the Visual Thesaurus for help finding the perfect word for your writing assignments.

Need help creating a bibliography for your research paper? Check out the Slate Citation Machine, a website which will compose the correct annotation for each of your sources.