Writing Basics for a 4th Grader

[everydaybest]

I am looking for suggestions for a non-writing 4th grader. He is reading (say, Magic Tree House books) with a little help.

 

I think having some of the fundamentals of spelling will help. I own the 4th edition (not the most recent) of The Writing Road to Reading and Sanseri's older book, Teaching Reading at Home. I'm finding those difficult to implement, and wonder if Sanseri's newer book, Spelling to Read and Write would be a good investment, or if anyone can suggest another approach.

 

Thanks!

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

To be honest right now with my 4th grader I am just teaching her to pick the main idea/information given in a paragraph and we are working on simple (did I say simple??) outlines. Then I have her do a right up from her outline. Yesterdays was kinda 2 paragraphs. I see we need to work more on the mechanics of a paragraph though after yesterdays quick little right up. :001_huh: I thought she had that down. Guess I was wrong.

[everydaybest]

That sounds great. We're nowhere close to that level.

[Momling]

Where is he in writing? Can he write a sentence with a capital letter and a period? What are your goals?

[ondreeuh]

I had a very late reader and even later writer, but not quite that late. You have a bit of work on your hands. :)

 

If your son has difficulty getting words on paper, I highly suggest checking your library for Peggy Kaye's Games for Writing. If he just needs help getting organized, I HIGHLY recommend Writing Skills (Book A) published by EPS. It starts out building sentences and manipulating the parts of speech, works on grammar, and by the end it works on organizing paragraphs. Everything is broken down into small steps with lots of practice.

 

For spelling, we have tried many things and I have been extremely pleased with Apples and Pears by Sound Foundations. You can see the entire program on their website. It greatly improved my son's reading as well. Once we were past the basic phonics, A&P provided an intense, quick & dirty study in spelling. It's mentally taxing with my son but gives fast results that he applies to the rest of his writing.

[QuirkyKidAcademy]

Everydaybest, I just wanted to say that you are not alone. I don't have any advice - we are in the same boat - but good luck!

[....]

To be honest right now with my 4th grader I am just teaching her to pick the main idea/information given in a paragraph and we are working on simple (did I say simple??) outlines. Then I have her do a right up from her outline. Yesterdays was kinda 2 paragraphs. I see we need to work more on the mechanics of a paragraph though after yesterdays quick little right up. :001_huh: I thought she had that down. Guess I was wrong.

 

This is EXACTLY where my 4th grader is. She does Intermediate Language Lessons and Classical Composition (for writing). I picked ILL because there is a bunch of that "what's the main idea of this paragraph" and beginning outlining skills in it. Classical Comp also has lots of outlining.

 

everydaybest, where is he in writing? Are you looking to teach writing classically? Have you seen the audio lectures on the Peace Hill Press website A Plan for Teaching Writing? You don't have to use a curriculum to teach them writing or spelling in the early years (I'm in a weird anti-curriculum phase right now :tongue_smilie:). But, we have used Writing with Ease 1, 2 and 3 to work on the basics. Also, after using several spelling programs, I'm making huge progress with Webster's Speller (free online) and word lists (like the 1,000 most frequently used words, etc - also free online).

 

If you don't like WWE, you could also look at Primary Language Lessons (my 3rd grader is in this right now - there is a ton of writing exercises in there) and Intermediate Language Lessons (also lots of writing).

 

Also, with spelling... in the audio lectures, SWB spends some time talking about misspelling while writing. I highly recommend the audio lectures. :thumbup1: