I am reading The Wednesday Wars with my son. I am reading Booked for myself. (The Crossover by the same author is amazing!) I just finished Listen, Slowly. All are great MG books from award wining authors. If you want to keep up with some of the best MG books, visit Ramblings of a Wanna Be Scribe. Every Monday she hosts a link up of bloggers evaluating MG fiction. My favorite MG book though is Walk Two Moons. The Newbery's are always good options. http://ramblingsofawannabescribe.blogspot.com http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal

You should go through the writing process. Free write/get idea downs/brainstorm Revise (usually good to have some question for him to answer and a writing conference during this stage) Edit Yes, you should edit with him, but not as he is writing or immediately after. Teaching him to freely get his ideas down without judgement and to revise should help him feel comfortable writing. Then finish off with the editing. An editing prompt sheet would be helpful. Focus on the areas he has trouble with. Also, depending on how much he writes, he may not need to revise and to edit every story. I have my kids journal regularly. Then, they pick a story or idea or paragraph to revise. This way they get a lot of practice just writing freely but also have the benefit of getting comfortable with the writing process.

As a writing teacher, I suggest a strong grammar program. Too many kids are coming to college without a strong sense of the proper grammatical rules and structures. In just about every major, writing is a huge component. Everyone has to take one year of college writing, regardless of major. If your child can write well, college and career will be so much easier. I did Shurley grammar with my kids. I think it is fantastic.

I would not fret that a 4th grader does not have it down. I worked with both my kids (girl and boy). I teach composition in college and Early College (the smart high schoolers taking college classes). Learning to write a good paragraph is a challenge for some people all the way into college. Not to say, wait til college to worry. Just saying, It takes some kids (boys and girls) a lot time. I suggest you just keep coaching him in proper paragraph format. I provide checklists for my students. Example Prompts: Does my first (topic) sentence tell my audience what my paragraph is about? Do all the sentences in the paragraph prove my topic sentence? Do I have clear sub-points? I think this is vital and too often overlooked making for paragraphs of jumbled information loosely related, often repetitive, and disorganized. Is all the information for each sub-point grouped together? Do I use a variety of appeals--logos, pathos, and ethos? Do I have a concluding sentence that connects to my topic sentence and wraps up my paragraph?

Science is not generally a form part of a K curriculum. I suggest making it fun and educational. Reading books from the library about different types of animals and maybe pull some worksheets off line would be better than an curriculum. Trade books are meant to engage (curriculum is generally about "teaching") as well as teach. There are gorgeous pictures and fun facts. When my kids were in elementary school, I mostly just read books to them on different topics. They were fine when they got to middle school. I think Bearport has some of the best non-fiction books. http://bearportpublishing.com I also like Arbordale. Used to be called Sylvan Dell. They have teacher's guides with activities free on their site. http://arbordalepublishing.com I found most the books i needed at the pubic library. Most libraries will allow you to search by series and/or publisher too. Kids have their whole school lives for a formal curriculum. I'd make the first year or two just a fun exploration of science.

You still use punctuation in a poem, but you have more flexibility. For instance, at the end of thought, there should be a period. There should be commas to encourage pauses and grammatically connect things. The focus is on the line instead of the sentence, but there are still sentences. You can have a lot in one but there should be connections with dependent clauses or commas. Also, you can use a semi-colon for complete ideas that are closely connected and equally important. For instance, I would put a period or semi-colon at the end of the third line. It seems like a complete thought. I'd also put a period after rains, await, and gates. Commas could be added anywhere the author wants a short pause.

He has a lot on his plate, especially for 7th grade. I suggest dropping the literature text. His college English class will keep him busy. If he is not too overwhelmed, add in a novel or two. I'd keep it informal though. If he is not taking a literature class second semester, you can add a literature text or just read novels.

Here is my feedback. I am a tough critic. :) The first sentence should always introduce what the paragraph is going to be about. Everything needs to connect to it. He begins with smallpox is dangerous. So as a reader, I think the paragraph is about the danger of small pox. However, the bulk of the paragraph is about Edward Jenner. The paragraph should begin with a sentence introducing him and his contribution to science in the area of vaccines. The support sounds like it came out of an encyclopedia. The sentences are all roughly related to the same topic, but there is not a lot of variety in sentence structure or any real structure to the paragraph. As a result, not all details are necessary. I work with my students to develop 2-3 sub-points or reasons that prove the topic sentence. Then, they support each one. I. Jenner makes an observation. (support by elaborating on it) II. Jenner studies this issue further. (support by discussing how he studied it and came up with the vaccine) III. Jenner helps millions of people. (support by giving statistic on how many lives have change and medical cost have been saved) Every paragraph should end with a concluding sentence that connects back to the topic sentence. Ideally, it should draw a conclusion or pull things together. Encourage free writing and brainstorming to get ideas down. Then, focus on helping your children move those ideas into a structure. In the revising stage, teach different sentence structures. Encourage your child to revise to incorporate 1-2 different ones. I am a college instructor. Trust me. If your child knows good structure and form, he/she will be head and shoulders above the average student.

