How much writing should I request from a reluctant first grader?

[amyrobynne]

How much writing should a writing-averse first grader be required to do on a daily/weekly basis?

 

My first grader can write fairly legibly when he tries and he physically knows how to make all the letters. But the more writing he is asked to do, the harder he pushes against the idea. We spent hours over his pre-k and kindy year with him stonewalling against his math and handwriting homework sent home from the private school where the kids have been until this fall. Knowing that, I tried to choose less writing intensive curriculum options. We're doing Saxon math (for now -- I think I'll be switching to Singapore after this book) and I usually have him do one of the 3 daily sheets orally. I started having him do the AAS dictated words on the white board and he is fine with that. Our other subjects include very little writing. I just got HWOT and will expect him to do a page in there most days. But today it was meltdown central because it was the first day he had to do any writing for our IEW TWSS approach (unit 2). I had him dictate his story from the key word outline (that I'd also had him dictate). We picked a short 4 sentence story to retell. But his version of it had a lot of embellishments and got fairly long. I told him that he needed to rewrite the story (that I'd written the rough draft of), at least the 1st four sentences. And he went ballistic and refused to do anything for at least an hour. Eventually I downloaded the trial StartWrite and printed out the paragraph in dotted words and had him trace them and he was happy to do that quickly.

 

So, what's too much? He had to write a lot at his school and I don't want to do all his writing for him because I think some writing is important. I had thought he could write out one IEW paragraph about twice a week (with the dictated copy in front of him). But now I don't know what might be reasonable.

[blondeviolin]

My first grader is not writing phobic. She does a sentence of copywork for WWE, maybe a short sentence or two for FLL, 5-10 words and a sentence or two for spelling, and a line or two of handwriting practice. Sometimes I scribe her math because she's more likely to focus if she's doing it orally. Most of the time, though, she prefers to write it on the whiteboard. I get more written work from her if she can do it on the whiteboard.

 

She would flip out if I asked her to write four sentences in one sitting.

[laundrycrisis]

I have a dysgraphic 9 yo so I'm really sensitive about getting the 6 yo writing. But I am careful not to overwhelm him. He doesn't have to love it, but I don't want him to dread it either. I want to slowly build his tolerance and his confidence, not make him hate it, so I'm careful not to give him too much writing to do at once. Right now, a couple of pages in the Spelling Workout A book, without the "bonus" sections at the end, and two pages (one lesson) in a Horizons Math workbook are the limit for him.

[amyrobynne]

For a 1st grader your aim is 1 or 2 sentences. That is it. Aim for that by the end of the year. A good gauge is the length of the WWE 1 sentences.

 

Public School's expectations are WAAY overblown and not developmentally appropriate at all. Wait on IEW until at least 3rd grade or use PAL Writing.

 

Thanks folks. Clearly I have no idea what reasonable expectations are in this regard. He's great at the thinking parts of stuff like IEW and he draws complicated little things so it didn't seem crazy to expect the writing even though looking back, that's always been his hangup in the past.

 

What is WWE? I've heard it brought up but never figured that one out. Apparently I need to figure out a new plan for this guy.

[Tanikit]

I would say if you wanted to use IEW you would have to adapt it fairly extensively - perhaps copy down what he wants to say yourself and then give him a paragraph for copywork but only one sentence at a time so that he never has to write more than one sentence in one sitting. Otherwise stop IEW and go with something else.

 

WWE is Writing with Ease - it uses passages from a book to teach narration and in WWE1 they also do copywork where they must copy a sentence from the book - at the beginning you can choose between short sentences of only 4 words or a longer sentence depending on how good your child's handwriting is and how much he can cope with. There is no dictation in WWE1. The idea is to train your child to hold sentences in their heads so that they can write them down more easily without forgetting the idea in the process of forming all those letters. It does sound like it would be a good programme for your son.

[mom@shiloh]

My general rule has been that a six year old should spend about six minutes on focused copywork, by which I mean six minutes of copying as neatly as possible. If (when) I have a reluctant child, I may begin with half that time and work our way up. The key is to have the child do their very best for a short amount of time, even if it's only one word, and then stop before they reach frustration level. You will likely notice huge leaps in his ability in a year or two -- pretty typical for a boy, imo.

