Demo Redbird Language Arts & Writing

Welcome to our Redbird Language Arts & Writing demo experience! Redbird Language Arts & Writing provides students with a richly personalized learning path, delivering precisely what each individual needs to become a fluent writer and accelerate learning forward.

Begin Redbird Language Arts & Writing Demo Experience

STEP 1

Take an interactive, hands-on tour using the Student Demo. Experience the interactive instruction and practice, error-specific feedback on sentence and paragraph compositions, skill-based games, and Writing Reviews (essay writing!) just as your students would. This tour highlights examples from a 3rd grade unit.

STEP 2

After taking the hands-on tour, we invite you to interact with specific program features at the grade level of your choice.

STEP 3

Finally, check out an overview of the data-driven reporting available within Redbird Language Arts & Writing.

Grade Specific Activities

An Integrated Approach to Language Arts and Writing

Redbird Language Arts & Writing helps students build strong foundational writing skills. Our integrated approach to Language Arts and writing interweaves instruction and rigorous practice in grammar, writing, and reading. Reading is incorporated into each unit because research shows that students often struggle to learn and master English Language Arts skills when those skills are taught in isolation. With our integrated approach, students can experience the connection between the different language domains as they read passages related to the skills they’re learning in grammar and writing.

Course Structure

Each grade level of content has 9–10 units that focus on a form of writing or reading. Units are divided into lessons that include instruction (lectures) and practice (item sets), skill-building games, and Writing Reviews

Diagram shows how each unit is broken into lessons, games, and writing reviews with additional lectures and item sets.

Lessons are structured to expose students to reading, parts of speech, paragraph analysis, sentence composition, and sentence structures. Some lessons cover new concepts, while others provide practice with concepts already introduced. This content variation provides an engaging and rich continuous experience for students.

Grade 2

Explore these links to gain a better understanding of Redbird Language Arts & Writing unit components, including instructional videos, multi-modal practice exercises, and writing composition activities with error-specific feedback. Each unit includes an integration of reading, language (grammar and vocabulary), and writing lessons.

Unit 1: Simple Sentences

Lessons

Grade 3

Explore these links to gain a better understanding of Redbird Language Arts & Writing unit components, including instructional videos, multi-modal practice exercises, and writing composition activities with error-specific feedback. Each unit includes an integration of reading, language (grammar and vocabulary), and writing lessons.

Unit 5: Reading about Science

Lessons

Grade 4

Explore these links to gain a better understanding of Redbird Language Arts & Writing unit components, including instructional videos, multi-modal practice exercises, and writing composition activities with error-specific feedback. Each unit includes an integration of reading, language (grammar and vocabulary), and writing lessons.

Unit 2: Different Kinds of Myths

Lessons

Grade 5

Explore these links to gain a better understanding of Redbird Language Arts & Writing unit components, including instructional videos, multi-modal practice exercises, and writing composition activities with error-specific feeback. Each unit includes an integration of reading, language (grammar and vocabulary), and writing lessons.

Unit 5: Informative and Historical Writing

Lessons

Grade 6

Explore these links to gain a better understanding of Redbird Language Arts & Writing unit components, including instructional videos, multi-modal practice exercises, and writing composition activities with error-specific feedback. Each unit includes an integration of reading, language (grammar and vocabulary), and writing lessons.

Unit 6: Poetry and Drama

Lessons

Grade 7

Explore these links to gain a better understanding of Redbird Language Arts & Writing unit components, including instructional videos, multi-modal practice exercises, and writing composition activities with error-specific feedback. Each unit includes an integration of reading, language (grammar and vocabulary), and writing lessons.

Unit 1: Working with Autobiographies

Lessons

Writing Reviews

Screenshot of a Writing Review lesson focused on narrative writing. click to enlarge image

At three points in each grade level, students write a multi-paragraph essay, or Writing Review, which is specifically structured to encourage students to apply foundational grammar and language skills. Each Writing Review builds on grade-level content and program placement so that students are appropriately guided through:

  • Comprehension of success criteria for the genre
  • Analysis of an expert model in the genre
  • Planning the essential components for a strong essay
  • Composition of each paragraph one-at-a-time, with error-specific feedback
  • Self-assessment with opportunities to edit prior to publishing
Students complete Writing Reviews across four key genres:
Narrative
| Informative | Opinion | Argument
  Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7
Narrative
Informative
Opinion    
Argument      

Looking for grade 2? Students working at grade 2 content are primarily working on developing language skills and understanding basic grammar as a foundation to strong sentence construction. At grade 3 and up, they move from building sentences to paragraphs and, eventually, to multi-paragraph essays. Writing Reviews are purposely introduced at grade 3 to align with student readiness for multi-paragraph composition.

Themes:
Success Criteria & Composition Skills

Each Writing Review is centered around a real-world theme, which provides students the opportunity to connect writing to their own life experiences.

First, get acquainted with Writing Reviews by clicking on each of the “Theme” tabs to your left to learn about the themes, success criteria, and composition skills focused on in each Writing Review, by genre and grade level.


Explore:
Narrative Writing Review | Grade 4

Then, take an interactive tour of Writing Reviews by clicking on the “Explore” tab to your left.

