Is Writing Strands necessary to use with R & S 3?

[claire+3]

If you use Rod & Staff 3 for your third grader, is it necessary to use a separate writing program such as Writing Strands? Would you start with Writing Strands 2 or 3?

Thanks for your help,

 

Claire

[mamaof2andtwins]

Personally, I wouldn't use them together. I would just use R&S English 3. If you feel you need some more writing add in some copywork and dictation.

 

Jennie

[Ellie]

It is never necessary to supplement the writing in R&S's English series.

 

Now, I really like the way Writing Strands teaches writing, and my *first* choice is to use an eclectic mix of things for English--Easy Grammar, Writing Strands, something for spelling (if necessary) and literature. But if you prefer using a textbook, you can't beat R&S. And no, it doesn't need to be supplemented.

[yvonne]

Hi,

 

Just a suggestion if you're planning out R&S 3 for next year.... My 8 year old boys just finished it. It went very well for us. It is very thorough & relatively painless. Very easy to implement.

 

The one thing I would have done differently is with the writing. In R&S 3, all the writing instruction is in the last unit, rather than sprinkled throughout the book as it is in R&S 4. I wish I had done the writing _as we went along_ rather than leaving it all until the end. For example, the last unit starts with dictionary skills. I'd have done those lessons in the first month. The second month, I'd have done the regular lessons, but I'd also have done the first real writing lesson, Lesson 106: Describing a Place in there, too. The next month or so, I'd have done Lesson 107: Describing a Person. Etc.

 

If I had done this, the boys could have been doing one or two descriptive paragraph writing assignment for science or literature or history each week. 1) They'd have been practicing writing skills more often.2) It would have reinforced what we were doing in other content areas. 3) It would have been much more effective writing instruction than trying to do all the writing lessons in the last 3 weeks.

 

Just my .02.

yvonne

[kelouis75]

Hi,

 

Just a suggestion if you're planning out R&S 3 for next year.... My 8 year old boys just finished it. It went very well for us. It is very thorough & relatively painless. Very easy to implement.

 

The one thing I would have done differently is with the writing. In R&S 3, all the writing instruction is in the last unit, rather than sprinkled throughout the book as it is in R&S 4. I wish I had done the writing _as we went along_ rather than leaving it all until the end. For example, the last unit starts with dictionary skills. I'd have done those lessons in the first month. The second month, I'd have done the regular lessons, but I'd also have done the first real writing lesson, Lesson 106: Describing a Place in there, too. The next month or so, I'd have done Lesson 107: Describing a Person. Etc.

 

If I had done this, the boys could have been doing one or two descriptive paragraph writing assignment for science or literature or history each week. 1) They'd have been practicing writing skills more often.2) It would have reinforced what we were doing in other content areas. 3) It would have been much more effective writing instruction than trying to do all the writing lessons in the last 3 weeks.

 

Just my .02.

yvonne

 

I was wondering the same thing, and your post has been really helpful. I was wondering how writing was addressed throughout the course...

 

Jennie, mentioned that she would add copywork and dictation earlier in the thread.

 

I know WWE (the teacher's book) addresses both. I was thinking about getting it without the workbooks and using it as a supplement. Do either of you, (or anyone else) have experience with doing LA this way? Using the R&S/WWE combo? :)

[lovetobehome]

This is helpful....my son completed RS 3, and we will be going into RS 4. I didnt think it looked too strong on teaching writing, so I just bought WS3 to use with it. Do you think if I dropped the writing assignments in RS4, I could use WS3 and not torture my son? LOL. I mean, would that be a good combo? I just think the writing in WS looks easier to learn, more thorough, or something...

[amyco]

We just finished a year of R&S 3 and WWE combo. I used WWE year 2. It went very well. Really, it was my dream combo. I don't usually make it to the last chapter of R&S, especially in 3, so I don't use those writing exercises. But both R&S and WWE are very easy to implement. WWE is nice because all the dictation and copywork selections are laid out for you.

 

I really think R&S does need to be supplemented with dictation and copywork once or twice a week. And, if you feel it's too much written work (as my ds really did sometimes!) you can do the grammar orally on dictation days. Good luck!

[Omma]

I have also enjoyed combining R & S English 3 with WWE Level 2 this year. I have also sprinkled in some IEW Key Word Outlines to do. I think that this has been a good combo for us. R & S must think that the child is not ready for all that writing until they finally introduce paragraphs. Thanks for letting me know how the book ends, BTW, as we are only finishing up the chapter on verbs right now. For us, I found it necessary to cover some ground from R & S English 2, so I guess we are a bit 'behind' some others. I am going to try and do English and Math throughout the summer, maybe 2 or 3 times a week.

 

 

 

Brenda

[claire+3]

Thanks, Hive for all of your help.

I just read the new edition of WTM last night and SWB seems to agree that some writing supplementation needs to happen with R & S 3. SWB suggests Writing Strands, but I will also check out WWE. Anyone have experience with both? Which is better and why?

 

Claire

[kelouis75]

This is great! Thanks for your help. I think we will press ahead with the WWE/Rod and Staff Combo.

[Carol in Cal.]

I like RS writing in that it is very easy to get their point. Their examples are spare and uncluttered (though quite boring). I would not want DD to model her writing on them, but I do think that as illustrations they are quite good. The progression of information is very systematic and pretty thorough. Their coverage of poetry is horrid--the writers must be the least poetic people on the planet.

 

So I would say that RS writing is a good introduction to the vocabulary and basics of good, but somewhat terse and skeletal, writing, but that simultaneous use of other resources is a good idea. I do think that WS would complement RS pretty well.

Edited May 23, 2009 by Carol in Cal.

[islandmom]

Thanks, Hive for all of your help.

I just read the new edition of WTM last night and SWB seems to agree that some writing supplementation needs to happen with R & S 3. SWB suggests Writing Strands, but I will also check out WWE. Anyone have experience with both? Which is better and why?

 

Claire

Hi

We started out with Writing Strands as per SWB suggestion but it just didn't work for my kids. They were able to follow the lessons but had grave difficulty in writing outside of the lesson. So we switched to WWE. I must say that I find it to be stronger. The copywork, dictation, narration (summarization) are excellent. At the begiining, my dd could not summarize to save her life:confused: but now she can focus in on what's important and what's not. By the way, we're using WWE 2.