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How much writing does your 5th grader do on a daily basis?


Chloe
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We do one IEW lesson a week and have copywork daily. It takes about 30 minutes a day, four days a week. On the 5th day, we usually play Druidawn. We follow this schedule for three weeks. On our 4th week, we drop all that and do thank you cards, pen pal letters, lapbooks, geography postcards, book reports and Scout related writing.

Edited by AuntPol
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Not enough, unfortunately. My ds hates writing. This year is the most we've done, and it's probably 15-20 minutes a day of writing/writing instruction. We're currently using K12 Writing in Action, and some of Sonlight Core 3 Language Arts. His Sonlight History also has some writing.

 

HTH! Nan

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Copywork (cursive) 5x per week.

One or two IEW lessons per week.

History write-ups 2x per week (3-4 paragraphs summarizing what he has read on a particular person/place/topic we have studied that week).

He also spends several hours per week working on stories he is writing.

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My 5th grader does:

 

Copywork 4x week

One IEW lesson per week

Dictation sentences for spelling 3x week

A writing assignment from History or Science - outline on Monday, rough draft on Tuesday and Wednesday, final draft on Thursday.

 

He spends about 45 minutes to an hour on writing four days a week.

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My 5th grader:

 

cursive copywork from a variety of sources - usually a paragraph or two (daily)

 

one Rod & Staff English 4 lesson - maybe a few sentences, but sometimes up to a paragraph (daily)

 

studied dictation - two or three sentences - (3x a week)

 

written history narration - a paragraph, sometimes two (1x a week)

 

creative writing lesson using poetry - (1x a week)

 

science notebook entry - a paragraph or so (1x a week)

 

 

I think that's it. Doesn't look like much but he's making great progress. If I include these things plus the writing included in his various assignments, he's actively writing about an hour and a half a day.

Edited by Donna T.
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Are you talking only creative/report type writing or all writing?

 

My 5th grader writes summaries on chapter books he reads twice a week. He has dictation with his spelling (R&S), has some writing in his R&S English.

 

If you just mean writing -anything - then he also answers questions in History and Science using complete sentences, writes all of his written lesson in R&S English, does copywork each weekday using a Poem I have selected.

 

Sometime after Christmas, we are going to start a research paper guide from CLE. It will be 17 school days of instruction and practice on writing a research paper. If it goes well, then for 6th grade, we will do part 2 of said research paper instruction. :)

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When I was planning our year I tried to go through what WTM recommended and use that as a basis for age-appropriate amounts. I could be off, but here's about where we're at:

 

-writing curriculum--Right now it's Paragraph Writing Made Easy. She does a page a day.

-dictation daily (or as copywork if she beats me to it)

-2 history paragraphs

-1 history outline

-single sentence chapter summaries and then a book report each week

 

There's misc. writing in the BJU reading, science, etc. Right now we're tossing the regular LA stuff out the window the days we do the Hobbit guide. I figure if you're doing a writing curriculum and also applying the writing skills across the curriculum, you're probably doing enough.

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We do a cursive worksheet every day and that's the extent of his handwriting.

 

He really hates putting pencil to paper, so he types everything else. This has always perplexed me. He has beautiful handwriting and has complete mastery of it, but he says it takes too long and really gets whiny and grumpy if he thinks he's going to have to hand-write a couple of paragraphs. He simply hates the process even though he's so good at it. I think it may be a boy thing -- lots of my friends with boys complain of the same thing.

 

We do one lesson from CW every week which takes about 20 minutes of typing each day. We also do narration exercises from our history and science books in which he tells me what he's learned, I jot it down, then I dictate it to him while he types.

 

This year he's taken a step further (his own idea) and he's typing his first draft directly without me jotting notes then dictating. We print it out, he does his editing by hand, and takes it back to the computer for a final draft. That's another 20 minutes a day, so in total I'd say we do handwriting 5 minutes a day, and composition for 45 minutes per day.

