Writing in 3rd and 4th grade, classical method

[Penelope]

I read the grammar section of TWTM recently, and realized again that WWE is not meant to be all of the writing that a child does, just the writing curriculum help.

 

Do any of you do all the writing that TWTM suggests in 3rd/4th? That would be a history and science narration each week, consisting of a couple of paragraphs, plus WWE or one of the other programs recommended, plus written narrations weekly from their own reading. And writing letters several times per month. I have read it through more than once, and I don't see where it says WWE is a substitute for writing other, longer narrations across the curriculum.

 

Would anyone be willing to post what you do?

And also, how often do you revise, or help them revise, their writing, and do a final draft?

 

I'll start. :) I have a 3rd grader doing WWE3, the occasional exercise from MCT (so far we have only done 3 short ones this school year), spelling dictation sentences from AAS (I think it's about 12 per week), once-weekly copywork to focus on handwriting, and maybe a letter every few months. Oh, and sometimes I have him write the fable narrations from Writing Tales 1. :o There are workbook pages and definitions for science that involve some writing, but I realized today I really need to step it up this year. And figure out how often to have them revise and do final drafts.

[Haiku]

:lurk5:

 

Tara

[Mom-ninja.]

Ugh. Thanks for reminding me that I'm not getting all the writing done. My ds is 4th grade and I *really* need to have him write more.

 

It would be so nice if WWE were enough. Can't I pretend? Sigh.

 

Ok, my 9 yr old does WWE 4x/wk, FLL 4x/wk which has a little writing in it, AAS dictation sentences 4x/wk, a letter every few months, he also does copy work a few times a week. So that's it at the moment.

 

I really should have him do dictation from his history narrations once a week. Also, I'm hoping that when our science gets here (today according to package tracking!) that narration/dictation is already worked into it.

 

I guess I should start having him write narrations about books he reads as well. Would that be once a week?

[Capt_Uhura]

I was never clear on how much writing SWB wanted if you were using WWE. If you add in WWE, writing in history and science, writing in spelling, that seems like a lot, but maybe that's because I have boys. :lol: My DS is in 5th grader and I'm just now starting to ramp up the writing.

[Joyofsixreboot]

This is where I feel so woefully inadequate. DS is in 4th grade and still struggles with single sentence copy work. He still makes letters backwards and other weird stuff. He does beautiful oral narrations. He does one for every reading we do. I try to have him write a paragraph each week about any topic, one we've covered or something different. This is torture. I don't think I can ramp up to what SWB would recommend for this stage.

[Capt_Uhura]

Joyofsix - The beauty of HSing is that you meet your child where he is. You continue to write those beautiful narrations of his. Let him read what he has written. Discuss the good points. Discuss where he needs works. Discuss how to format his narrations. I love how SWB starts using non-fiction passages and having DC start the narration with the central idea and then 2-3 supporting details compared to the retelling of fiction passages. I thought, "Hey, that's a two level outline!" When I pointed that out to DS, since we had started working on outlining, he could see a purpose to the narration. Separately, work on the writing issues. He will get there. Oh and start him typing.

[abbeyej]

Dd does two lessons of WWE3 per week (basically, a narration and a dictation each day for four days a week, with one day off when we're doing other activities), and a SOTW narration for each subsection (so usually 2 per week). She also does a narration based on a Bible story each week (and an illustration based on a second Bible story). For science we aren't doing WTM-style, so she just writes the short-answer type responses required in her textbook.

 

She reads a ton, but I don't have her do writing assignments for almost any of that. She does do a little literature discussion group with another mom and two girls ~ her age each week, and sometimes she's asked to write a brief summary or a couple of sentences here and there to respond to questions from the book they're reading together.

 

We do correct her WWE, SOTW, and Bible writing each week. If it's just a matter of correcting some mechanics, she can erase and fix problems. If there's a more serious issue (factual error, or the sentences just don't make *sense*, etc), we'll discuss and edit and she will re-write. As to letters and things like that, I'm a little more loosey-goosey, but she does write her grandmother fairly regularly and a number of little stories and things for herself that I don't consider part of her school work.