[abba12]

1st grader, I wouldn't expect more than a few sentences a day, total. One math sheet would easily count as a sentence in my book. Remember, writing might be second nature to you now, but it's awful hard work for a 1st grader, just like reading. By the end of first grade I'd be hoping to work up to a couple of sentences in one sitting, maybe 4-6 in a day plus a couple of math sheets.

 

By 3rd grade, I think a full paragraph was considered reasonable in one sitting, two or three times a day. I remember I was once assigned an essay of 100 words in third grade. The level you're currently expecting sounds, to me, more like a finishing second grader, beginning third grader level

 

I believe it was 5th grade before I did any written work containing more than one, maybe occasionally two, paragraphs. That year was a big jump, I believe I did a 600 word essay, and we had to do weekly written presentations. It may be in part because I switched schools that year.

 

So yeah, maybe a little high. Some schools do expect those sorts of levels, but they tend to value speed over neatness. I assume you're looking for the words to be legible. Those little muscles get worn out from writing. I have an issue that means my muscles start to hurt after a couple of sentences of handwriting. I simply don't hand-write anymore, but for a child who's muscles are still developing they can get tired and sore. On top of that, it takes a lot of concentration to shape out letters, they aren't second nature yet. As he begins to think about the actual actions of writing less, he will probably be happier to write more. Keep pushing him, don't let him get away with doing no writing, not at all, but he certainly won't be trailing behind.

[alisoncooks]

My first grader does writing in very small chunks:

 

1. copywork -- first thing in the morning, usually just a couple of words or a 3-4 word sentence (this week's sentence is "I am a girl." :D) She writes it 1x.

 

2. Math -- she does Singapore and fills in the workbook, no problem

 

3. Phonics/Reading -- we do R&S and it does have a bit of writing, but mainly just write a few letters or circling things, etc. (I have to make it more "acceptable" by letting her use markers/crayons/etc.)

 

4. Science -- 2x/week we work through a science reader that has a couple of fill-in-the-blanks.

 

That's it. Occasionally, when she requests, she writes a 2-3 sentence letter to a church friend (she dictates, I write, she copies).

[boscopup]

My writing phobic oldest son did the following in first grade (2nd half):

 

-short copywork for WWE1 (1 sentence)

-math (half the problems in a section of MM))

-2-3 dictation sentences from AAS at the white board

 

Writing at the white board increased his stamina by making the physical part easier and letting him work on the thinking of how to form letters and spell words part. Writing on paper will build stamina for physical writing. So do both, and very gradually increase the paper writing over the next couple years.

 

I am using IEW with my 3rd grader now. Most people start using it in 3rd or 4th grade, and some even suggest waiting longer. I would not recommend having a 1st grader copy a 4 sentence paragraph. You will soon find that he stops embellishing his oral sentences because he knows he'll have to write them. BTDT. :tongue_smilie:

 

My 3rd grader can now write an entire 6-7 sentence paragraph from KWO in one sitting. I'm glad I didn't push him too hard in first grade. We stuck with copywork and dictation in small amounts for first and second grade, gradually increasing amount per day. By the end of second grade, he could do a 6 sentence exercise from R&S English 3, copying the sentences and making appropriate changes.

 

I would keep your IEW TWSS for the future, but maybe check out WWE for the next couple years. Also listen to the audio lecture SWB has on teaching writing in the elementary years. It's $2.99, I think.

[Katy]

I have never seen the point in all the writing that's required in public schools. READING more makes you a better writer, not writing more. Why require writing when they don't know anything yet?

 

I require handwriting (later copywork), and other hand-eye coordination things like drawing, coloring, dot-to-dot pages, etc, but I don't require more than that until about the age of ten, when they can choose between calligraphy (and more copywork) or writing a one page essay everyday.

 

We try to incorporate writing in "fun" ways like sending letters to family members, but that's a family activity, not a school one. And if they'd rather draw a picture for someone rather than write a letter, that's fine.

 

As an aside, I do sometimes require extra copywork for discipline/attitude issues. Just minor corrections, really. Sometimes it's something like "I will not draw on the walls" or "I will not be rude," but more often it's copying a bible verse that's applicable to the situation.