kiwik Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 I just had a parent/teacher interview and confirmed that my son's weakest area is writing. His actual handwriting is ok but when they sit down to write a story the other kids at his level for other subjects write a couple of pages and he does about half a page. Now personally i think a five year old doesn't need to be doing personal writing but that is no help. I was looking at WWE but that won't help with the problem either. Any ideas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uff Da! Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 My older does not like classroom writing. He handed in blank papers to the teacher for writing assignments for K and 1st grade. He is a perfectionist and prefers to choose his topics for writing. When his teachers had him do free style writing just to have something to grade for report card purpose, he was at standard. Did his teacher suggest anything? My older's current teacher is working with me to improve his writing, and his writer's block due to perfectionism. So far no one has been held back for failing writing in school. Journaling on their iPads have improve their writing by a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nart Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 All About Spelling has been really helpful for my kinder son who is in public school. I started level 1 in the summer and he is 3/4 of the way through AAS 2. In level two there are 6 dictation sentences per step (lesson). My son struggled at the beginning of AAS 2 (sentence dictation first appears in the last step of AAS1). He can spell all the words correctly with the tiles but it took him a while to remember to capitalize, use proper spacing, use punctuation, form letters correctly, and remember the spelling rules when writing a sentence. I make him write every dictation sentence and I have him write one additional sentence that he makes up. The only reason I do that is because inventive spelling is encouraged at school and to combat it, I can tell him how to spell his favorite words that he hasn't yet learned in AAS (ex. friends, goal, Skywalker ). In the summer it took him a while to physically write a phrase. Now he can whip through 3 review words, 7 sentences (6 from AAS and one he makes up) in less than 10 minutes. Last week he forgot his jacket in the classroom so afterschool we went to get it. I saw what the kids had written about Leprechauns (they were on the bulletin board). Around three or four kids, including my son, were able to write over a page about trapping them. Really though, quantity doesn't equal quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 He has to write about something that happened. He just finds it hard to think of something to write about. He has a list of things to work on. One is capitalisation, another is starting each sentence differently or something. The teacher did give some ideas but I was wondering about narration. I thought if he could learn to write some complete sentences about something he didn't have to think up he might get the hang of the punctuation more easily. I don't think he is actually behind just not ahead as he is in the other areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 If he always has to write about something that happened, then have him make an oral composition the night before and review it the morning of. Personally, I don't know ANY 5 year olds that can write 2 pages of original material in one sitting. Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 I found that my dd at that age would try to limit what she wrote based on what she could easily spell. So while coming up with a story, she would be changing her word choices and limiting her sentence structure so she'd be able to easily write it. What helped for her was to get a little mini digital recorder and have her dictate her story into the recorder then listen to it and write from there (or since she wasn't in school I would write it for her or let her type on the computer) getting help on any words or sentence structure as she went. In that way she wasn't worried about how to spell things so could use her creativity fully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 If he always has to write about something that happened, then have him make an oral composition the night before and review it the morning of. Personally, I don't know ANY 5 year olds that can write 2 pages of original material in one sitting. Ruth in NZ Maybe some of those kids born with pencil in hand, but wow... Yeah, I know my oldest couldn't have done that in K (he could only write his name when he started K), and my middle son who isn't pencil phobic will write stories, but they're not 2 pages worth (and he can't really write real sentences yet, as he's still learning to read). The assignment just sounds wildly inappropriate for a 5 year old, IMO. I found that my dd at that age would try to limit what she wrote based on what she could easily spell. So while coming up with a story, she would be changing her word choices and limiting her sentence structure so she'd be able to easily write it. What helped for her was to get a little mini digital recorder and have her dictate her story into the recorder then listen to it and write from there (or since she wasn't in school I would write it for her or let her type on the computer) getting help on any words or sentence structure as she went. In that way she wasn't worried about how to spell things so could use her creativity fully. This was my oldest in 1st-2nd grade... spelling was what freaked him out about original writing. Now he's getting better in 3rd grade. No way could he have written even one original sentence at age 5 though. Seriously, that's crazy. And I can't think of any curriculum that would get a 5 year old writing more than 1/2 a page at a time. That's just not what a 5 year old typically does, developmentally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 I'm really surprised at that much writing for a five year old too. Literacy hasn't been my six year old's accelerated area (until she suddenly decided to jump from Frog & Toad to the first three Harry Potter books), she had similar issues to what PPs have described - she would only write what she knew she could spell correctly and would change her composition