8 yo third grader, book summary

[Penelope]

Ds read this book, a fairly simple 80 page (wide spaced and included some pictures) biography, over two days and then wrote this the third day. This is his draft unedited. My assignment was vague this time. I told him to "write something about the book". Usually that means a paragraph or two about one event in the book. He decided to write a summary. He did this from memory, with no notes. The spaces are to indicate his paragraphs. http://www.amazon.com/Samuel-F-B-Morse-Discovery-Biography/dp/0791014479

 

We have used WWE1-3, a few fable retellings as in Writing Tales, and a few lessons of WS.

 

Samuel F. B. Morse

 

Once there was a little boy named Samuel. He got in troubl plenty of times, and one of those times was when he drew a silly picture of his teacher while he was in school.

 

Years later, when Samuel was in high school, he got in trouble more. There were many cases, but one of them was when Samuel drew a picture of a tortise and a hare. He called himself a hare and his brother a tortise so as he said, It was a picture of him and his brother.

 

When he went to Yale, he got in trouble for not listening to the teacher. He seemingly just atracted trouble.

 

Samuel became a painter and set up a shop but no one wanted there portrat painted. Soon after, he became a tramp painter and went walking around and knocking on people's doors begging for work.

 

A long time after his tramp artist days, Samuel invented the electro magnet telegraph. There was one mashean where you would send electrical pulses through a wire. At the other end of the wire there would be a electromagnet that would force a pen up and down that would make dots and dashes on a piece of paper depending on how long you pressed on the button that would send the electrical pulses through the wire. The person at the other end of the wire would read what the dots and dashes said and send another mesege back.

 

There are obvious things I need to help him with: spelling, a bit of punctuation, and some awkwardness in the last paragraph, especially the one sentence that goes on and on. :)

 

And he needs something at the end to tie everything together, I think, the part about getting in trouble and then later becoming a success.

 

I'm hoping I will get some comments that help me decide what to do for writing instruction in the coming year. I think we need to work on paragraph construction and transitions in particular. I'm not too sure how to get there or what programs will help with this.

[fourcatmom]

I don't really have any constructive things to say but I wanted to say that I think he did a great job, for a 3rd grader. I don't think my 3rd grader could write about some of those things that he mentioned but then I have never read that book.

[Penelope]

Thanks.

 

That's the thing, it wasn't supposed to be a book report. :) I have never even used those words. Usually I ask him to write about one character, or a favorite episode from the book, and it is a paragraph. This is something he came up with. I thought he did a pretty good job but I don't know how to talk to him constructively about paragraphs or transitions. Or maybe I should just let it be for now and concentrate on mechanics and sentence structure. Probably.

[mom2boys030507]

I, also, think he did a good job.

 

I would continue to focus on sentence structure and paragraph structure. To me it seems like he ended up trying to pull a lot of his knowledge together because he enjoyed the book and had a lot to say.

[Jen+4dc]

I, also, think he did a good job.

 

I would continue to focus on sentence structure and paragraph structure. To me it seems like he ended up trying to pull a lot of his knowledge together because he enjoyed the book and had a lot to say.

:iagree:

 

I don't think my ds8 3rd grader would recall so much info, let alone be willing to write it all down. Good Job, Mom!!:thumbup:

[Capt_Uhura]

WOW excellent job!

 

Yes, he's young. I would just move on, make a few notes of things you want to address and do it in copywork. Also, when you're reading to him, point out great transitions in paragraphs. Point out great sentences. Give him a list of transition words where they are segregated according to function (time, order, etc).

 

I would point out how well he did w/ time....beginning of his life to the end w/out jumping back and forth. I'd also praise his use of keywords throughout (trouble, tramp painter) and discuss what the use of repetition does for the reader. In short, point out explicitly all the things he did right b/c even if they are/were intuitive, it'll be reinforced by thinking about it. Have him go through and underline his time sequence words (soon after, a long time, etc).

