What is your writing plan/goals for your 5th grader this year?

[HappyGrace]

Would love to see what everyone is doing! It can be curriculum, goals, plans--

please be specific! :)

[Amy loves Bud]

Peyton is doing the following:

 

1. Writing a history summary twice per week.

2. Writing about each book she completes. I leave this up to her - summarize, write about her favorite part or her favorite character, or whatever she likes.

3. Dictation twice per week from our read aloud.

4. We are using SOTW 4 for history and she is completing the outlines in the activity guide for that.

5. Also, I have her do occasional summaries of science, particularly when we cover a scientist or discovery.

 

I think that's it. All of her writing is wrapped up in other subjects. I used SWB's talks on teaching writing as a jumping off point.

[Mandy in TN]

I have my friend's dd who is in 5th grade about twice each week. The Cuppycake is a little more special than just an xtra student. She may not be a blood relative, but we claim her. Because all of his cousins are overseas, she is the closest thing to a cousin that my little guy knows.

 

At my house she is doing-

Saxon, other math stuff, Winston Grammar, poetry, ABFIAR w/ tons of rabbit trails, eclectic world history, GSA Space/ Human Body/ Tools&Technology, eclectic Spanish exposure, Memory Work

 

At home she is doing-

Saxon, Writing Fabulous Sentences and Paragraphs, Phonetic Zoo, literature, a unit study on China first semester and a unit study on colonial America second semester, further interest led study on her science topic

 

On Fridays she goes to an arts program for a 1hour 20min art class and a 1hour 20min theater class. She also swims 2-3 days each week and is one of the few 5th graders that made it onto the middle school swim team!

 

Along with my youngest, she began the NaNoWriMo workbook this week and we all plan to write a novel in November.:blink: I think I am far more nervous than the kids.

 

My goal is for her to master the four operations with fractions and to achieve immediacy in multiplication/division. With her mom the academic goal is developing a joy of reading through literature and history based unit studies.

 

Of course, she reads with me and she does math at home. Anyway, the overriding goal everywhere for the Cuppycake is for her to know that she is special- through encouragement for her to know that she has interesting and important things to share with the world and through this to light her desire to learn more and produce more.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[AudreyTN]

Right now my dd is doing ILL 3-4 times per week.

Written narration for history 2-3 times per week.

 

She's also in the process of writing a 2 page (handwritten) report for TN History at Co-op.

 

I plan to do more after Christmas, but I don't know what yet! :confused:

[radiobrain]

I have the classic reluctant writer pair of boys.

 

Part of it is my fault, I admit. I felt like it would sort itself out as they got older. Maybe I was right, maybe I was wrong. We are still struggling.

 

I do MCT, we are on Voyage level but we have not started Essay Voyage yet.

 

They do some writing 2X a week for their father that I have nothing to do with. He chooses something for them to write about, they write it, he grades it.

 

I started a boys writing club so that I could have them exposed to other boys and their weird writing, and I am hoping that will have a positive effect. It is only once a month, and we have only done one so far... so who knows. We are going to attempt the young NaNoWriMo.

 

I have many books out of the library, a few different "curricula-type" things, but in general, I am trying to get them to write a little more each day than the last. I am always surprised at my 12 yo's ability to capitalize, punctuate and spell correctly, even with complicated things. I am surprised by the opposite in my 10 yo. However, he is the one who has a real "voice" and tries to do difficult things. It is all sort of funny.

 

My goal this year is to get them both writing more, and writing better. I think that so far, I still haven't done as much as I would like, but we are progressing. I plan on having them do writing in science and history, even when it is only a few sentences. I am still flushing out the success of my schedule, so for some reason, I still don't get to that like I should.:tongue_smilie:

 

Does my rambling address your question? Once again, I find myself typing out loud.

[Melissa B]

5th grade plans (for my current 5th grader):

 

daily copywork in Latin

daily dictation from history readings

one or two outlines per week from history/science readings

one outline every week or two from history lectures/Dvds

one paragraph per week about anything educational (She often chooses literature.)

one writing assignment per week pulled from curriculum suggestions (chosen by me)

beta testing SWB 5th grade writing curriculum

online writing class connected to history (moves at student's pace)

Nanowrimo in November

 

 

Goals:

 

write a solid paragraph with ease by the end of fifth grade

basic outlining skills by the end of sixth grade

general increase in writing speed

[Mom0012]

My 5th grader is taking an IEW class for the second year in a row. He will do an average of one paper every two weeks. I'm not sure how long the papers will get. Last year, he was in level 1 and they were 3 - 5 paragraphs. I'm kind of hoping they keep that the same this year for the level 2 class so that he has a chance to cement what he learned last year and get to where it is easier before we move on to more lengthy stuff.

 

He also does copywork and dictation.

 

Lisa

[patchfire]

Dd's main writing is Essay Voyage. I don't let her pick one of the non-writing options at the end of the chapter. Sometimes we rewrite one or two so that it's applicable to history or science. If it's applicable to history, she does that instead of a history summary that week.

 

She writes a history summary each week (exceptions as above) and an outline. She also outlines every other week from Science Matters, and most weeks for music appreciation. She writes a book summary every other week.

 

She usually writes two or three outlines a week and two or three summaries or very short essays.

 

My biggest goal is for her to consistently apply what she's learning in Essay Voyage in all of her writing assignments. I also want her to perfect her 1-point outlines.