 

I would guess we fall somewhere in the middle in terms of what I require for writing. Looking at WTM, I *could* require a great deal more. On the other hand, I read here on the boards and there are clearly kids who find writing much more difficult than my kids have. I think it's possible that because my kids have always been expected to write quite a bit, it has become easier for them -- but there's also an element of chance there -- I don't think it's just because I've done such a fantastic job, lol. ;) (My mom always reminds me that she was "an amazing teacher" with her first two kids, then when her third came along, she realized that she was either a terrible teacher or it all had very little to do with her...) ;)

 

You do remind me that I need to be working towards a little longer, more complete history narrations... Although, on the other hand, I don't think I was working as consistently with my son at this level, and in 7th grade now, he can whip out a short essay pretty quickly and easily.

[kwickimom]

:lurk5:

[abbeyej]

Lisa, Have you ever looked at Callirobics? It's not miraculous or anything, but I've seen it make a real difference in a couple of real-life friends' kids for whom the physical motion of writing was just so very difficult.

[mytwomonkeys]

:bigear: i struggle the most with this area.

 

my daughter is newly 9 and in grade 3. we use WWE2 4x week and writing strands 2 a couple of times a week. we also add in peggy kaye, games for writing sometimes. my daughter is coming along, but I still worry. we don't do narrations, but we probably should. maybe we'll start incorporating that.

 

do you have the child narrate & you write it? or should she be doing that independently??

[deeinfl]

I dictate 4 sentences daily from Spelling Plus Dictation. He works one to two lessons a day in WWE level 2, and he does 1-2 written narrations (a week) either from history, science, bible, or whatever literature he's presently reading. I do plan to add letter writing, but not until our second semester. :)

 

Dee

 

ps I sort of do a mix of SWB and CM at the same time. While I love the short and more concise summaries of SWB, I also like when he writes richly detailed written narrations. I see skill in both and don't want him to lose the ability to do either.

[michelle l]

No, I didn't realize that. I chose WWE becasue it wouldn't be too much for my extremely reluctant writer. I've read TWTM twice, but there's so much there that I guess it didn't sink in. Mine does a little science and history notebooking, but really not much writing even when he notebooks. Great.

 

I really don't know how people get it all in. We started at 7:30 this morning and ended at 3:30. They had about an hour off for play/lunch. There is no way we can do any more.:confused1:

[Mom-ninja.]

Dd does two lessons of WWE3 per week (basically, a narration and a dictation each day for four days a week, with one day off when we're doing other activities), and a SOTW narration for each subsection (so usually 2 per week).

 

Do you write her narrations? Does she write them? If she writes them, do you dictate them to her after you've written her oral narration?

[kokotg]

My 4th grader is doing MCT Town level, so he has a writing assignment every week there. He does 1 or 2 history summaries a week and usually has some writing to do for an outside biology class he's taking. He does WWE style dictation and narration from the books he's reading for literature. And he spends lots of time writing on his own for fun, too.

[Annabel Lee]

I read the grammar section of TWTM recently, and realized again that WWE is not meant to be all of the writing that a child does, just the writing curriculum help.

 

Do any of you do all the writing that TWTM suggests in 3rd/4th? That would be a history and science narration each week, consisting of a couple of paragraphs, plus WWE or one of the other programs recommended, plus written narrations weekly from their own reading. And writing letters several times per month. I have read it through more than once, and I don't see where it says WWE is a substitute for writing other, longer narrations across the curriculum.

 

Would anyone be willing to post what you do?

And also, how often do you revise, or help them revise, their writing, and do a final draft?

 

I'll start. :) I have a 3rd grader doing WWE3, the occasional exercise from MCT (so far we have only done 3 short ones this school year), spelling dictation sentences from AAS (I think it's about 12 per week), once-weekly copywork to focus on handwriting, and maybe a letter every few months. Oh, and sometimes I have him write the fable narrations from Writing Tales 1. :o There are workbook pages and definitions for science that involve some writing, but I realized today I really need to step it up this year. And figure out how often to have them revise and do final drafts.

