Upcoming 4th grader who needs some grammar help

[Osmosis Mom]

Gosh, I am not sure how she is this lost, but she apparently us. She reads voraciously, but does not use periods in her sentences nor understands the concept of genitive cases etc. Just a lot of basic stuff and I feel very frustrated about it actually.

 

Right now we have just begun WWE 4 along with GUM. She obviously needs something more than GUM which is neat, but not remedial. I have been considering Shurley, but am not sure it'd help (have never seen it and am on a budget) so I'd like to brainstorm a bit first before deciding.

[ChrissySC]

I found the editing books to be invaluable. The name of the series we used long ago was Editor and Cheif. It is difficult to learn grammar rules with a few practice sentences while denying the actual real-world application. Rather than dissecting her own writings, we correct someone else's poor grammar and style. :) Application may very well help to reinforce the concepts for usage and style.

[Aludlam]

I have no really good advice, as mine just started grammar a few months ago (2nd grade), but we really like Growing with Grammar. I got it used in very good condition here on the board.

 

Angela

[Osmosis Mom]

I found the editing books to be invaluable. The name of the series we used long ago was Editor and Cheif. It is difficult to learn grammar rules with a few practice sentences while denying the actual real-world application. Rather than dissecting her own writings, we correct someone else's poor grammar and style. :) Application may very well help to reinforce the concepts for usage and style.

 

Yes, Editor in Chief might be a great fit. Used it many years ago...Thanks for the reminder.

[Osmosis Mom]

I have no really good advice, as mine just started grammar a few months ago (2nd grade), but we really like Growing with Grammar. I got it used in very good condition here on the board.

 

Angela

 

GwG, used it with her brother, but I am not sure it is not just more of the same kind of exercise where she doesn't internalize the grammar (for her).

[joni470]

How about a slow walk through Analytical Grammar Jr?

 

-Savannah

http://www.hammocktracks.com

[KarenNC]

GwG, used it with her brother, but I am not sure it is not just more of the same kind of exercise where she doesn't internalize the grammar (for her).

 

That was our problem with GWG. Mine is very bright, a voracious reader, can compose a great, very complicated story, but can't punctuate or consistently capitalize her way out of a paper bag. She said "was" was an adjective! This is after FLL and GWG since first grade! She'll appear to have it, but a bit later---poof! For this and math, we are going to obviously have to use something with constant repetition and practice for a while.

 

Right now (end of 4th grade), we have switched to the MCT Town level and I've added in "Caught 'Ya: Grammar with a Giggle."

http://www.amazon.com/Caughtya-Grammar-Jane-Bell-Kiester/dp/0929895045

We've just started, so I can't give a good report yet on the retention from either of them, but I am (ever) hopeful. The MCT materials are not cheap and hard to find used, but Caught 'Ya is only a bout $12 from Amazon.

[plansrme]

If budget is an issue , you can buy the DPE student pages ("Student Practice Books") at Rainbow Resources for about $4.25, as opposed to $15 or so for the book with the answers. I find that DPE on grade level is harder than many grade-level texts, so you may want to try a sample one grade down for her. The selections do get harder through the year, so it looked like my daughter wasn't making any progress (i.e., was making the same number of mistakes at the end of the year as at the beginning) until I had her redo some of the earlier selections.

 

We use DPE and Rod & Staff for our grammar, and my 4th grader has shown definite improvement.

 

Terri

[simka2]

I think if you decide to go with shurley you will be getting a lot for your money. There is enough in each level to stretch over 2 years. I have found it to be very strong in the grammar dept, and easy to understand.

 

Good luck!

[AHASRADA]

Nadia,

 

We've had great success with R&S this year. It is very incremental, provides constant review, and is quick and painless (especially since we do a lot orally). There are also Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons, but I found those better as review for a student who already has a reasonable foundation; they're not as incremental as R&S.

 

We are almost finished with R&S3, if you would like to borrow it :) (I know it might be too easy, but then again, it might be the foundation she needs).

[ChrissySC]

Mine is very bright, a voracious reader, can compose a great, very complicated story, but can't punctuate or consistently capitalize her way out of a paper bag. She said "was" was an adjective! This is after FLL and GWG since first grade! She'll appear to have it, but a bit later---poof!

 

You need to diagram more. It sounds like she needs to disect a sentence. There are workbooks. We used two or three different types that I bought from Christianbook.com. I typed "diagramming" in the search bar and haphazzardly chose a stack. :lol:

Edited May 18, 2010 by ChrissySC

[Osmosis Mom]

Nadia,

 

We've had great success with R&S this year. It is very incremental, provides constant review, and is quick and painless (especially since we do a lot orally). There are also Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons, but I found those better as review for a student who already has a reasonable foundation; they're not as incremental as R&S.

 

We are almost finished with R&S3, if you would like to borrow it :) (I know it might be too easy, but then again, it might be the foundation she needs).

 

Thanks, Asmaa. I don't really want to do R and S. Bought it a few years ago and it'd take too much out of my life, realistically speaking.

 

I guess I am mostly surprised that such a great reader and observant talker can do so miserable in actual grammar.

[Osmosis Mom]

Mine is very bright, a voracious reader, can compose a great, very complicated story, but can't punctuate or consistently capitalize her way out of a paper bag. She said "was" was an adjective! This is after FLL and GWG since first grade! She'll appear to have it, but a bit later---poof!

 

You need to diagram more. It sounds like she needs to disect a sentence. There are workbooks. We used two or three different types that I bought from Christianbook.com. I typed "diagramming" in the search bar and haphazzardly chose a stack. :lol:

 

Yes, I'll have to do this more consistently. Parsing down sentences.....

[KarenNC]

Mine is very bright, a voracious reader, can compose a great, very complicated story, but can't punctuate or consistently capitalize her way out of a paper bag. She said "was" was an adjective! This is after FLL and GWG since first grade! She'll appear to have it, but a bit later---poof!

 

You need to diagram more. It sounds like she needs to disect a sentence. There are workbooks. We used two or three different types that I bought from Christianbook.com. I typed "diagramming" in the search bar and haphazzardly chose a stack. :lol:

 

We are doing all sorts of things with the sentences in the MCT materials, believe me. She had a lot of diagramming in GWG (she did 3 and most of 4), which I thought would be helpful, but apparently not enough. So, when we look at a sentence in MCT, we identify the parts of speech, draw arrows from things like adjectives and adverbs to the words they modify and frequently diagram the sentence as well. We'll see how it goes after we've been working with it for a few weeks.

 

Unfortunately, I don't know that diagramming will help the issue of improper capitalization, misplaced apostrophes, not making plurals correctly on occasion, etc. I think much of it is simple lack of attention to the details because she's focusing on getting the ideas out (or, honestly, sometimes simply lack of feeling that it's important). I see a lot of rewriting in the child's near future.

[Karen in CO]

Since it is summer, how about a brief and different way to look at grammar? See if your library carries the Lynn Truss books : Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, Twenty-Odd Ducks, and The Girl's Like Spagetti. They are aimed at your dd's age but aren't remedial, just very different and funny. have her read them for herself and with you so that she gets the jokes and understands how punctuation is changing the meaning.

[Mom0012]

I've got one that really struggles with grammar and we're going to use Shurley and Editor in Chief next year.

 

Lisa