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Since reading the op I have been wondering if I also am giving my dd enough writing during the week. I, too, would like to have some feedback and/or suggestions. Most weeks our plan includes the following:

 

MONDAY - Write out all assignments for the week, plus 1-2 pages of dictation or copywork.

 

TUESDAY - 2-3 pages copywork (I work one day per week, so dd is with Grandma and works independently on this day.)

 

WEDNESDAY - TOG composition assignment (length varies - usually writing time is about 45 minutes.)

 

THURSDAY - Literature worksheets, 1-2 pages of dictation, revise/edit composition assignment from Wednesday.

 

FRIDAY - 2 pages copywork.

 

Along with these writing exercises and assignments, dd is doing EG and Daily Grams, and we are just adding SP next week. She also writes for fun at least once a week, sometimes more.

 

I'd appreciate any feedback on how this looks and if it seems to be enough for her level. Dd is a very strong reader and enjoys writing as well.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

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How do you know you need to do more?

 

Well, mostly because my ds10 just cannot write. His sentences are short and choppy. He sticks things in that really have nothing to do with the topic. There's no flow to his writing. He forgets to indent paragraphs, add ending punctuation, capitalize the beginning of sentences, etc. He knows all this stuff. He's done copywork regularly since first grade. He does fine with his grammar lessons but there's no carry-over to writing. As a result, I tend to avoid having him write much. I know it's counter-productive, but I just get so discouraged looking at his writing. So besides a copywork or dictation passage most days, he's only writing about one narration a week. Sometimes the narration is replaced by a letter to the grandparents. That's it. We're using Winston Grammar right now, so there's no writing there, and he doesn't have a problem with spelling, so we aren't using a formal spelling program this year.

 

Anyway, thanks so much for the feedback so far. I just wanted to get a general idea of what to shoot for.

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Chloe, Pudewa (of IEW) has a talk on boys you really need to hear. Nuts, anything Pudewa says is worth hearing, but he has a particularly good talk on boys who would rather be building forts than xyz. He cites a book on gender differences and discusses the way we teach to girls vs. boys. Interestingly, with writing curricula you tend to focus on description, expansion, very girlish things, and you miss what boys are all about (action, verbs). So I think this short, choppy writing is probably connected to gender. Not inevitable, but understandable. So then it makes sense WHY Pudewa starts with adverbs in IEW as the first writing enhancement, because you're catering to boys and their use of verbs!

 

So check it out. His talk was a lightbulb moment for me and made me realize I hadn't understood boys vs. girls in writing. You might even try doing IEW and see if it helps. It's concrete and would give you a pro-active way to improve his work. I'm not sure just having more assignments will do that. Have you done WWE? That would be another option.

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blank.gif

Since reading the op I have been wondering if I also am giving my dd enough writing during the week. I, too, would like to have some feedback and/or suggestions. Most weeks our plan includes the following:

 

MONDAY - Write out all assignments for the week, plus 1-2 pages of dictation or copywork.

 

TUESDAY - 2-3 pages copywork (I work one day per week, so dd is with Grandma and works independently on this day.)

 

WEDNESDAY - TOG composition assignment (length varies - usually writing time is about 45 minutes.)

 

THURSDAY - Literature worksheets, 1-2 pages of dictation, revise/edit composition assignment from Wednesday.

 

FRIDAY - 2 pages copywork.

 

Along with these writing exercises and assignments, dd is doing EG and Daily Grams, and we are just adding SP next week. She also writes for fun at least once a week, sometimes more.

 

I'd appreciate any feedback on how this looks and if it seems to be enough for her level. Dd is a very strong reader and enjoys writing as well.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

 

Anybody? :bigear:

 

Lucinda

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Chloe, Pudewa (of IEW) has a talk on boys you really need to hear. Nuts, anything Pudewa says is worth hearing, but he has a particularly good talk on boys who would rather be building forts than xyz. He cites a book on gender differences and discusses the way we teach to girls vs. boys. Interestingly, with writing curricula you tend to focus on description, expansion, very girlish things, and you miss what boys are all about (action, verbs). So I think this short, choppy writing is probably connected to gender. Not inevitable, but understandable. So then it makes sense WHY Pudewa starts with adverbs in IEW as the first writing enhancement, because you're catering to boys and their use of verbs!

