Loving MCT Island writing component!

[Rivka]

One of the most frequent comments I've seen people make here about MCT is that they skip the writing assignments because they don't like them. I was not sure how they would go for us - I thought they might ask too much of my 2nd grader, who was writing-averse until fairly recently.

 

We're only a few chapters in to Sentence Island, but so far I am so impressed with the writing assignments we've done! When I assign them, they look like they're just going to involve practicing a straightforward grammar concept in writing. Then she actually does the assignment, and it provokes all kinds of interesting, deeper-level discussion, and she comes out of the assignment understanding some larger point about language and writing.

 

For example: this week she worked on writing two descriptions of something, one using only action verbs and the other using only linking verbs. I thought it was just reinforcing practice to make sure she had a firm grasp on both kinds of sentences. Instead, we wound up having great conversations about which kinds of concepts each type of sentence is good for expressing. In the end, comparing her two descriptions, she spontaneously realized that using more action words produces better writing.

 

I didn't see the exercise going there, but the assignments seem really well-thought-out for promoting this kind of discovery.

 

But am I the only one who likes the MCT writing assignments? Do most people skip them, or just most people who talk about them on the WTM forums? :D If you like them, which Island-level activities are your favorites?

[Dmmetler]

It was a great fit for DD last year, too. She hasn't started Paragraph Town yet, but she's also enjoying the writing assignments so far in Grammar Town.

 

I think the people who skip them might be either doing the books too early, or too late. They were perfect for DD because they had just enough silliness to keep her interest, but were in depth enough to be challenging, but a year earlier she would have struggled with them, and I suspect that a year or two later she would have been bored by them.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Sentence Island was da bomb!!! We loved it, and still talk about it.

 

I have to confess, we did most of the "writing assignments" orally, though. Not because I thought writing them down wasn't valuable, but because we were doing other writing and I didn't want an overload. I was using SI mostly to cement and provide relevance for the grammar concepts.

 

That said, we had fun with some of the assignments. We played a long game with the subject/predicate activity - we each wrote a bunch of subjects on notecards, then a bunch of predicates, then we shuffled them and giggled at the silly sentences we created. Miss P still talks about that game!

 

We also had a great time with the action verb/linking verb activity (done orally) and had several similar epiphanies, like that maybe you would use linking verbs more when writing descriptions - this is becoming relevant again now that we're studying types of paragraphs in Paragraph Town and descriptions in WWS.

 

The misplaced modifier activity was also really fun, and this just came up this week when she was revising an essay she wrote in WWS.

 

I think Sentence Island is great, and the writing assignments can really deepen the kid's insights about writing and about grammar. I just don't think that it all by itself would be sufficient writing instruction, that's all.

[Shelsi]

So far I'm liking them for my ds. They are much too complicated for him to actually write though. He's 8, in 3rd grade, but writing is a huge struggle for him (he has dysgraphia) and therefore even though he's on level with grammar, above level in reading & spelling, he's way behind in writing.

 

So we work on them together and he tells me what to write. Honestly at this point I'd say it's still above him to be able to get thoughts in his brain, organize them, and then to say them to me or write them on paper.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I thought the writing assignments were great. I absolutely agree that they are thought provoking. They are positively artful in that regard. However, I personally thought they were insufficient (in both number and scope) to stand alone as a writing program for a third grader. DD particularly enjoyed the Island level writing assignments as a first grader with a very early birthday. DS9 also liked them, but not to the same extent, and just flat out needed more as a third grader.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Alte Veste Academy