 

I dealt with the same dilema for years; I never could keep a firm grasp in my mind of what exactly we were supposed to be doing for writing. From the thread titled "The Complete Writer: Writing with Ease (WWE) -- All separate threades merged here", here is the author's answer to the question (I just copied & pasted b/c it's what I know how to do). I was asking her about using the WWE text on content and if that IS the narrations described in WTM, and do we still do those if we're doing the WWE workbooks:

 

"If you're using the workbook, you would absolutely cut down on the number of narrations you're doing in history/science/lit. You wouldn't want to eliminate them, because they have value for those subjects, but you wouldn't want to double the child's workload.

 

Not to work myself out of a sale but I think it's ideal to use the WWE textbook and do what it says WITH your history/lit/science. Writing should be something, in the best case scenario, that's taught along with the other subjects in the curriculum. But it does take both time and ease with the process, which is why we publish the workbooks.

 

If it helps, I'm using the workbooks with DD8 and doing less in history/lit/science. Yes, it would be ideal to only use passages from history/lit/science. But I did all the research and prep already in the workkbook and don't really want to do it all again. Plus, this way my husband can help out with the writing instruction too. :001_smile:

 

SWB"

 

Something I've noticed is TWTM doesn't address how to adjust the amount of writing, or if to at all, when using the WWE workbooks. From my understanding, the WWE textbook is supposed to be a way to help you accomplish those content-subject narrations. Whatever content subjects not done w/ the WWE textbook would be done separately.

 

If using the WWE workbooks, you might rotate, requiring history & lit one week, science & hist. the next, etc. Or I suppose you could still do them all and rotate which you'll require the full length on and allow illustration only, oral narration only, or a shortened written one on other subject(s). Unless of course your child has worked up to the level that that much writing doesn't bother them.

 

In answer to your question, yes, I hope to have my sons on-level w/ WTM writing, doing the recommended amount at the recommended frequency by year-end. We're working up to it, since remember, I was confused before. Here's a breakdown from my notes in case anyone would continue reading this long post:

 

Science:

4th grade: In addition to filling out experiment pages and the occasional science biography, do a written narration on the main lesson. Write 2 -3 *good* sentences; by Christmas/Jan. require 3 but encourage 4. By year-end, 3 -4 sentence narration explaining 1 or 2 concepts learned. Make a narration page for at least 1 additional resource (this I haven't done yet b/c we haven't had time).

 

2nd grade: In addition experiment and biography pages, he narrates back, I use prompting questions to get him started, he can dictate to me as I write but I encourage him to write at least the 1st sentence and then I can finish it for him as needed. He's supposed to tell 2 or 3 important things he learned. Work towards him writing most or all of his narration by year-end.

 

For 4th grade history, Abe should be writing "short compositions of 2 -3 paragraphs" for narrations per TWTM. I'm working on paragraphs with him now, as in proper structure and getting used to writing a full 4 sentences.

 

Are they supposed to write those longer narrations from what they remember about the lesson or can they peruse the books for details and info?

 

Then there's narrations for literature that are supposed to be 2x/wk on "hard books" that stretch their reading level. From my notes: "Tell me in 2 - 4 sentences something about the plot of the book, identify some items (1 or 2) as more important than the rest (details), must pick out what's central to his composition. 2nd grade: writes from dictation; 4th grade: original writing". Haven't gotten around to that yet, but I would think WWE could count as at least one of the suggested times per week.

[micheller1]

I have no idea if I'm doing enough as far as writing goes but here's what my kids are doing. I've tried to keep with TWTM expectations :)

 

We do WWE 4x a week (levels 1 - 8yo; 2 - 12 yo; 3 - 10 yo) everyone writes their own own narrations, copywork, etc. So I'm tweaking the curriculum a little to fit them. We do history narration 1 x week. The older kids also are working on outlining the encyclopedia selections/library books, as a pre-writing skill. The younger one's narration is anywhere from 2-5 sentences. Everyone has a pen pal that they write to frequently. I try to make sure they don't mail them without my revisions and a rewrite if necessary.

We use elemental science and that has a fair amount of writing, including in future lessons essays on scientists.

We also do a lesson from Writing Tales 1 twice a month - expectations differ according to the age of the child.

[Halcyon]

Do any of you do all the writing that TWTM suggests in 3rd/4th?