 

So check it out. His talk was a lightbulb moment for me and made me realize I hadn't understood boys vs. girls in writing. You might even try doing IEW and see if it helps. It's concrete and would give you a pro-active way to improve his work. I'm not sure just having more assignments will do that. Have you done WWE? That would be another option.

 

Thanks! I just received IEW's US History-based writing lessons and was planning to use it with my dd. I'll give it a try with my ds as well. Pudewa's audio sounds like just what I need to hear.

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blank.gif

Since reading the op I have been wondering if I also am giving my dd enough writing during the week. I, too, would like to have some feedback and/or suggestions. Most weeks our plan includes the following:

 

MONDAY - Write out all assignments for the week, plus 1-2 pages of dictation or copywork.

 

TUESDAY - 2-3 pages copywork (I work one day per week, so dd is with Grandma and works independently on this day.)

 

WEDNESDAY - TOG composition assignment (length varies - usually writing time is about 45 minutes.)

 

THURSDAY - Literature worksheets, 1-2 pages of dictation, revise/edit composition assignment from Wednesday.

 

FRIDAY - 2 pages copywork.

 

Along with these writing exercises and assignments, dd is doing EG and Daily Grams, and we are just adding SP next week. She also writes for fun at least once a week, sometimes more.

 

I'd appreciate any feedback on how this looks and if it seems to be enough for her level. Dd is a very strong reader and enjoys writing as well.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

 

We do one composition per week as well - but it tends to take us four days, not two. Day 1 - outline, Day 2 - rough draft, Day 3 - editing and improvements, Day 4 - final copy

 

Why do you do so much copywork? (Not a criticism, just a question) We do approximately one page of copywork and one page of dictation per week.

 

We also do outlining and summary work. DD outlines from history, geography and science - probably three pages worth per week and writes summaries from history and geography - one or two pages per week.

 

Children are so different in terms of where they are in writing. It is really hard to say. Are you seeing improvement over last year? Is the copywork still necessary for grammar study, spelling, handwriting, etc. or is it becoming busy work? Does your daughter have a good understanding of paragraph formation? If so, perhaps time would be better spent in summary type work?

Where do you hope to be in a couple of years? Is the writing she is doing now going to get you there? Just some thoughts. HTH!

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Lucinda, I agree that's a lot of copywork. It must be working for you, or you wouldn't be doing it. Mixes for LA are very child-specific, my personal opinion. If I had my dd do those things, she'd revolt. Every kid is different. If you have a mix that is working, stick with it! :)

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About the copywork...my dd is in remedial handwriting this year. We are putting in lots of practice in because she needs improvement. It is really starting to show too, so I think that it is much more than busywork. My goal is to work with dd on this for the first part - middle the year, while gradually adding in more composition. We have the WA program with TOG and are just getting our feet wet. She has a good understanding of sentence and paragraph structure already (SE gave her a good foundation in that during 2nd and 3rd grades.) I have to admit that we have not done much outlining though, so thanks for the tip. That would be a great addition to what we do in writing during the week as we start to increase on the composition.

 

I guess I'd have to say that my goal for the next two years is to guide my dd into writing clear, concise, well-constructed language in a neat, legible fashion.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

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Lucinda, I agree that's a lot of copywork. It must be working for you, or you wouldn't be doing it. Mixes for LA are very child-specific, my personal opinion. If I had my dd do those things, she'd revolt. Every kid is different. If you have a mix that is working, stick with it! :)

 

Thank you for the encouragement, Elizabeth. :001_smile:

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

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