Do you have access to other libraries? Go to Worldcat.org to see if the book is anywhere in your area. Then, see if you can get a card at that library. Many colleges, public libraries, and even private schools will let you check books out. In my area, the city and 2 counties are all connected. I can put a book on hold at any of a dozen libraries and they will deliver it to my local branch. You might be surprised what is available in your area.

I would not do a formal curriculum at that age either. I used to just sit and read to my kids, book after book. I love this site for book suggestions and ideas for how to incorporate teachable moments during or after reading. http://books4learning.blogspot.com

I suggest not doing a curriculum for the writing part, especially if you are supplementing school over the summer. As I have encouraged in other posts, teach her how to free write. Have her free write journal each day and read it to you. Keep all your feedback positive. The goal is to get her comfortable writing. If you want to practice grammar, have her pick an entry occasionally to edit (and possibly revise). When my kids were young, they did Shurley Grammar. I thought it was a great program. https://shurley.com/hs/

There are a couple things I do for reluctant writers. I think the #1 way to help with writing is to have your child learn how to free write/journal each day. Teach your children to write without worrying about a grade or feedback. The whole point is to get them to write about whatever they want. Occasionally, you can assign a topic if you wish. Overall, make it about what they wants to say. Encourage them to just write for an age appropriate time without stopping. If they run out of things to say about the original topic, they can switch at any time to a new topic. If you want to have them read it or share it, keep all feedback positive. From time to time, allow them to pick a journal entry they like. Teach them to revise it into a more formal writing structure with topic sentence, sub-points, support, and concluding sentence. If you want them to write about something specific, brainstorm together before writing. Then, encourage them to free write using the ideas from the brainstorm session. You can work on revising together after the free write is completed. Hope that helps.

Great free write. If you want to make it better, he needs structure, coherency, and unity. Here are just a few tips: Introduction Attention Getter/Hook Context/Build up to Thesis (in this case set up the movie and book briefly and what he hope to accomplish) Thesis (since it is a comparison, he should have a sentence that establishes that is what he is going to do) Topic sentence introducing one area of comparison. Currently it just says there are differences. It is workable but the next paragraph is also differences. So, each paragraph should either be unique areas of differences (define in topic sentence) or one paragraph about differences and one paragraph about similarities. Have a one to one comparisons. Right now, he just says the movie does this and the book does this. He should get into what impact those differences made or how it reflected the theme of the book differently. Something beyond stating facts. Needs a concluding sentence. The conclusion should have the thesis restated and should sum up and pull everything together. His final paragraph is about his feelings about the setting.

It is a good free write. A good paragraph has a clear structure. To prepare your child for high school and eventually college, he needs to learn this basic structure. Topic Sentence--A sentence (not a question) that is general enough it includes everything in the paragraph. Example: September 11 was a tragic day in American history. Subpoint #1 that proves it was tragic. Example: Many innocent people died. Support: Discuss the people who died on the planes and on land. Subpoint #2 that proves it was tragic. Example: The terrorists attacked out economy. Support: Discuss the immediate and long term impact. Subpoint #3 that proves it was tragic (optional). Example: It caused us to enter a war overseas. Support: Discuss the tragic impact of the war. Concluding Sentence--One sentence that connects back to Topic Sentence. Ideally, it draws a conclusion or sums up what was said. Example: Because that event took many innocent lives, caused an long term economic problems, and initiated a costly war, it was a tragic day. Keep in mind that a paragraph has one point. In the case above, I proved it was tragic. Sure your one point could be Sept. 11. Even if that were the case, you should have something you are proving about Sept. 11. He begins with where were you? Were you sad? afraid? Then he just gives facts about the event. Nothing is about being afraid. It is why I call this a free write which is essential for getting ideas down and practicing feeling comfortable writing. If my child wrote this paragraph, I would tell him it is a great start. He did an excellent job getting his ideas down on paper. Then, discuss what point he is trying to make. Finally, revise to make everything prove that one point and had a strong structure.