 

That would be a history and science narration each week consisting of a couple of paragraphs: Yes, we do....sorta. We do WWE plus history narration two-three times a week, consisting of 1-2 paragraphs, and we just began Elemental Science Chem which has narrations. We also do Writing Strands 3 which has writing, albeit not narration.

 

plus written narrations weekly from their own reading. We haven't started this, but my eldest just began Charlie andf the Chocolate Factory and I found a few study guides online for it that incorporate naration.

 

And writing letters several times per month. This, not so much. Probably two letters a month, but we're upping that with some new WTM penpals :)

 

 

And also, how often do you revise, or help them revise, their writing, and do a final draft? Rarely do I have him do a second draft of narration. We discuss what he wants to say before hand, and we talk about how he can make it better, but his first draft is the final, unless it's awful ;). For WS3, they do have revisions, but they're mild and slowly introduced.

 

Other writnig he does: spelling words, journaling on occasions, and the Secret Note Game with his brother--boy, THAT involves a lot of writing, since Secret Spies are not allowed to talk :D (yes, I love the game).

[brownie]

DS8 is a reluctant writer and really only does WWE3 and thank yous as necessary.

 

DS10 is doing IEW...we go back and forth between fables and ancients. He does a paper every 5 or so school days, including draft and final copy but usually I type his drafts as is so he can edit more easily and have a nice looking final product. Once in a while he does the typing. He's very slow :) He usually narrates our SOTW chapter but we don't write it down.

 

Brownie

[Capt_Uhura]

:001_huh: Brownie - Thanks for the reminder....typing...another thing that fell by the wayside. Note to self....have boys practice typing tomorrow.

[MyLittleWonders]

Oh, we are so not doing enough (and I've begun feeling it rather than just "knowing" it). Ds#1 is 4th grade and is slowly creeping up to grade level in L/As (we flounded a bit with Waldorf-inspired schooling in 1st and then unschooling the first half of 2nd grade; then we recommitted to classical/WTM/LCC in the 2nd half of 2nd grade). He does either WWE 4 or IEW (ATF&F) each week and 2-3 dictation sentences from AAS 4-5x a week. Once in a blue moon I'll have him do a copywork assignment from history or science, but that is rare. He also does 1-2 pages from Beginning Outlining on average every week. I know based on where he was even a year ago, he has made tremendous progress. I just don't know how to fit in all the other writing with having a 2nd grader and PreKer right now. But, I am also starting to realize I need to (slowly) pick up the pace with him as we near 5th grade (we go year round so 5th grade technically starts the second week of July). Maybe I'll utilize my maternity "leave" to work on weaving more writing across the curriculum (I just started rereading WTM with special focus on the logic stage, plus I have SWB's writing lectures to listen to at some point in time).

[Homemama2]

Here is what we've been doing so far for 3rd this year:

Copywork (bible verse and history) twice a week

Dictation via Spelling Wisdom twice a week

HWT 4 days a week to work on cursive

AAS dictations

R&S English--(I know this has writing assignments but we haven't gotten to any yet)

One letter a month

One book report per month (about 4 simple paragraphs-he works on this for about 1 week)

Writing Strands (we started w/ 3 but decided to move back to level 2...so we're waiting for this to arrive right now) 3-4 times per week

 

As far as narrations, we do oral narrations for science, lit and history. For lit, that is all we do. We don't write anything down. For science, I have been writing those down for him. History, I write what he says and then he copies it into his notebook. He does this once or twice a week (and if he's already had alot of writing that day, I will do it for him.)

 

Between what we do for writing (listed above) and what he has to write for grammar, spelling and math....I really think we are at our limit, at least for now. I would love to have him write out all of his narrations....but I don't see that happening anytime soon. ;)

[workingmom]

Here is what we've been doing so far for 3rd this year:

Copywork (bible verse and history) twice a week

Dictation via Spelling Wisdom twice a week

HWT 4 days a week to work on cursive

AAS dictations

R&S English--(I know this has writing assignments but we haven't gotten to any yet)

One letter a month

One book report per month (about 4 simple paragraphs-he works on this for about 1 week)

 

 

Could you give us details on how you implemented the book report? I'd like to do this without it curbing his love of reading. Do you have him work on multiple drafts or just write it once and go from there?

[Create Your Ritual]

I would also love to hear more about the book report.