 

He might enjoy reading through MCT Paragraph Town with you. My 2nd grader did and it really helped him to understand paragraphs in a fun and engaging way.

 

If he's open to criticism, you could just mention things that he needs to work on but that you'll work on them later and in under contexts such as there for their.

Edited May 20, 2011 by Capt_Uhura

[Penelope]

Thank you for the nice comments.

 

Capt. Uhura, those suggestions are immensely helpful to me. Thank you so much! I do have Paragraph Town but was saving it for fall. Just reading it now is an idea I hadn't thought of. We could go back through it more later, and save the writing assignments for later in the year.

[2_girls_mommy]

I have my 3rd grader do literature narrations like this. I would not focus on an ending sentence to tie it all together for these assignments. We do R&S and it covers writing in there. Eventually it will get to those kinds of assignments. For now, I let her retell the story in complete sentences like this. I would only correct spelling for this and the transitions. It looks similar to what my dd gives for book narrations.

[Penelope]

Thank you, 2girlsmommy!

 

I need to take a look at RandS. They seem to have good paragraph and composition instruction.

 

I want the magic resource to put everything together for next school year. :) I feel that I have so many resources now that I am going to be scattered all over the place.

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

I think he did nice work!!!

[johnandtinagilbert]

Ds read this book, a fairly simple 80 page (wide spaced and included some pictures) biography, over two days and then wrote this the third day. This is his draft unedited. My assignment was vague this time. I told him to "write something about the book". Usually that means a paragraph or two about one event in the book. He decided to write a summary. He did this from memory, with no notes. The spaces are to indicate his paragraphs. http://www.amazon.com/Samuel-F-B-Morse-Discovery-Biography/dp/0791014479

 

We have used WWE1-3, a few fable retellings as in Writing Tales, and a few lessons of WS.

 

Samuel F. B. Morse

 

Once there was a little boy named Samuel. He got in troubl plenty of times, and one of those times was when he drew a silly picture of his teacher while he was in school.

 

Years later, when Samuel was in high school, he got in trouble more. There were many cases, but one of them was when Samuel drew a picture of a tortise and a hare. He called himself a hare and his brother a tortise so as he said, It was a picture of him and his brother.

 

When he went to Yale, he got in trouble for not listening to the teacher. He seemingly just atracted trouble.

 

Samuel became a painter and set up a shop but no one wanted there portrat painted. Soon after, he became a tramp painter and went walking around and knocking on people's doors begging for work.

 

A long time after his tramp artist days, Samuel invented the electro magnet telegraph. There was one mashean where you would send electrical pulses through a wire. At the other end of the wire there would be a electromagnet that would force a pen up and down that would make dots and dashes on a piece of paper depending on how long you pressed on the button that would send the electrical pulses through the wire. The person at the other end of the wire would read what the dots and dashes said and send another mesege back.

 

There are obvious things I need to help him with: spelling, a bit of punctuation, and some awkwardness in the last paragraph, especially the one sentence that goes on and on. :)

 

And he needs something at the end to tie everything together, I think, the part about getting in trouble and then later becoming a success.

 

I'm hoping I will get some comments that help me decide what to do for writing instruction in the coming year. I think we need to work on paragraph construction and transitions in particular. I'm not too sure how to get there or what programs will help with this.

Great job! That is fine sentence writing!

This is actually an ideal group of sentences to show how a paragraph puts several sentences together that talk about one topic. Have him cut out all of his "paragraphs" then put them into two groups: trouble maker & painter. Then he can re-write the sentences as 2 paragraphs.

 

In the same way, you can take the run-on (love those sentences where you can "hear" their excitement), have him break that one apart by identifying the "who" and "what" of each sentence (teaching that every sentence must have a who, did what, complete thought). He's given you some great starting points.

 

Sounds like reading paragraph town will be fun!

[Penelope]

Thank you, that's very helpful, too. :)