Remedial Writing Help Needed - Writing Skills vs. The Paragraph Books vs. WwtB

[Cynful]

My DS14 needs some help with writing. We are working through WWE and its going ok, but he needs more. I'm looking at these three options to help him along a bit. I have Writing Skills Book 1 and I was looking at The Paragraph Books 1-4 and Write with the Best. Would these all compliment each other or would they all be overkill? He needs to be overtaught skills in order to own them and he needs variety when doing so. I'd appreciate any and all opinions.

[MomatHWTK]

I'm thinking of supplementing with these at some point:

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/resources/handouts-demos

 

Right now I'm starting with:

http://shop.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay_69467_-1_10001_10002

 

and these:

http://macmillanmh.com/languagearts/2001/teacher/teachres/workbooks.html

 

You might also take a look at this:

http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/ms_curriculum

[Cynful]

Thank you Momathwtk. Anyone else? I could use some opinions on these three books.

[Crimson Wife]

I really like The Paragraph Book series but haven't seen the others so I have no basis for comparison.

[ChrissySC]

Write with the Best is heavily based on writing with description. It is slow and methodical. I like the approach and the way that the writing evolves over the course of one to two weeks. No, not overkill.

 

What I question is that if you want writing skills, you might consider a more traditional approach to the structure and forms of writing through Writer's Express or Write Source (at Hewitt with skills books, editing books, and syllabus).

 

To my understanding, WWS is repeating or immitating. It appears from your post that he does not like that nor does it seem to enforce the skills. You may need to be more traditional.

 

Does this help? I have volume onme of WwtB. PM if you have specific questions.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I have no idea if this may help.... or not. I have vol. 1 WWtB, and on a recent post, I saw someone using Write 4 Today:

 

http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=7&category=1619

 

I have not been able to see extensive samples, but based on what I have seen, I like it because it is not expensive AND it doesn't give silly paragraph examples and ask the student to pick out topic sentence, details, conclusion, etc... Instead, it gives graphic organizers and has the student fill in topics concerning what he wants to write about. I think you could take the forms and apply it to whatever...writing across the curriculum maybe. It seems so much more practical.

 

It looks like it only goes through 5th grade, but if it is for remediation, that might be ok.

 

I'm also not sure if this would reach similar goals as The Paragraph Book series... but it would be a bit cheaper if it did.

 

I have WWtB and am considering combining it with Write 4 Today and maybe Killgallon all for a 4th grader.... yet this may be overkill. I haven't made up my mind yet..

[Testimony]

I have no idea if this may help.... or not. I have vol. 1 WWtB, and on a recent post, I saw someone using Write 4 Today:

 

http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=7&category=1619

 

I have not been able to see extensive samples, but based on what I have seen, I like it because it is not expensive AND it doesn't give silly paragraph examples and ask the student to pick out topic sentence, details, conclusion, etc... Instead, it gives graphic organizers and has the student fill in topics concerning what he wants to write about. I think you could take the forms and apply it to whatever...writing across the curriculum maybe. It seems so much more practical.

 

It looks like it only goes through 5th grade, but if it is for remediation, that might be ok.

 

I'm also not sure if this would reach similar goals as The Paragraph Book series... but it would be a bit cheaper if it did.

 

I have WWtB and am considering combining it with Write 4 Today and maybe Killgallon all for a 4th grader.... yet this may be overkill. I haven't made up my mind yet..

 

It says on the website that the product, Write 4 Today, is a discontinued item. It says that the product is unavailable. I am confused. I wanted to see what is all about, but it does say it is being discontinued. Did I miss read something in your post?:confused:

 

Blessings in your homeschooling journey!

 

Sincerely,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[Sweet Home Alabama]

It says on the website that the product, Write 4 Today, is a discontinued item. It says that the product is unavailable. I am confused. I wanted to see what is all about, but it does say it is being discontinued. Did I miss read something in your post?:confused:

 

Blessings in your homeschooling journey!

 

Sincerely,

Karen

www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

 

Oh no! I didn't realize that! Now that you mention it, however, I recall seeing "unavailable" at Rainbow and had forgotten about that. I was really only interested in the 4th grade book, and the samples for that were available.

 

I found it at Amazon, but you can't see inside.

[Cynful]

Thank you everyone. It sounds like the Paragraph Books might be what he needs. He can write pretty good sentences but he has no organization or skills with paragraphs. I like the idea of Write with the Best, but I think that might be better saved until after the Paragraph Books? Does that sound right?

 

Does anyone know how the Paragraph Books would stack up to the Writing Skills books? I hate to buy new books if Writing Skills does the same thing.

