how much does your 3rd grader write?

[mytwomonkeys]

i'm not talking about dictation, copywork, or penmanship. how much does your "average" child write independently for assignments... or papers... or just fun? i am just trying to get a loose comparison to what my 8 year old son does daily compared to other "average" 3rd graders that are homeschooled. i say average only because i know some of your kids LOVE to write and that's great...but i think that is more of an exception at this age than the norm.

 

thanks in advance.

[boscopup]

My son writes his math lesson, spelling workbook page, and half a handwriting workbook page (cursive). Grammar depends on what we're doing, but it is mostly oral. Sometimes I'll have him diagram a couple sentences on the white board or write a couple sentences on the board. For composition, he writes a keyword outline on Monday, then a paragraph on Tuesday (or if it's long, just half), and then he copies the paragraph over the next couple days.

 

DS had a huge leap in ability at the end of last year, just as he was turning 8. He was very pencil phobic before that. Now he is capable of writing, though he still doesn't like it. I'd consider him in average boy in the physical writing ability department. :)

[Julie Smith]

He doesn't write assignments.

 

He does write cards and stuff for board games he makes. Perhaps on average 20 words a day, and lots of numbers.

 

He is dictating me a book right now.

 

He struggled with writing sentences a few months ago. But after working on spelling he happy writes dictation sentences. I am thinking of upping his writing work soon. But I'm not sure yet in what way. (Learning Cursive, Dictation, History narration, ....?)

[mytwomonkeys]

thank you both! my son is writing a simple paragraph right now. just a basic topic sentence, 3 supporting sentences, and a closing sentence. we only do one paragraph a day (with a new topic each day). i know compared to public schooled kids, his writing would be behind in quantity. i am just trying to focus on a good quality paragraph.

 

my thought had been, if he can write a great paragraph at the end of the year, i would feel we are on target. then the other day i was talking to a friend that is a second grade teacher & it kind of freaked me out. they are really plugging away in her classroom! i guess i just needed some reassurance that i'm not totally behind other homeschoolers & that my game-plan isn't short-changing my little man.

 

ETA - and FWIW my son types his paragraph. for handwriting, we use HWT cursive and we are working on his stamina...but typing is much easier for him, so we go that route for his paragraph. do you think that's okay??

Edited November 9, 2012 by mytwomonkeys

[Tracy]

My dd is 7.5yo, and she does very little in the way of worksheets, because she has always been a very reluctant writer. Most of her writing is through WWE and her spelling program. But recently, she has been doing some writing for fun. I would say once or twice a week, she writes a poem, story or letter that is not assigned for school. We have not even worked on paragraphs yet, though she is tad younger than your ds.

[boscopup]

I think your goal is a good one. I would recommend the audio lecture from Peace Hill Press about teaching writing in the elementary years. It's $2.99, and it makes you feel confident about the path you're taking, focusing on quality over quantity.

 

I am not impressed with pubic school writing, and I've heard a lot of college professors complain about it as well.

 

If you can't find that lecture, I'll link it for you later when I'm not on my phone.

[SFM]

I think your goal is a good one. I would recommend the audio lecture from Peace Hill Press about teaching writing in the elementary years. It's $2.99, and it makes you feel confident about the path you're taking, focusing on quality over quantity.

 

I am not impressed with pubic school writing, and I've heard a lot of college professors complain about it as well.

 

If you can't find that lecture, I'll link it for you later when I'm not on my phone.

 

 

Boscopup, I would love to hear that lecture, I would be interested in the link. Thanks in advance.

 

Also, my son who is 8 does WWE3 (4x weekly) and then Writing Strands (4x weekly) he writes a penpal on Fridays, does dictated spelling through Spelling Wisdom (one sentence everyday) and AAS2/3 (only once a week), and HWOT cursive for handwriting (page to half a page daily). We aren't big worksheet people so he rarely writes on a worksheet. He also does his Science notebooking (once/twice weekly). We incorporate writing into a lot of our subjects and activities to make it seem fun. He also was a reluctant writer and we finally seemed to be getting somewhere.

[5LittleMonkeys]

OP, ask that teacher for samples to read before you get all paranoid.

