I do not do English every single day with my middle schoolers or elementary school students.
For K-2 child, the expectation would be to copy a selected passage. The copy should contain correct punctuation, spelling and capitalization. Review it with the child for errors. Praise student for specific details that he correctly performed. This is what my homemade form looks like:
On a different day, I'd use this passage:
Donnie slips quietly into the sunroom where Gramma waits.
The lesson could also contain a mention of the concept of "qu" sound and drawing his attention to how we use it. Or a compound word found in the sentence. Or whatever you see in the sentence that you could draw attention to, in order to show your student how things work in our language.
For a child a bit older, maybe in grades 3-5, my lesson would look something like this:
Copy or dictate the following passage:
Donnie listens and makes a picture in his head of the lighthouse out on the point. He sees the path through the tall grass and thinks about his feet crunching into the dry sand as he walks beside Gramma.
Errors should be corrected and discussed as needed.
The next day, I would bring to the student's attention the use of prepositions. We'd discuss the uses of prepositions and compose a list of them. I would have the student circle any prepositions he finds in the passage.
He might also illustrate passage , if desired. On a different day that week, I might ask him to do another short writing assignment where he "makes a picture in his head of being........somewhere......" and to describe what he sees.
Finally, he will be required to recopy/dictate the passage. Hopefully errors would be few or none this time, but corrections are still required.
