The Reading and Writing program is designed for students in grades 4 to 11. It uses a spiral teaching design that guides students by stage and by grade to build a solid language foundation and to move step by step toward advanced academic expression. The class meets once each weekend for two hours. Each session completes a full cycle from reading to writing.
Three Tiers of the Reading & Writing Weekend Program
- Beginner (G4–G6): builds the habit of reading across genres. Writing expands from basic sentence patterns and paragraph expression to complete narrative and expository pieces.
- Intermediate: moves into comparative and analytical genres, and trains students to draw evidence from a text and organize an argument.
- Advanced / Competition (G9–G11): works with difficult texts and analytical writing, and extends classroom work into writing competitions.
Tier is set by the placement assessment.
What Students Read in the Reading & Writing Weekend Program
Reading materials cover several genres, including novels, opinion commentary, history and science articles, and poetry, to develop critical thinking and cross-disciplinary understanding. Several genres are included because each one calls for a different way of reading. Novels call for attention to character motivation and plot structure. Commentary calls for attention to position and argument. Science and history articles call for attention to evidence and cause and effect. Poetry calls for attention to details of language. Students who read only one genre lose their bearings when they meet a different kind of text.
What Students Write in the Reading & Writing Weekend Program
The writing module expands from basic sentence patterns and paragraph expression to narrative, expository, comparative, argumentative, and analytical writing. Each session combines writing in class with follow-up practice after class, so that reading and writing support each other. The text read that day serves as the material and the model for that day’s writing. Students first analyze how the author works, then use the same method to write their own paragraph or short essay.
Four strands run throughout: grammar, vocabulary building, writing structure, and revision techniques. In revision, students must rewrite based on specific feedback, not only correct spelling errors.
Reading & Writing Weekend Program Outcomes and Extensions
Students have the chance to apply what they learn in competitions such as the New York Times writing competitions and the John Locke essay competition. These add verifiable humanities achievements to their application materials. Students who want systematic competition preparation can also choose the Writing Competition Class: Middle / High.
Choosing Between the Reading & Writing Weekend Program and Weekday Courses
- Reading only, or vocabulary only: choose Leveled Reading L1–L5 Plus or Leveled Vocabulary L1–L6
- Writing only: choose Academic Writing: Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced; for grade 9 and above, choose the writing seminar in the High School Reading & Writing Seminars
- Both reading and writing, concentrated in one time block: choose this program
- A single assessment and a full-year plan: choose Early Scholars, the Academic English Accelerator, or Ivy-Level English
How to Start the Reading & Writing Weekend Program at EDUBUS
Start with a placement assessment. We use it to set the level and class, then confirm the year plan with the family. For schedules, tuition, and bundle offers, request the 2026-27 program guide through the form below.
Want to talk to a course advisor now?
Contact a course advisorReading & Writing Weekend: Frequently Asked Questions
Should Irvine students choose this or the separate tracks?
Leveled Reading and Academic Writing run as two separate tracks, each 90 minutes a session. The weekend program combines them: one two-hour session carries a student through the full path from reading to writing, with the same material serving as both the reading text and the source for the writing. Families with tight weekdays usually choose it.
How are the three tiers divided for Irvine students?
The beginner tier covers grades 4 to 6, the intermediate tier follows on from beginner, and the advanced and competition tier covers grades 9 to 11. Tier is set by the placement assessment rather than strictly by grade, so a student may be placed outside the grade band listed for a tier.
Why is poetry part of the reading?
Poetry trains sensitivity to detail in language: the choice of a single word, the order of a clause, a repeated image. The same features appear in novels and in commentary, only less visibly. High school English courses ask for exactly this kind of judgment in text analysis, so early exposure lowers the cost of adjusting later.
Is writing competition work part of this for Irvine students?
At the advanced tier, classroom writing extends into contests such as the New York Times writing competitions and the John Locke essay competition, and students have the chance to enter with work developed in class. Systematic competition training is handled separately in the Writing Competition Class.