 

I have a 4th grader that writes across the curriculum in history, science & also reading comprehension workbooks for reading. I have her summarize each section in history & science for every chapter. I started by expecting 2 - 3 sentences, but now expect a paragraph for each section using her own words.

 

She also does WWE, MC4, creative writing exercises using http://www.writingfix.com (picture books.... the one using the book 'Meanwhile' was a huge hit with both kids and they had marvelous stories.) We write poems and stories using MCT Island as well. She writes letters several times a month. I have had her do book reports over the summer, but haven't reinstated that as of yet. She does cursive copy work as well. Having pulled her out of PS just this past year, I do know that they did more 'creative writing' there, but none of their writing was as focused as what she is now learning. Although they do try to teach using the 6 Traits of Writing, it was not very thorough in my opinion. I have slowed down a bit to focus on correct sentence structure this year and am using R&S English 3 with her, from there I hope to build enough knowledge to be writing longer reports by the middle of the school year. We will see, but as long as what she is writing about now is correct, makes sense, and continues to keep her enthusiastic about the process, then I think we are moving in the right direction.

[workingmom]

OK silly question but those that have their kids write across curriculum, do they do all their writing in a journal that will have like history on one page then science etc or loose pages that then just get filed with the subject?

[Create Your Ritual]

I actually have narration pages that are lined and go along with the curriculum that I have chosen. SOTW for history, and Apologia Astronomy for science. I found free 'newsletter style' narration pages for each chapter of Astronomy. They work out of a weekly binder, but at the end of each week it all gets filed into each subject's binder on the shelf to keep it all organized.

 

I actually have found for my two that it is more fun for them when the pages allow for drawing as well as writing, or have some history picture or fact on it as the SOTW free narration pages do.

[Penelope]

This helps me so much to read. I was feeling nervous when I tallied up everything and realized I had let some things fall through the cracks. Used to do more letters and more narrations. I think that trying new curriculum this year (MCT, SL) instead of sticking with WTM stuff, got me started trying to fit too many things in, instead of focusing on basic skills.

 

 

What I have a hard time with, though, is reconciling the WWE approach with the recommendation to write a couple of paragraphs in the history narrations. When I read "paragraphs", I'm thinking, the child could have used some instruction in writing paragraphs, and some of that is happening in WWE, but not specifically as in topic sentences with support. So I'm thinking the narration paragraphs are to be just narration as in "retelling", without revising much or being very concerned if the writing is not as neatly organized as it could be. :confused: I really need to listen to the lectures again.

[Create Your Ritual]

Certainly in my case they are the retelling, without much revising, version of a paragraph when it comes to summarizing their science & history chapter sections.

[MyLittleWonders]

I actually have narration pages that are lined and go along with the curriculum that I have chosen. SOTW for history, and Apologia Astronomy for science. I found free 'newsletter style' narration pages for each chapter of Astronomy. They work out of a weekly binder, but at the end of each week it all gets filed into each subject's binder on the shelf to keep it all organized.

 

I actually have found for my two that it is more fun for them when the pages allow for drawing as well as writing, or have some history picture or fact on it as the SOTW free narration pages do.

Where did you find free SOTW narration pages?

[2_girls_mommy]

This has been so good to read. I really try to use TWTM's writing suggestions, with one area that I am aware that I am slacking in. I will get to that.

 

My 3rd grader does most of the suggested writing.

 

Creative writing: She has several pen pals and family members to whom she regularly writes. Included in these letters are creative writing stories and poems. She also keeps a personal diary in which she writes summaries of exciting things that happen to her. The only creative writing I usually assign is the once a year PBS writing contest where she creates a book and illustrates it. It does include a lot of revising and editing and word counts. We spend several weeks on this each spring.

 

Composition:She does R&S English. Currently, she has to write sentences to go with pictures with instructions about using a series of nouns or whatever other grammar she is working on. It works up to friendly letters and descriptive writing later in the year.

 

She writes narrations across the curric. Usually we cover 2 sections of SOTW a week. I take her narration orally, and we work the sentences into good form together. She then copies it each time. Those asking about this: We do this onto regular notebook paper on a clipboard. Then the final paper is put into her 3 ring history binder. All papers go into the correct subject binder.

