3rd grade writing curriculum ? - dc going to public school next year...

[Guest Shoeluvngirl]

Hi there,

 

Newbie question...I've homeschooled my 3rd grade son all along, but he will be going to a public school for the first time in the 4th grade. I wanted to continue to homeschool him, while my ex-h wanted him in school two years ago. The court's compromise was that each of my children will be enrolled in the local public school when they reach 4th grade. I have been extremely happy with our use of WWE, but looking at the standards for our school district, 3rd grade is when students are writing narrative, expository and technical papers. WWE has not approached these subjects yet. Does anyone have any curriculum suggestions for me to help my son with these styles of writing for the rest of the school year? My son is at grade level and ahead in all subjects, but I'd hate for him to be "behind" if there is anything that I can do about it. :) I'm looking into the rest of the writing curriculum by SWB, but it looks to be aimed at grades 5+. Thank you so much in advance!

[Alte Veste Academy]

Voyages in English follows a typical public school writing progression. It will get the job done. In your shoes, however, I would approach the staff at the actual school he will be attending and ask what they use in K-3, even ask to see their scope & sequence. Then I would teach to the gaps. I would speak to a 4th grade teacher and ask for explicit advice to help ensure a smooth transition.

[Homemama2]

I'm using the Paragraph Book series (4 books in all) with my 5th and 3rd grader right now. My 3rd grader is doing very well with it. It seems to cover everything they want in ps. You can check it out at Rainbow Resources.

[OSUBuckeye]

I remember the Scholastic eBooks sales had a 3rd Grade Week-by-Week Writing Curriculum that was pretty solid. It provides daily journal entries (each month focuses on a different type of writing - narrative, expository, etc.), topics for weekly/monthly longer assignments, and teacher instructions for everything in the curriculum. I don't know the current price, but I bought it for $2 during a Scholastic Dollar Deals sale.

 

It's very Public School-y in flavor (meaning the assignments are designed to be easily given to 30 students, and the instructions help a teacher handle both low and high-achieving students achieve their bests on the same assignment, and the journal entries are a bit on the bland "Tell me about a Thanksgiving turkey who escaped from the zoo..." holiday-themed kick, etc.). I figured that since your focus about making sure you meet the 3rd grade Public School expectations in addition to all the great writing stuff that you already do, and this book would be a good guide for expository/narrative/persuasive essay assignments and current public school expectations on length and fluency.

 

It's no Michael Clay Thompson or Brave Writer, but it's the kind of book that gets the job done and assists a teacher on how to do it. It's also week-by-week, keeping a person well-organized. :-)

[Mrs Twain]

I agree that IEW (SWI-A) would be a great choice to work through this year. This program gives excellent instruction for kids in learning stylistic techniques, outlining, and other things such as taking notes from a reference.

 

I would also suggest adding in Winning With Writing level 3 (or a similar workbook-type of writing program). WWW3 goes through all (or at least most of) the public school types of writing assignments (the friendly letter, compare and contrast, etc.). WWW3 is especially good at teaching the basics of writing a solid paragraph, which is one of my main goals for 3rd grade. IEW and WWW3 are very doable together if you work on writing every weekday for about 30-45 minutes.

 

If you completed IEW and WWW this year, your child may be writing better than the majority of public schooled kids. The public school kids often write large volumes of material, but they get little teaching and feedback on basic structure and style.

 

Another resource I highly recommend is to download the Core Knowledge K-8 Sequence for free from here:

http://www.coreknowl...ad-the-sequence

You can read through the writing goals for each grade, which is similar to what many public schools follow.

[TheApprentice]

You can also look into Growing With Grammar's writing program. It focuses on this type of writing.

[freesia]

Another option would be to buy a Write Source book used off Amazon (the ones with the copyright around 2005.) You could get one for under $10. They go through each type of writing step by step and include samples. While we mainly use IEW, I pull these out every so often to give my kids a taste of other types of writing.

[Beth in SW WA]

3rd grade is when students are writing narrative, expository and technical papers. WWE has not approached these subjects yet.

 

Dds are taking writing at our local ALE this year. Students there are expected to write a strong multi-para personal narrative in grades 3 & 4 -- among other writing topics.

 

We used IEW, WWW along w/ WWE over the years so both dds are doing fine. WWW teaches the personal narrative in books 3 & 4. Dd9's class is studying and writing poetry this semester. She does a bit of writing for an online class as well. It's wise to come at writing from different angles.

 

HTH! :)

[Guest CLK]

Although not a curriculum, you might look at the Writer's Toolbox series of books written by Nancy Loewen. They are aimed at elementary age students and explain in a simple, straightfoward way how to write/structure fairy tales, letters, poetry, research papers, picture books, scary stories, silly stories, journals, etc. She also has a compilation book titled "Writer's Toolbox." My library had many of the individual books in its collection. The books can also be purchased through Amazon.

[...................]

Evan Moore daily 6 trait is just like PS but also very easy for homeschool mom to teach.

[Juliegmom]

I am using Daily 6 Trait Writing. One of the reasons I chose it is because my daughter was previously in a ps where they taught 6 trait writing. My dd enjoys it and I like it ok. It's giving my dd a good foundation, but I will probably be adding something like Igniting Your Writing for next year. You can take a good look at it on Timberdoodle's site. I've also heard good things about Winning With Writing. I believe they are both closely aligned to the state standards.

[Guest Shoeluvngirl]

Thank you so much for the many suggestions! I am enjoying looking all of them up online - and I can't wait to dive in with my son! :)