 

My little 4th grade neighbor showed dd a writing assignment from her ps class. :001_huh: I feel very bad for her. She's being told her writing is good. Most of her sentences weren't capitalized, there were run on sentences galore, every third word was spelled wrong, and much of it didn't even make sense.

 

Dd13's friend, who is in 8th grade ps, told her the other day that she was having trouble with a writing assignment. Dd suggested she create an outline to help her organize her thoughts. This girl didn't know what an outline was. Dd asked her how they taught her to organize her information and she said they didn't, they just tell them to write.

 

Ps may have me beat in some areas .... none of which I can think of right now ... but quality writing is not one of them.

[mytwomonkeys]

thanks everyone. i do feel so much better now. my daughter did not write well in 3rd grade, so i really don't know why i had a moment of total doubt. actually, i posted back then too and was freaking out ...so maybe it's just a 3rd grade thing for me, lol

 

i guess i just needed to "hear" we are on track. his paragraphs are just simple right now, but after our christmas break i would like to have it a little more focused and teach him to write across the curriculum (just simple paragraphs about what we are studying in history & science). before we get to that point though, i want him to feel comfortable with what a paragraph entails - so we just focus on topics that are easy to write about for him (and not too time consuming). next year, we will move into multiple paragraphs. thank you again for reassuring me.

 

as for the lecture, i would love a link! i think i bought it a few years ago actually...but that computer died.

[Julie Smith]

thank you both! my son is writing a simple paragraph right now. just a basic topic sentence, 3 supporting sentences, and a closing sentence. we only do one paragraph a day (with a new topic each day). i know compared to public schooled kids, his writing would be behind in quantity. i am just trying to focus on a good quality paragraph.

 

my thought had been, if he can write a great paragraph at the end of the year, i would feel we are on target. then the other day i was talking to a friend that is a second grade teacher & it kind of freaked me out. they are really plugging away in her classroom! i guess i just needed some reassurance that i'm not totally behind other homeschoolers & that my game-plan isn't short-changing my little man.

 

ETA - and FWIW my son types his paragraph. for handwriting, we use HWT cursive and we are working on his stamina...but typing is much easier for him, so we go that route for his paragraph. do you think that's okay??

 

This is what we are working up to.

 

First it was correctly writing individual letters (Hand Writing Without Tears) Then lots of copy work. Spelling, as in getting good at writing individual words. We are now working on writing nice sentences.

 

Paragraphs will wait till after Christmas.

[Farrar]

My boys write with large handwriting in a comp book and probably, between narrations and freewriting, do about two pages a week, plus the copywork/dictations they do and occasional notes or labeling of things or worksheet writing. Additionally, one of my ds enjoys writing just for fun and will sometimes write pages and pages.

 

I have the benefit of having two 8 yos. One spells decently, if not great. He writes short, pretty simple sentences usually. He feels pretty comfortable writing and can do more than just a page, though he tends toward the minimum. His handwriting is the same for writing and copywork, which is not beautiful handwriting, but is sufficient. The other is an atrocious speller and waffles between loving to write and just pouring (poorly spelled) words onto the page, but often really lovely, complex sentences. He's the one who writes for fun. Other times, he gets quite anxious about his writing. His copywork handwriting can be excellent. His handwriting for his own thoughts borders on unreadable sometimes.

 

Anyway, having twins helps me see that there's a range of possible skills in different aspects of writing.

[Arcadia]

OP, ask that teacher for samples to read before you get all paranoid.

 

Even in the same school and same grade, different teachers teach differently. There were some very good writers in my older boys class in Kindergarten that writes better than third graders. So I won't even ask for samples unless I am asking for the best, the worse and the average.

[Mrs Twain]

I have my kids write every day in various assignments, and I am probably on the higher end of homeschoolers regarding writing. That said, my goal for third grade is to teach my kids to write a very good, solid paragraph, which seems like the same thing you are doing. If a child can outline his ideas and organize them, with topic and concluding sentences in a paragraph that makes sense, then he is well on his way. Once he can write a quality paragraph, then writing longer papers with multiple paragraphs will follow.

 

I use IEW and WWW to help teach outlining, taking notes from a reference, structure, and style. These are very useful programs for those purposes.

 

BTW, reading aloud and listening to audio CD's of good quality literature is also an important component of teaching writing. The sound of the language going in through the child's ears helps him know how good writing sounds and contributes to his own writing ability.