[Stacy in NJ]

dictation once or twice per week, written summaries of bible stories twice per week, occasional writing assignments from literature, and free writing infrequently.

 

This is for a 6th grader, though.

 

He basically gets two writing assignments of a paragraph or two daily.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

For 5th grade we are doing:

Dictation passage daily

Written Narration for History once a week

Copywork for history 2 times a week and 1 time a week for science

Written Poetry work once a week

Daily lesson from Writing Skills by EPS publishing

Beta Testing for SWB

[Closeacademy]

We are working with Oak Meadow and Scott-Forsman grammar/composition books.

 

My goals for her are to write good paragraphs and move from writing one to 5 paragraphs--intro, 3 points, conclusion.

 

btw--my dd is a little behind due to pencil phobia in the early years. Now that she is reading well and feels some confidence in spelling, we are working on writing.:001_smile:

[Mandy in TN]

We are working with Oak Meadow and Scott-Forsman grammar/composition books.

 

My goals for her are to write good paragraphs and move from writing one to 5 paragraphs--intro, 3 points, conclusion.

 

btw--my dd is a little behind due to pencil phobia in the early years. Now that she is reading well and feels some confidence in spelling, we are working on writing.:001_smile:

And what you are doing is so cool!:D

Mandy

[delaney]

I struggle with this as I hate to write but here is what I am dipping my toe into with her:

She does Writing Strands 3 times per week and likes it so far. WWE2 copywork and dictation(since we have never done it before I started in level 2 but just bought level 3)

2-3 sentence summaries of daily SOTW readings

and now on Fridays I am breaking from the standard week's plan to branch out into poetry and Wordsmith Apprentice. By November I am hoping to start a paper of 1-2 pages on a topic from science. I was just listening to JWB about "doing it again" and she said she would do more expository writing and less creative writing. In life writing seems to be demanded more for purposes so I am taking it in that direction. We'll see. I wish I could love writing!!:glare:

[NanceXToo]

My fifth grader is using the Oak Meadow curriculum.

 

English and Social Studies and Geography and Crafts are integrated. Vocabulary words are assigned based on the social studies reading. Spelling is assigned based on words she gets wrong in her writing assignments. They do cover grammar.

 

Writing assignments (and reading assignments) generally revolve around social studies.

 

So, for instance, the first thing we read about in social studies in the syllabus was "Early Visitors To North America." Then she had two writing assignments to choose from. One said:

 

Read about Marco Polo's adventures. Write a page or two about what you learn. If you enjoy creative writing, you might prefer composing a scene that you imagine could have occurred between Marco Polo and the great ruler Kublai Khan in China.

 

The other said:

 

Compose a short story or newspaper article about what terrible monsters and other hazards might await anyone who tries to sail around the world. Illustrate your story. (My daughter did this one).

 

Meanwhile, she was reading "Where Do You Think You're Going, Christopher Columbus?" And when we do the social studies reading in the syllabus, it has her stop to look things up on a map or do mapwork here and there, for the geography portion of things. She also made her own compass as a craft.

 

Lesson 2 was "More Exploring" and more about Christopher Columbus. She again had a list of things to choose from for that week's writing assignment. The one my daughter chose said: What if you were a Native American Indian who saw Columbus and his ships arriving off the coast of your home? How would these people have appeared to you? How might you have felt/ Would you feel welcoming or would you be frightened? How might you and your family prepare to meet these strangers?

 

For a craft, she made a wooden sailboat.

 

By Lesson 3, we were reading "If You Sailed On The Mayflower In 1620." We read about Jamestown in the syllabus. For a craft, she made a diorama of Jamestown. For a writing assignment, she had five different choices to choose from. She chose the one that said: What if you were elected the leader of a new colony? What are some of the laws you would make about establishing a secure food supply for the colony, relationships with the Indians, and other major concerns? What would the consequences be for breaking these laws? What would some of the other major concerns be, and how do you think you would deal with them?"

 

In Lesson 4, we were continuing with the Pilgrims and the Mayflower. She had a choice of three things for that week's writing assignment. She chose the one that said: If you were preparing for the long sea voyage to the New World and needed to bring foods that would not spoil, what could you bring? There were no refrigerators, no canned or bottled goods back then. Make a list of food supplies that could feed your family for the journey. What other supplies would be useful for the trip? What household items would you want to be sure to bring for your new life in a colony? What about tools and supplies that would be necessary for survival in your new home? What things could you probably count on finding in the place you were going?

 

This week (Lesson 5) we're reading "The Witch Of Blackbird Pond" and she's taking notes (ideas and facts) on index cards as we go as an outline because in a couple of weeks, she'll be writing a report comparing the Puritan way of life to her life in modern times.

 

OK this is getting long LOL. But this gives a really good idea of how the OM curriculum works, I really love it! There's always a hands on activity/craft, a choice of things to write about, a book to read that goes along with the lesson, and a page or two or three of information in the syllabus, not a lot of dry textbookish stuff. The writing assignments give some interesting choices and allow for some creativity... we really like it.

 

ETA: Oak Meadow aside, she's also working her way through a HWT Can-Do Cursive workbook, and maintaining correspondence with a penpal and sometimes has to write out answers to questions from her Environmental Science syllabus, too.

[HappyGrace]

I'm sorry! I read all the responses and got busy and didn't thank y'all for responding! This has been a really helpful thread for me to read-trying to crystallize my vision for this year!