Narrative | Grades 3–7:

Students complete one Narrative Writing Review in grades 3–7. Below are the themes, success criteria, and composition skills of focus.

  Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7
Write a narrative essay about... A Day at the Playground A Day at the Amusement Park A Class Trip to Famous Landmark or Museum Creating a Work of Art First Day at a New School
Success Criteria Students will...
  • start the opening paragraph with a lead sentence and introduce the characters and setting.
  • include supporting sentences in the body paragraph about the action, using sensory details and transition words.
  • end the closing paragraph with a closing sentence that finalizes the action.
  • use correct spelling and grammar throughout.
Students will...
  • start the opening paragraph with a lead sentence, introduce the [6th grade: first-person narrator; 7th grade: third-person narrator] and setting.
  • write supporting paragraphs using sensory details to describe the character and setting.
  • end the closing paragraph with a concluding sentence that finalizes the action.
  • use correct spelling and grammar throughout.
Composition Skills Characters & Setting
Sensory Details
Action
Characters & Inference
Sensory Details
Plot

Informative | Grades 3–7:

Students complete one Informative Writing Review in grades 3–7. Below are the themes, success criteria, and composition skills of focus.

  Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7
Write an informative essay about... Staying Healthy The Five Senses Service Dogs The Night Sky The Role Citizens Play in Our Government
Success Criteria Students will...
  • start the opening paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the topic and main idea.
  • write a body paragraph that includes facts and details about the topic, linking words, and vocabulary about the topic.
  • end the closing paragraph with a closing sentence.
  • use correct spelling and grammar throughout.
Students will...
  • start the opening paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the topic and main idea.
  • write body paragraphs that include facts and details about the topic, transitional phrases, and vocabulary about the topic.
  • end the closing paragraph with a concluding statement.
  • use correct spelling and grammar throughout.
Composition Skills Topic
Detail
Main Idea
Topic
Detail
Conclusion (emphasis: Inference)

Opinion | Grades 3–5:

Students complete one Opinion Writing Review in grades 3–5. (In grades 6 and 7, students complete an Argument Writing Review instead of Opinion.) Below are the themes, success criteria, and composition skills of focus.

  Grades 3–5
Write an opinion essay about... Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling
Success Criteria Students will...
  • introduce the topic and an opinion statement in the opening paragraph.
  • write a body paragraph that includes reasons supported by facts, details, and transitional phrases.
  • restate the opinion in the closing sentence of the closing paragraph.
  • use correct spelling and grammar throughout.
Composition Skills Opinion
Reason
Details

Argument | Grades 6–7:

Students complete one Argument Writing Review in grades 6 and 7. (In grades 3–5, students complete an Opinion Writing Review instead of Argument.) Below are the themes, success criteria, and composition skills of focus.

  Grade 6 Grade 7
Write an argument essay about... What Type of Animal is Best for a Classroom Pet Which Invention Has Had the Greatest Impact in History
Success Criteria Students will…
  • start with an opening paragraph that includes a claim.
  • write body paragraphs that include facts and details about the topic, transitional phrases, and vocabulary about the topic.
  • end the closing paragraph with a concluding statement.
  • use correct spelling and grammar throughout.
Composition Skills Claim
Reason
Evidence

Narrative Writing Review | Grade 4​

Throughout each genre and grade, Writing Reviews are structured the same to encourage students to see the consistency in foundational writing skills.

Diverse and engaging themes within the grade-level content, however, gives students the opportunity to focus and practice the foundational skills without feeling repetitive.

Let’s take a closer look at Grade 4 to see how foundational writing skills are both consistent and engaging within Redbird Language Arts & Writing:

Writing Reviews complement and support what educators are teaching in the classroom. Though direct teacher input isn’t required for students to complete the essays, teachers can give additional feedback at any stage to further improve student learning.​

Data-Driven Reporting

Overview

Redbird Language Arts & Writing provides robust reporting capabilities that empower educators to personalize instruction and accelerate learning. All reports are real-time and accessible online in the click of a button. With data that is easy to understand, teachers can immediately:

  • Track progress of the entire class in one dashboard
  • Use data to inform their instructional planning
  • Share results with parents to improve transparency

District-level reports help administrators easily see how often the program is being used and how schools within the district are performing. While Redbird Language Arts & Writing offers a robust suite of reporting capabilities, these are the key reports you won’t want to miss.

Student Snapshot

Sequence of every attempt at a skill, including a heat map showing student progress by calendar day. Enables teachers to review progress, discuss understandings, and improve effective use of Redbird.

 Correct First Attempt

 Correct Second Attempt

 Incorrect Second Attempt


Provides data by school, with a rollup across all classes within the district. Easy color coding helps administrators see at a glance how often the program is being used and if the program is being used with fidelity. Usage is reported out in three ways:

  1. Average number of minutes in program per week
    1.  60-90 min/week is recommended
  2. Average number of student lessons completed per week
    1.  2+ lessons completed/week is the target
  3. Average number of precursor lessons completed

This report is available at both the district level (top image) and school level (bottom image).

NOTE: The District Benchmark report is visible only to administrator-level Redbird accounts.

Click here to enlarge image


Click here to enlarge image