preparation for 1st grade copywork (WWE1) that's open-and-go

[serendipitous journey]

I am wondering what y'all would suggest, that is open-and-go and non-denominational/secular, to prepare a child for basic copywork in 1st grade?  The goal would be to be able to copy very simple sentences in WWE-style, with me there to help with letter formation and mechanics as necessary. 

 

We're working through Zaner-Bloser K at the moment, and will start ZB1 for handwriting after that.  I own IEW PAL but the child really doesn't like the letter scripts of that program so we haven't used it much at all. 

 

TIA!!!

[wendyroo]

My K'er will be starting WWE1 next year.  In preparation I am having him write words and phrases (but not necessarily complete sentences) and learn about basic sentence structure (but not necessarily write any of that down).  He writes titles (of 3-6) words on our notebooking pages, he writes things on the grocery list, he writes down short captions on his drawings, etc.  We are working through FLL1&2 (only the grammar lessons), and talking about capitalization and punctuation.

 

WWE1 starts with very simple sentences, so I am not worrying about having DS do even shorter, simpler sentences in preparation.

 

Wendy

[serendipitous journey]

Wendy, what you are doing sounds like it'll definitely have you ready for WWE! 

 

I suppose I could use StartWrite software to help us transition from tracing to simple copywork.  I'd love something planned for me, though -- A is intense and I don't usually have brain space for winging anything -- do y'all know if working through ZB 1 would be sufficient?  Add copywork? 

[wendyroo]

I don't think you necessarily have to do copywork in order to be ready to do copywork.   :tongue_smilie:

 

The first copywork exercise in WWE is the sentence, "There were no roads."  In SWB's elementary writing lecture, she talks about starting a child with that first copy work sentence (I think her example is "The cat sat.") and slowly coaching them through putting spaces between the words and a period at the end.  I think the idea is for a child to come in with a firm handwriting foundation, but with no copywork experience and start at the beginning with WWE1.

 

Wendy

[serendipitous journey]

Thanks!  I am asking because my older child had a very hard transition between handwriting pages and WWE copywork.  Super painful; but, he's an intense guy generally and the second is much more mellow.  At any rate,  I was hoping for something that would step me explicitly FROM tracing/handwriting TO copying.  ZB Grade 1 may be it ...

[fourisenough]

I just bought a $3.99 Evan-Moor workbook for exactly that purpose. My DD5 has nice manuscript, but I wanted her to transition to printing full sentences. This one is quite brief, having the child copy then write a few upper & lower case letters and then one short sentence for each letter. My DD does it independently. We're focusing on beginning each sentence with a capital letter, ending with a punctuation mark, and keeping proper letter formation and spacing. We'll begin WWE 1 when she finishes. It is called: Manuscript Writing Grades K-2 from 'The Learning Line' collection. Some sample sentences: Mom's Motorcycle zips; Piggies are pale pink; Tom the turtle toddles; Vans are big vehicles. Not great literature, but just fine for my purposes...

[serendipitous journey]

sdunckel, thanks!  I found this at Amazon -- Manuscript Writing Grades K-2.  This looks like what I was hoping for -- if he can do this, then he'll be fine for WWE; and if he can't, combining it with the Zaner Bloser should be sufficient to get him ready.  Thanks again!

[Tanikit]

The easiest way to do copywork for that age is just to get a non-lined exercise book and a ruler - draw two lines on the page and when you pull the book out you write a quick sentence on your line and he copies it on his line. That way you can also ask him what he wants to write if he does not like copywork and you may get better results - if it is too long then shorten what he says. You can also then begin with just words or phrases. 

 

Before WWE1 you do not have to worry about having specific capital letters (leave out names of countries and so on and just stick to simple phrases or sentences) or various punctuation - just use a period as the rest is covered in WWE1. Since you are not needing these requirements then it is easy to think of a sentence or phrase - even if it is just the last thing you said to him that morning.

[reign]

I just use lined paper and have the kids copy under my handwriting. I start with the kids full name and then move to short sentences. Usually I work with some of the words from their reading lesson to make a sentence.

[Eagle]

I had ds copy poems, only one line per day (so just a portion of a sentence). He liked that after a couple weeks he ended up with a whole poem he had copied down by himself. His first poem was Furry Bear by A A Milne.

 

You can do memorization at the same time by repeating the already copied parts of the poem every day.

[Guest ickhequan]

I suppose I could use StartWrite software to help us transition from tracing to simple copywork.