 

My goal for him is to get through as much of Classical Writing or Writing with Skill as we can but he needs some basics first.

 

Thanks,

[Another Lynn]

I'm not sure which paragraph book you're considering, but if it requires a teacher's guide and has a lot written to the teacher (for you to then interpret), then it's not one that would appeal to me personally. One of the things I really liked about WS1 was how open and go it was. We could read over (discuss if needed) a lesson and then he could complete the work. It was very user friendly. (I do have the teacher's guide for the Writing Skills series and only used it if I needed additional topic suggestions). If I already had WS1 on my shelf, I would probably start with it. (It does have a fair amount of grammar in it, which you could skip if you didn't want to do.)

 

Just my .02.

[Ann@thebeach]

I really like the Writing Skills books because they teach how to write step by step which is what my son needed. I also like that it teaches how to do basic outlines for his paragraphs-something else he really needed.

 

You could easily double up lessons and get through this book faster and then go to another that might work on his weaker areas.

 

I went through a lot of writing programs before I found this and suggest it often now. It's one of those hidden gems for people needing a good basic "how to" writing program. It''s only about $12 and does not need a lot of teacher prep or have tedious silly "filler" activities.

[Crimson Wife]

I really like the Writing Skills books because they teach how to write step by step which is what my son needed. I also like that it teaches how to do basic outlines for his paragraphs-something else he really needed.

 

The Paragraph Book series is also very step-by-step and since they are published by the same company as the Writing Skills books, I'd be concerned about possible overlap. I have not personally seen the WS books so I don't know how much of the same material is found in both. Definitely look through the samples to see what looks familiar from WS.

 

I got the TM for the 1st book in the TPB series but it was geared towards classroom use and I didn't think it was worth the money. I didn't get the TM's for books 2-4 and didn't feel like I was missing anything.

[Cynful]

Thanks for all the great information. This is exactly what I needed. I'll definitely compare the TOC for both Writing Skills and The Paragraph Books and then we might move on to Writing with the Best after that.

 

Writing with the Best sounds similar to the Kilgallon books - or am I off base here? I had considered moving to those at some point too. It's hard when you have these high goals (going all the way through Classical Writing) but have to pull them back in order to accommodate special needs.

[kandty]

nm-I figured it out.

Edited April 16, 2012 by kandty

[Ann@thebeach]

Here's Writing Skills:

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?series=2561M

 

If you click on the book it will show you a sample I think.

 

You can get these at Rainbow Resource or amazon.

[ChrissySC]

Thanks for all the great information. This is exactly what I needed. I'll definitely compare the TOC for both Writing Skills and The Paragraph Books and then we might move on to Writing with the Best after that.

 

Writing with the Best sounds similar to the Kilgallon books - or am I off base here? I had considered moving to those at some point too. It's hard when you have these high goals (going all the way through Classical Writing) but have to pull them back in order to accommodate special needs.

 

 

No, Write with the Best uses imitation or modeling to write with a very guided approach. Killgallon deals with sentences only. Grammar study is needed for Killgallon books. A general knowledge of clauses and parts of speech is a must. This works with sentence structure.

 

Write with the Best needs grammar too, but more for identifying the adjectives and adverbs, as an example. The first unit asks that you use colored pencils to find these POS. It is a passage from 20,000 Leagues, if memory serves me well. You begin creating your own writing by completing activities that help you to choose descriptive words over general words. You learn to write the rough draft, edit your work, rewrite, and lastly have a final piece for the portfolio. So, not Killgallon at all. You could say that WwtB will aid in idea generation and sentence generation. It does not work with sentence structure or grammar. The passage serves as a model and to illustrate concepts.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

Here's Writing Skills:

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?series=2561M

 

If you click on the book it will show you a sample I think.

 

You can get these at Rainbow Resource or amazon.

 

Do you need the teacher manuals? Do the teacher manuals have examples of what answers might look like?

[Ann@thebeach]

I have the teacher's manual but do not use it. It's got a lot of classroom activities in it and extra activities for spelling, etc which we did not need for this program.

 

The workbook gives good examples of all the lessons so you know what to look for in the final result. You don't need the teacher's manual for that.

I think that's one reason my son responds well to this book, since he can see exactly what is expected. It even says how many paragraphs to write for a persuasive paper, for example. It will say to use an outline to design your paper and it should have an opening, 3 paragraphs, and a closing statement-as a sample. Then it will give blank lines for an outline in the proper format.

[momto2Cs]

Thank you to everyone in this post! I've been looking for a good, straightforward, simple AND inexpensive writing program for ds, to give him a good, broad-based understanding of putting together papers, and I think Writing Skills hits the mark nicely!