How much output--4th grade

[Ktede]

How much written output do you expect from a fourth grader (9-year-old?) 

 

He has the assignments from his writing program (IEW) which amounts to approximately 1 key word outline and final draft paragraph/week, his spelling work (not really "writing"), his copy work from grammar book, and of course his math book.

 

The rest we have done orally.  I would like to switch to written narrations for history.

 

Should there be more?  WTM suggests narrations for literature.  If he reads a rather lengthy chapter book (with me, i.e., Phantom Tollbooth), what do you expect in terms of narration?  

 

Thank you!!

[joysworld]

Mine writes only some grammar, the rest we do orally, he writes all of his math, his spelling is words, and sentences. For his writing, we do the discussion questions orally, and I write his outline, and I scribe his story. Then he has a lengthy paragraph for his penmanship. And then he writes three sentences twice a week narrating his history. For reading and science he narrates orally.

[AnnaM]

I think it really depends on the child. When I was in school we did Abeka and there was A LOT of written work. I try not to be that extreme with what I require, but my children do more written work than what you have listed. I have had to watch my children and adjust to what works and what my expectations were

 

[boscopup]

My 4th grader didn't have much output, but he wasn't ready for much. Do what your child is ready for. Some kids are ready to write about history and science and literature, and some are still working on writing a basic paragraph. Look at what your goals are for the near and distant future, and work toward those goals at your child's pace. My oldest won't be having much output until 6th grade, but we're making progress toward our goals. My current K'er will probably have more output in 3rd grade than my oldest has in 5th grade now. Different kids, different writing abilities, different rates of attaining our writing goals.

[EndOfOrdinary]

What you have listed is approximately what my son did last year. This year we kicked it up to an essay a week. The transition was not difficult.  A bit of time management was a leap, but not the writing portion.  I think once a kid can block out a paragraph, then blocking out a short essay is not a big leap.  If they can write from a paragraph outline, they can then write from the essay outline.

 

These are not masterful works or doctoral thesis but they are not bad either.  Sounds like you are doing well.

[Dory]

It depends on the child. I don't expect a lot of quantity from my boys, but I do push for some pretty high quality when they do write. They both have processing speed problems so lots of writing would never end well here.

[LindaOz]

My 4th grader (boy) does:

 

-Copywork/dictation/freewrite/narration - daily.

-English page: varies between grammar, writing activity and comprehension, all requiring some degree of writing - daily.

-History journal: write caption, summary or narration - usually twice weekly.

-Science journal: written answers or narration - once or twice a week.

-He is also writing his own story which he works on a few times a week.

 

This kid is not a natural writer, but requiring him to write regularly, whether he wanted to or not, is finally paying off.

 

In regards to literature, when he writes about an 'assigned read', I have him either write about the main thing that the story was about, or write a short summary and something he liked or disliked about the story. His last lit narration was a full page.