 

In Science, we do 1 experiment per week as opposed to the 2 suggested in WTM 3rd grade because she takes an experiment based science class at co-op. So she writes 1 science summary per week, exactly as described in WTM. She answers the 4 questions and does a diagram, and copies any definitions.

 

For reading, she is required to write narrations on current books that she is reading. I vary this. Sometimes I pick from something that she has been reading, other times I assign a passage. Sometimes she writes on a whole novel, sometimes I assign a narration of one chapter. We probably do this twice a month.

 

Copywork/handwriting/memorization: I have been trying this year to assign one poem, speech, or Bible passage. She will be assigned to copy 2-3 lines of a passage a day, then practice saying it aloud in front of a mirror 5 times, then performing it daily up to where she has copied.

 

On days when I have nothing new, or she has copied the whole thing already, she has R&S penmanship to copy from.

 

Dictation: the thorn in my side! Any suggestions here would be great to give me good ideas of what I should be doing. Currently, once a week on her spelling test, I dictate a sentence from our current chapter of history or science. I am not satisfied with the way I am doing this. I need to listen to some of SWB's lectures to help me get a handle on this.

[mytwomonkeys]

Dictation: the thorn in my side! Any suggestions here would be great to give me good ideas of what I should be doing. Currently, once a week on her spelling test, I dictate a sentence from our current chapter of history or science. I am not satisfied with the way I am doing this. I need to listen to some of SWB's lectures to help me get a handle on this.

 

 

last night i was searching around the internet & found some spelling dictation programs for free. i'm *thinking* about implementing some of these ideas. maybe they will help you too???

 

http://www.splashesfromtheriver.com/spelling/dictation.htm

 

http://www.pcboe.net/pcis/garrett2003/spelling.htm

(scroll to the bottom to see unit 1. click on dictation to see sentences).

 

[2_girls_mommy]

Thanks. I will def. check those out!

[Create Your Ritual]

Where did you find free SOTW narration pages?

 

I regret that I can't find the exact location online. I know someone on the forums pointed me in the direction. It was for SOTW Volume 1: Ancients I don't think I saved anything, just printed all the chapters out and filed them for each week. ;-( Sorry about that. If I run across it though, I will let you know.

[JadeOrchidSong]

I regret that I can't find the exact location online. I know someone on the forums pointed me in the direction. It was for SOTW Volume 1: Ancients I don't think I saved anything, just printed all the chapters out and filed them for each week. ;-( Sorry about that. If I run across it though, I will let you know.

I think it might be on Paula's Archive. You can look and find the link there. Just a possibility.

Try this link. I found SOTW 2 Free workbook there. But SOTW 1 doesn't seem to work.

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/fancy.htm#workbook

J

Edited October 19, 2010 by aomom

[JadeOrchidSong]

Here is what we've been doing so far for 3rd this year:

Copywork (bible verse and history) twice a week

Dictation via Spelling Wisdom twice a week

HWT 4 days a week to work on cursive

AAS dictations

R&S English--(I know this has writing assignments but we haven't gotten to any yet)

One letter a month

One book report per month (about 4 simple paragraphs-he works on this for about 1 week)

Writing Strands (we started w/ 3 but decided to move back to level 2...so we're waiting for this to arrive right now) 3-4 times per week

 

As far as narrations, we do oral narrations for science, lit and history. For lit, that is all we do. We don't write anything down. For science, I have been writing those down for him. History, I write what he says and then he copies it into his notebook. He does this once or twice a week (and if he's already had alot of writing that day, I will do it for him.)

 

Between what we do for writing (listed above) and what he has to write for grammar, spelling and math....I really think we are at our limit, at least for now. I would love to have him write out all of his narrations....but I don't see that happening anytime soon. ;)

This looks really thorough. I hope I can do more like you.

J

[MyLittleWonders]

I regret that I can't find the exact location online. I know someone on the forums pointed me in the direction. It was for SOTW Volume 1: Ancients I don't think I saved anything, just printed all the chapters out and filed them for each week. ;-( Sorry about that. If I run across it though, I will let you know.

 

I think it might be on Paula's Archive. You can look and find the link there. Just a possibility.

