happycc Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 in her WRAT writing test part taken beginning of the year and at the end of the year. She has been using WWE and FLL. What is going on? What do you suggest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsrae Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 What does the test ask her to do? If she is expected to write something in response to an essay question, I can see why WWE2 wouldn't prepare her for that. It is a great program, but it is asking for different skills than are often evidenced in standardized tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Keep doing what you're doing. I think it's a mistake to switch to something else on the basis of one test, which is not a comprehensive one to begin with, especially with a child so young. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Before worrying, you need to find out what exactly the instructions for the test were and how the test was scored. My son wrote what I thought was a well organized, complete response to a prompt for one of the standardized writing tests and was marked down because he didn't "develop" his ideas enough even though the prompt made it seem like a shorter response would be preferable. That, and WWE, at least in the younger grades, does not align with what is normally stressed in schools. In schools, even in the younger grades, the focus is on writing *a lot* about one's own thoughts. This is the opposite approach to WWE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Well it looks like I need to supplement with something else so that when testing through standardized testing she is not looking so far behind.... I like WWE very much and will continue with it but she needs something else on top of it to score decently on the standardized testing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Well it looks like I need to supplement with something else so that when testing through standardized testing she is not looking so far behind.... I like WWE very much and will continue with it but she needs something else on top of it to score decently on the standardized testing. Well, since I disagree with how the schools teach writing, I'm not exactly recommending this, but Write Source is the type of thing they use in schools and it's not bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Write Source is now published by Harcourt. It is rather expensive and (I think) overkill for what you are trying to accomplish. Harcourt Language includes writing instruction and test prep. Each chapter review is a very short test prep activity. The writing instruction appears gentle and appropriate. All you would need for a 2nd/3rd grader is a student book--which you can get used from amazon. I just picked up the 4th grade book for $4. I did decide to get the teacher's manual since it actually looks pretty good and I'm now planning to use it as our main language arts next fall. Not much diagramming, but FLL would provide that. You can see samples here: http://saxonhomeschool.hmhco.com/en/homeschool-rsrc-harlang.htm I intend to use it next year along with Essentials in Writing. I don't see how tacking it onto WWE/FLL would be too much if you just went over the grammar lessons orally and used the writing portion. As an aside, I've discovered that the higher levels of this program, Holt Elements of Language list John Warriner (Of Warriner's Grammar and Composition) as an author. He's been dead for a while, but apparently some of his original work has made it into these books and they follow his basic method of instruction. These would be grade 6 and up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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