romeacademy, how old were your dc when you started IEW with R&S grammar?

[JadeOrchidSong]

I saw a post of yours about IEW.

I am doing R&S English 3 with my ds7.8. I wonder when I can add IEW writing. How old were your dc when you started IEW with them?

Thanks,

J

[JadeOrchidSong]

:bigear:

[angela in ohio]

I've done R&S and IEW for years. I start IEW in third grade, when we are in R&S 3. I use the TWSS from IEW, so I integerate the writing into other subjects areas. We also do the writing in IEW (there's not much in 3, but it increases steadily each year.)

[mama25angels]

Angela, can you give me some ideas about how you integrate the writing into other areas especially Literature and History. I'm using Truthquest this year so, i'm thinking I could use the Thinkwrites as writing assignments as well as make of some of my own. Thanks

[JadeOrchidSong]

Angela, can you give me some ideas about how you integrate the writing into other areas especially Literature and History. I'm using Truthquest this year so, i'm thinking I could use the Thinkwrites as writing assignments as well as make of some of my own. Thanks

Thanks, mama25angles, I am about to ask the same question after reading Angela's post.

So :bigear:, and thank you, Angela, for responding.

J

[angela in ohio]

Angela, can you give me some ideas about how you integrate the writing into other areas especially Literature and History. I'm using Truthquest this year so, i'm thinking I could use the Thinkwrites as writing assignments as well as make of some of my own. Thanks

 

Sure.

 

The first thing I decide is (1.) what IEW units (structures) I will teach for the year. For a third grader, for example, I would teach units I&II, III, and maybe V (and even IV,) depending on the child. the next year, I would teach units I-VI or so, increasing each year. Each time you teach through the concepts again, you can go faster, giving you time to get farther into the syllabus, up to unit IX by junior high. I also decide (2.) what dress-ups, openers, and decorations (styles) I will teach. For the first year with a third grader, I would teach the basic dress-ups and one or two decorations (alliteration and conversation are easy to add.) I might teach a few sentence openers, if the student caught on quickly.

 

Armed with those two lists, I plan out a rough outline for the year. If you are doing a 36 week school year, for example, and you are teaching units I-V, you could spend 8-10 weeks on units I&II, 10 weeks on unit III, 6 weeks on unit V, and then 10-12 weeks on unit IV. Then I decide what order I am teaching the dress-ups in. Decorations go best with unit III or V, so I would teach a few dress-ups in units I&II, alliteration and conversation in unit III, a few more dress-ups in unit V, and then maybe some openers in unit IV.

 

With those listed out per week in one column, I make another column for each subject area I could possibly integrate: history, Bible, literature, history, etc. For each week, I look at the topics in each of the columns and choose one to fit. For example, if I am teaching unit III, narratives, I look for stories. if that was the week we were studying ancient Greek mythology, I would use a myth for the assignment. Unit III and V lend themselves more to history and literature, and unit IV lends itself well to science. One of my favorite ways to integrate writing is to do an IEW assignment on the author of a book my dh are reading or the time period it is set in, to give the student background before they read. Also, you can do musician or artist biographies to fill out a music or art appreciation study. You may decide to schedule a writing assignment every week, especially in the beginning when you will just want to work with one paragraph or so at a time. Or you may look at R&S English and only schedule IEW writing when there isn't much in there.

 

If you really want to be organized: I like to have the whole year ready to go, so I don't have an excuse not to do writing. :D So I buy dividers that go 1-50 (they are legal dividers, I get them at Staples and re-use them each year.) I put the number of weeks for our school year in a binder. (You could also just plan by semester or month.) Behind each divider I put a copy of the instructions or my notes to teach for that week's assignment, plus a copy of the model for the student, plus (in later years) a grading sheet or rubric.

 

If you tell me some of the topics you guys are studying, I would be happy to help brainstorm some possibilities. I've done this for seven years now, so I can do it in my sleep. :001_smile:

[JadeOrchidSong]

Angela,

Thanks for taking the time to answer in such great detail. Sounds like you are very organized. If or when I decide to add IEW for writing, I will definitely come to you again.

J

[mama25angels]

angela, thank you so much for your response!! That has been a great help, we are studying the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation this year. I'll go over my plans and get a list of topics and post them as soon as we're done for the day. I've already taught the first four units to my older ones so i'd love some help coming up with topics to teach the remaining units. I do plan to review with my olders though..