6 year old Handwriting and Narration Questions

[Anliena]

My son is going into 1st grade and we started doing narrations over the summer as we are finishing up SOTW Vol 1.  He's doing really well and is able to repeat a lot back to me, which he wasn't able to do at the beginning of the school year.  The part I'm not sure about is if I just write down what he says exactly, or if I should help correct his grammar?  For example, his narration might be something like "Caesar gone to war.  The times that he loses he didn't tell them because he wanted to be king."  He's understanding the chapter, but the grammar is wrong.

 

He also hates writing.  We've done HWT for the last two years (Preschool and Kinder books) and I really like it, but am planning on starting copywork for 1st grade.  Do you still use a handwriting curriculum if your doing copywork?

 

Thank you!

[Kerry Blue]

When my DD started doing narrations and had poor grammar, I would quickly jot down what she was saying, and then read it back to her. For example: "Caesar gone to war." I might ask, "is that what you meant?" or, "does that sound right?" Most times, after DD heard her words spoken back to her, she would recognize that something was wrong and re-word it. (This, of course, depends on whether or not your DS has a good ear for correctly spoken English.) "The times that he loses he didn't tell them because he wanted to be king." This is a little more tricky because a young kid might not realize the changing of the verb tenses. I would probably say, "The times he lost, he didn't tell them because he wanted to be king. Does that sound better?" You are also teaching proper wording for responses here. It is another skill that needs to be learned. I would probably also ask, "who are 'them'?" because it is rather vague. After all that is revised, I would write it down and have DD copy a length of it that she can handle in one sitting. You are asking a young kid to do multiple steps: summarize in your own words, and put it in well made sentences. Practice makes it easier.

 

Once my kids knew how to create letters correctly, I moved them on to copying words. I got lined paper at a size they were comfortable using, and wrote something on the top line, expecting them to duplicate the words below. I sit next to them, so that I might correct any errors as they happen. If a letter is not done to the best of their ability, I erase it, and they do it over again. They might have to start doing only one letter to the best of their ability, then one short word, but eventually stamina builds up, and My DD7 can now do a long sentence. She might not like doing it, but it is building her muscles, and I believe it will pay off in the long run. Just be careful to not overburden with writing. I know my hand hurts after about a paragraph, because I don't keep up my muscle strength.

[ashamama]

I get him to correct the sentence himself verbally by prompting. If he has trouble fixing the sentence I help him. Then I write it the correct way and have him read it all back when he is done. We've been phasing out the handwriting without tears (been doing first and third grade) in favor of writing sentences independently. So instead of him doing a handwriting page ever day, I only do it a couple times a week and only the third grade since it contains newer information. He is really reluctant to write and is in OT for a few things, but they work on writing and even his OT suggests moving away from HWWOT and more toward independent writing once they are able to get their letter sizing and spacing consistent (and stroke order etc). We write on notebook paper now (not handwriting paper) and we often use a highlighter as a visual of this is where the "middle" of the line is and where your short letters should reach. It was one of the most insightful tips we got! DS is 5 now and we are trying to extend the ammount of time he will spend writing. He has convergence issues and his eye fatigues so it is often a struggle to keep him writing.

[ashamama]

Adding: his OT suggests he should be able to write 10 sentences, but more than this would not be developmentally approperiate. These were medium length sentence about 8/9 words.

[Syllieann]

For incomplete sentences (I'm guessing it applies to other grammatical errors too) twtm recommends saying it correctly, then having the child repeat it back to you the proper way. I used ds's own dictated sentences for copywork, which took the place of handwriting instruction. However, I see that your Ds is in AAR pre level. If that's correct, I would hold off on copywork until he is able to read what he's writing.