3rd grade writer (Poll enclosed)

[Pata]

I'm curious, as I was re-reading TWTM tonight to see if we are on track, I noticed that she has a 3rd grader writing all on their own. :001_huh: We are not there yet. Dd still struggles with taking two sentences from dictation and her spelling, well let's not go there. I realize that these two are linked and her spelling issues mainly result from my failure to continue phonics after she was reading. We are working on the phonics using WRTR and the dictation skills using WWE, but I'd really like to know how many 3rd graders are doing all their own writing (for narrations)? Right now, dd copies some of her narrations and takes some from dictation. Are we really that far behind? It's ok if we are, I can handle the truth, I think...

Edited March 18, 2011 by Pata

[Haiku]

I think what you are doing is fine. My current 3rd grader writes all her own narrations, but that doesn't mean her spelling is perfect. I pick one word or punctuation issue and have her correct it, if necessary, and then praise the heck out of the rest.

 

My current 2nd grader will not be ready to write his own narrations in 3rd grade.

 

Each kid develops differently. Don't feel rushed.

 

Tara

[Capt_Uhura]

WWE3 has the student read the passage, answer some questions, give you a narration which you write down, and then you choose two or three sentences (15-18 words) to dictate back to the student which you repeat 3x. The DC are not writing their own narrations fully until WWE4. Even the first half of WWE4, you are dictating back to the student, his first few sentences.

[Crimson Wife]

FWIW, Charlotte Mason advocates oral narrations until age 10 or even 12.

[Pata]

WWE3 has the student read the passage, answer some questions, give you a narration which you write down, and then you choose two or three sentences (15-18 words) to dictate back to the student which you repeat 3x. The DC are not writing their own narrations fully until WWE4. Even the first half of WWE4, you are dictating back to the student, his first few sentences.

 

Yes, we are using WWE3, but I kinda panicked when I saw that a third grader was writing their own narrations.

 

Tara, i like your idea, I may try having her write one on her own and see how it goes. I'm just afraid that she'll freeze because she has to do it all. Gonna have to mull that one over a bit...

 

Crimson Wife, I love Charlotte Mason right about now :tongue_smilie:.

Edited March 20, 2011 by Pata

[nitascool]

My 3rd grade ds could not write a narration on his own. His attempts are choppy. He can't write more the 4 or 5 sentences without having a meltdown. But then again he has writing issues. Ask this same child to dictate and he'll give me a full page summery. Ask him to type it and he'll give me half a page. I don't expect that he will be ready even at 12 to do a fully correct narration written in his own hand.

 

My 5th grader can do a small narration of 15-20 sentences. His spelling will be mostly correct, grammar correct, mechanics not so much. But he comes by that naturally on his mother's side. :lol: He could discuss the same subject at length though.

 

Understanding of a subject and application of it are not always in sync.

 

Edited to add: When in college I had a teacher with a PhD in English tell me that he wished he had more students who had good ideas even if they had spelling, grammar & mechanics issues. Most of his students just didn't or couldn't think past the prompts they learned in their Language Arts classes.

Edited March 21, 2011 by nitascool

[nova mama]

For independent reading, DS8 writes his own four to five sentences, which is major progress from the start of the year. We were having daily meltdowns, so I stopped having him narrate indy reading for while. I made a grid on the board (thanks Classical Country Mama!) with Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How in the first column. Then I'd read a paragraph and ask him to tell me a Who. What did happened to them? What did they do? And we'd fill in as many of the other boxes as appropriate. At first he'd say "I DON'T KNOW!!!" so I'd read the paragraph again. And again and again until we had a column filled out. Then we'd fill another column with another Who. Then he'd assemble each column into a sentence. As I said, DS is now doing his own narrations, but he sometimes he makes a chart first.

 

For history and science, all DC orally narrate several sentences while I write on the board. Then they copy from the board.

 

We're not doing ANY dictation. But thanks to Nan in Mass, that ends today!!

[Penelope]

My 8 yo third grader writes his own usually, and strongly prefers to write his own. However, they are better when he tells me, one or two sentences at a time, what he is going to write. That way we can pick out problems with sentence structure ahead of time, and his saying it out loud helps him to think about punctuation.

 

So I am not dictating back to him, but in effect he is still doing the intermediate step of forming his thoughts first and having feedback.

 

He does do some narrations all on his own, but I have stepped back from that a little because there are more corrections to be made when he does that.

[Homemama2]

However, they are better when he tells me, one or two sentences at a time, what he is going to write. That way we can pick out problems with sentence structure ahead of time, and his saying it out loud helps him to think about punctuation.

 

So I am not dictating back to him, but in effect he is still doing the intermediate step of forming his thoughts first and having feedback.

 

:iagree: This is how my 3rd grader does his own narrations. He has to ask for spelling help alot. He also tends to make his narrations much shorter when he's doing them himself. We don't have him do his own every time....just once a week for history. I doubt there are very many 3rd graders writing their own narrations REALLY well.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

All of mine are past that age, but none of them could really write well alone in 3rd grade.

[EKS]

My younger son is in 3rd grade and writes what might be thought of as narrations on his own. However, my older son did not write in 3rd grade. In 4th grade he would dictate his work to me and then he would copy it in his own handwriting. He has dyslexia, so writing has always been a challenge for him.