based on that. No invented spelling for her, she has only just become brave enough to take a stab at words she's not sure of now. I'm wondering if your school encourages children to use invented spelling & your son struggles with similar perfectionist issues? I think you are probably correct that he would find it easier to practice capitalisation etc if he wasn't also composing original material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 Yep invented spelling. Remember they have huge lines, they double space and they write quite big so 2 pages isn't as much as it sounds. He is a young year 2 (about 1st grade) so he has had 3/4 of a year at y1 b4 moving up. Ruth. I have tried going over what to write informally so I think I will step it up and actually do a verbal pre write and maybe even get him to dictate it to me on Sunday. I think they do a draft on Monday then work on it the rest of the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Ah, they do it all week? I see. You know, I do understand the idea behind encouraging invented spelling but there are so many kids that it is actually counter-productive for. I always assumed the NZ school system was similar to here, but I recently learnt about the start whenever they turn five thing. Can I ask...what is the year called when they do go in at five? Year one? Or something before (here is Kindergarten in some states, Prep in others)? Forgive my curiosity, moving to NZ is a vague possibility that comes up every now and then for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Invented spelling would never work for my dd. She was too much of a perfectionist to try to spell something she wasn't sure of...and she was actually a natural speller (went through all levels of Spelling Power in a couple years starting it at 5.5yo). If she didn't think she could spell it, it wasn't going on the paper no matter how much I encouraged her to attempt a word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 I always assumed the NZ school system was similar to here, but I recently learnt about the start whenever they turn five thing. Can I ask...what is the year called when they do go in at five? Year one? Or something before (here is Kindergarten in some states, Prep in others)? It's called "new entrants." Each student starts school ON his birthday, which means that he enters a class that is already in progress. They make him feel special, and the teacher can focus just on one new student at a time, with lots of personalized attention. Plus the class dynamic is already established, so the classroom atmosphere is easier to create and maintain. Typically the class starts in February with only 5 kids but grows over the year to about 12, and then the size is maintained by moving a kid out to 'year 1' when a new student starts. The kid that is moved out is not necessarily the oldest, just the most ready. Each student stays in the new entrant class as long as is required for that student. So some kids move to 'year 1' (Kindergarden) after 2 months, others after 6 months. 'Year 1' then lasts somewhere between 1/2 and 1.25 years (depending on when you start and your own personal needs). People have told me that my older boy with an August birthday, would have had 3 months in new entrants, move to year 1 in November, continuing it the following full year, (so more than 1 year in 'year 1', but then would likely have only 1 year in a 2/3 composite class and move straight to year 4 because he is advanced). My younger boy has a November birthday, so probably only 2 months in new entrants, and 'year 1' starting in February with a whole year in 'year 1'. Kids with behaviour problems can spend much more time in both new entrants and 'year 1'. And a kid starting in February in new entrants, would move to 'year 1' by April and have only 7 months there. The general cut off is June 1. By 'year 2', all kids are starting in February. If there is a huge influx of kids mid year for whatever reason, the school hires an extra teacher for 6 months or whatever to handle the overload. Also, most schools have composite classes for years 2/3 (1st and 2nd grade in the same classroom with the same teacher). This makes it easier to hold kids back or skip them forward without it being really obvious. The goal is to get the kid into the right level of material by the age of 7 or so. Confusing, but it works. Just more individualized than the US, and the decision to red shirt (or not) does not have to be made before kids start school. The school will sort it out over the course of 2 years depending on how the kid's ability and behaviour and maturity develop, which cannot always be foretold at age 5. Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 Our school does it a bit differently. The first 18 kids go into the first new entrants class. Once it has 18 it is shut off and a second class is started. When that is full they start a third. The cut off for year 1 at my son's school is 31 March so my son so is one of the youngest in his year with a March 30 birthday. Everyone born after 1 April does year 0 and then does year 1 the following year. Like Ruth said the official government cut off is much later so in theory my next son who turns 5 early may could go straight into year 1 but in practice it will be a fight. Since at nearly 4 he is reading as well as an average 5 year old I will be having the fight. It is lucky that my son is one of the youngest in his year as he is in the top groups (except writing) and would be miserable in year 1. My son's school is quite inflexible and does not usually do y2/3 composites as y2 is junior syndicate and y3 is middle syndicate and though there is a 2/3 class this year the teacher has been instructed to keep all the year 2s together which kind of defeats the purpose. A lot depends on the size of the school and the principal's attitude. Eta. I think they do the draft on Monday, edit over the week, and do a good copy on thursday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Oh my, I'm confused. Good luck with the writing though :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 The way Ruth described it is the traditional way. The way my school does it only works for schools with multiple classes at each level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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