Can someone explain MCT Grammar and Writing to me

[LolaT]

I have been using FLL and WWE with my older child from 2nd through 4th grade but I am re-evaluating the curriculum choices for her and also for my DS who will be in 1st next fall. 

 

I'm planning on using CAP W&R 3&4 for her in 5th. But could she benefit from Paragraph Town as well? I'm still kind of on the search for a 5th grade grammar curriculum. I would like for it to have some diagramming so DD doesn't forget what she already learned in FLL4. It doesn't seem like there's much out there with that kind of diagramming. Is MCT Grammar an option after FLL4? I've glanced at the samples. I don't get what the student does.  :confused1:

 

For DD, soon to be in 2nd grade, is it too early for the first levels of MCT writing and grammar? Again, not getting what the student actually does. How do they practice writing? Do you need to buy the Teacher books?

 

Thanks. I appreciate any tips on this. 

[Momof3littles]

We love mct. I started my oldest with Island in third. Grammar is taught in a really logical way. In lieu of diagramming, mct has them do 4 level analysis.

We did town level in his fourth grade year.

 

My middle child just did a lighter version of island as a first grader in a co op setting, and is doing well with 4 level analysis from practice island and exercises I give her on my own. She had just overheard enough, started asking for mct, and caught on very quickly. I think starting in third with island was a nice sweet spot, but she really wanted to jump in.  I wouldn't necessarily recommend most kids start at that age, but I also think many first and second graders could get something out of it for sure.  It might need to be simplified, etc. and that may or may not detract a bit from some of the magic.  YMMV.  For example, some of the poetry writing can be a bit intense, and I don't think most kids would be ready for that prior to third grade.  We did it, but it definitely was challenging.  She was asking to do it though, so we did.

My 4th grader is pretty talented with language arts but dislikes writing. He did not necessarily enjoy poetry writing, etc but sometimes he needs pushed out of his comfort zone. I think many kids would benefit from some writing instruction outside of mct.  CE had some instruction in paragraph writing, coming up with ways to logically organize paragraphs, etc. but many kids would need some additional instruction in writing I think.

It has probably been our favorite curriculum. It is difficult to understand how the pieces reinforce one another based on samples, so I totally understand your hesitation, but once we started using the ccomponents together it was beautiful for us.

I wish I had exposure to this as a child. I have learned so much teaching mct's curric. and have had the pleasure of hearing him speak. I am glad we jumped into it, because samples alone really didn't give me a great picture. For my kids, it has been absolutely fabulous.

[Momof3littles]

To answer what the student does, in the poetry portion, the kids analyze poems identifying things like meter, simile, metaphor, alliteration, consonance, assonance, etc.  They learn how poets make careful and deliberate word choices.  They learn about how not just the words but the sounds of the words play a part in the poem.  It really is all very lovely and beautiful :001_wub:

They learn the parts of speech, the parts of a sentence, etc.  They learn to think through analyzing a sentence kind of like a flow chart, and it is all presented in a very logical way IMO.  There are exercises on choosing the correct pronoun (object vs. subject pronouns), finding direct and indirect objects, subject complements, etc.  All things I had almost no exposure to in elementary school, unfortunately. 

 

In the vocabulary portion, in the first level they learn about 10 stems, vocabulary words that use those stems, and they come up with words of their own using those stems.  The stems are personified in a really fun way, and my kids have really enjoyed that.  MCT points out how intertwined Latin, Spanish, etc. are exposes the kids to cognates.

 

The vocab ramps up considerably in CE1 (town level).  There are grammar and paragraph exercises intertwined with the vocab at that level, as well as things like analogy exercises using the vocab words.  The way it is presented, IME the vocab really sticks with the students, because there is real depth there and it is taught in a way that extends beyond memorizing a word and its definition.

[sunnyday]

The curriculum is designed with minimal output, because it's meant for kids whose ability to think about deeper concepts might develop before their ability to write a whole lot about it. I have the whole first level, but since we are using it for afterschool and didn't get it until February or so, we have only gotten through the parts of speech section of Grammar Island and the introductory section of Building Language.

 

So far in Grammar Island, what the kids *do* is engage in really juicy conversations about how we use the words we do. Occasionally they parse a sentence or a handful of sentences, or make up a silly story from a silly sentence made of lots of different parts of speech. Looking ahead, once the student is done with Grammar Island they can do Practice Island which is a four-level analysis of one sentence a day, and they can start Sentence Island. Sentence Island has a lot of writing prompts in the back of the teacher's edition for students to practice their understanding of sentence structure -- usually by flipping it on its head. The prompts might be too creative for some kids, I think my little guy might be just whimsical enough to try them, and I really think and hope my DD will be all over it when she's ready to do the work instead of just listening in. :)

[kbutton]

I am still tiptoeing into the writing, but we love the Grammar. The practice books have challenging sentences, and stuff sticks. We diagram some of our sentences for fun (my son is pretty visual). I am adding in some daily grammar practice next year for some stuff like capitalization, punctuation, etc. MCT handles a lot of that in real writing, but I would like my son to have some practice separately with it. If we put too many things into one assignment, he starts to lose sight of the goal. (He has some exceptionalities.)

 

I like the vocabulary, but my son did not. I think he'll eventually read through the CE book for the essays, but it just didn't click with him. He couldn't tell what he was aiming at, and it doesn't have the magic (for us) that the grammar does.

 

We've used some of the poetry, and my so likes that. We don't write poetry. It's a little hard to explain how bogged down we get in assignments here (not just MCT). It's just not worth the trouble right now, but we are planning to continue reading and discussing the poetry books, just not writing anything.

 

He didn't like the literature at the Town level, but we really do need to give it another go.

 

I am probably going to be using the MCT grammar as primary grammar, but I will use the rest spread out over two years instead of one as a supplement to other more black and white material. I love MCT stuff, but again, exceptionalities rule the day here for now.

 

A better woman might be able to use MCT as designed with my kiddo, but right now, we'll take the magic grammar for sure, and we'll take bits of the other magic as it works out. The grammar alone is far more meaningful and helpful than anything I grew up using, and my son loves it.

 

BTW, the books have been getting an update, and at least some have more teacher helps in them than they previously did. I looked at them last week at convention.