Using WWS1

[ErinE]

I love the reading selections in Writing with Skill. In the past, we've done our own thing but I think they are so many great writing samples that I'm using WWS1 with DS. Writing time is filled with the following:

 

* Why did Alexander the Great name his horse Bucephalus? That's a pretty long name for a horse.

* I can't believe Darius left his family behind. He's not a very good father or husband.

* Did you see the Shoemaker-Levy comet hit Jupiter?

* Why didn't I have a smallpox vaccine? What if terrorists get a hold of the virus?

 

He's also spending time in the library researching all the different topics he's reading about.

 

Not related to WWS, but still made me smile.

* My favorite cursive letter used to be upper case P but now it's lower case J and upper case S.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I'm glad you are enjoying it! How old is your ds?  My dd10 started running into trouble with some of the reading selections later in the book.  The Necklace, for example - she had a really hard time understanding that selection, and I have to say, I don't think it's a 5th grade level short story!  And then the Research sections - a lot of the selections they have to take notes from are ~1900 ish adult level books.  They were pretty far over her head.  I'm having her read a lot of 6th-8th grade level nonfiction for history, and she is doing fine with that, but some of those reading selections in the Research section were waaaaay over her head.

 

 

ETA: I'm so interested in your experience, Erin, because I think prior to this you've been teaching writing without a curriculum - am I right?  It's funny, because I'm moving away from WWS and planning to teach without a curriculum now, so it's funny to see that you - who have been doing what I aspire to! are choosing to use WWS now.  

 

 

[lewelma]

Rose, my ds(then 11) loved the necklace.  But I agree, we could not use a lot of the 100 year old resources.  We just went and found our own either on the topic or on a different topic.  I definitely think that WWS1 is for advanced 6th grade or average 7th grade.  I'm impressed that you could use it with a 5th grader.

 

What I loved about WWS1 is that it forced my ds up to the next level.  It demonstrated to him that he needed to work as hard on writing as he did on math.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Stuart]

I have to say we love WWS. My son is ten but reads and comprehends much higher. I have had a hard time challenging him. With WWS I feel like we cover so many topics, research, reading comprehension, writing, spelling, grammar (with reviews & revisions). If we only accomplish WWS and math each day I feel like we had a solid day. I agree with the OP that the reading selections lead to much deeper discussions and further research. I couldn't be happier and my son says it is his favorite program.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Hi Stuart,

 

Good for your son! That's great that you found something that challenges him and works so well.  I agree, when my 5th grader was doing WWS, we didn't do a lot of writing in other subject areas - it felt like plenty! and we often researched the given topic, using other resources to fill in gaps in her knowledge she she could do a better job writing about the subject.  I guess that actually became a problem for us this year- she asked to do history without a text, so she's reading and writing about a big variety of nonfiction, biographies, and historical fiction, and doing a lot of the various kinds of writing assignments found in WWS, but using our own topics and material.  So it became too much to try and do both.  I'm grateful for the background WWS has given me as a writing teacher and will continue applying the princples to writing across the curriculum.

 

 

[happycc]

I am so glad someone said it is more for 6th or 7th graders. Last year we tried WWS and it flopped with my fifth graders. I was a little worried. 

But now this year, a light switch went on and they are managing it just fine. My daughter said, "Mom, this makes so much more sense than last year. Last year I had no idea what they were talking about and we only did week 1!"

 

I just continued on with WWE 3  and FLL 4 last year and just waited on the WWS.

 

 

[ErinE]

ETA: I'm so interested in your experience, Erin, because I think prior to this you've been teaching writing without a curriculum - am I right? It's funny, because I'm moving away from WWS and planning to teach without a curriculum now, so it's funny to see that you - who have been doing what I aspire to! are choosing to use WWS now.

I chose to do WWS for a few reasons. Number one, I had a baby and having the lesson and notes ready to teach means less stress on my part. I'm also using WWE2 with DD. I'm still adjusting to juggling a mobile baby and teaching the elder two. Second, I spent part of last year going through WWS1 (as well as classical rhetoric texts) thinking I would adapt it to my teaching style since I like the writing samples. After a few months, I realized was recreating the wheel when I could just adjust as we go along.

 

DS and I sit down together and read the excerpts. We then discuss why the author wrote a particular way, what makes this writing work versus an off-the-top-my-head narrative. It's an extension of how we've always done writing but I also adapt the lesson using Ruth's (lewelma) posts.

 

After our discussion, I will have him do the writing, but I stay nearby, taking a peek at his notes and rough draft to be certain he's on the right track. I'll make corrections or even sit down and review the lesson, pointing out where I think he's getting lost. When he's finished, we discuss the work.

 

We're only on week 6 so we have a long way to go. As our school year continues, I can see myself condensing the week into one key lesson and having DS use his history or science to write.

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

We're only on week 6 so we have a long way to go. As our school year continues, I can see myself condensing the week into one key lesson and having DS use his history or science to write.

 

Yes, that's basically where we are at too.  For the first 20-ish weeks, we pretty much did it as written, although adding additional background material to many of the topics.  By the time we got to the research section (late 20s), I've adapted it to our own history/science/lit selections.