Try this link. I found SOTW 2 Free workbook there. But SOTW 1 doesn't seem to work.

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/fancy.htm#workbook

J

 

Thank you both - I had forgotten about Paula's Archives. I think the link was on my old computer and never made it to the new one.

[Mom-ninja.]

Ok, to make life easier, and so I will actually remember, I just made and printed out narration sheets to put in the history folder.

 

I think I'll set up a reading folder and put in sheets for book narrations.

[MyLittleWonders]

Ok, to make life easier, and so I will actually remember, I just made and printed out narration sheets to put in the history folder.

 

I think I'll set up a reading folder and put in sheets for book narrations.

That's a good idea. I think I need to do something similar and file for the rest of the year. Then maybe I'd at least expand writing to history every week or every other week.

[JoJosMom]

I actually have narration pages that are lined and go along with the curriculum that I have chosen. SOTW for history, and Apologia Astronomy for science. I found free 'newsletter style' narration pages for each chapter of Astronomy. They work out of a weekly binder, but at the end of each week it all gets filed into each subject's binder on the shelf to keep it all organized.

 

I actually have found for my two that it is more fun for them when the pages allow for drawing as well as writing, or have some history picture or fact on it as the SOTW free narration pages do.

 

I believe that narration pages for SOTW 1 are posted on the yahoo groups, elemental science page. I'm not proficient with the computer or I'd post a link. HTH.

[Penelope]

Pre-printed narration pages are a nice idea! I think I might try that. I use Elemental Science so I have pages for that. I'll start a new thread about notebooking pages.

:)

[Homemama2]

Here is what I do for the book reports: (I got this website from a poster on this board, I think! :001_smile:)

 

http://www.lovetolearnplace.com/BookReports/BookReport.html

 

It guides your child through a book report, how to do the title page etc for grades K-6. It is very simple (which I love!)

 

ETA: This website does book reports from a christian perspective....but I think you could use the basic model easily enough to not include this.

Edited October 20, 2010 by Homemama2

[Create Your Ritual]

Hi there. A while back you were asking about SOTW Notebooking pages that I used for written summaries with the kids. I couldn't find it, then just this morning someone else posted a link to the exact one that I used. It is http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/notebooking_history_geography.htm

[MyLittleWonders]

Hi there. A while back you were asking about SOTW Notebooking pages that I used for written summaries with the kids. I couldn't find it, then just this morning someone else posted a link to the exact one that I used. It is http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/notebooking_history_geography.htm

Thanks for coming back to the thread and sharing the link! :D

[Jami]

I have a 3rd and 4th graders, both doing 4th grade work. We follow Ambleside/Charlotte Mason recommendations for narration work and also do Classical Writing-Aesop.

 

So our weekly work includes: one CW writing assignment; 4 days of cursive copywork from sources like the Bible, hymns, poetry, literature; 1 studied dictation to work on spelling, usually from our CW selection; and 2 written narrations on history, literature or other Ambleside readings.

[ABQmom]

Do any of you do all the writing that TWTM suggests in 3rd/4th?

 

That would be a history and science narration each week consisting of a couple of paragraphs: Yes, we do....sorta. We do WWE plus history narration two-three times a week, consisting of 1-2 paragraphs, and we just began Elemental Science Chem which has narrations. We also do Writing Strands 3 which has writing, albeit not narration.

 

plus written narrations weekly from their own reading. We haven't started this, but my eldest just began Charlie andf the Chocolate Factory and I found a few study guides online for it that incorporate naration.

 

And writing letters several times per month. This, not so much. Probably two letters a month, but we're upping that with some new WTM penpals :)

 

 

And also, how often do you revise, or help them revise, their writing, and do a final draft? Rarely do I have him do a second draft of narration. We discuss what he wants to say before hand, and we talk about how he can make it better, but his first draft is the final, unless it's awful ;). For WS3, they do have revisions, but they're mild and slowly introduced.

 

Other writnig he does: spelling words, journaling on occasions, and the Secret Note Game with his brother--boy, THAT involves a lot of writing, since Secret Spies are not allowed to talk :D (yes, I love the game).

 

I'm curious about the "secret note game". Sounds fun. Could you give me a few details?