What kind of writing is your second grader doing?

[Tiramisu]

I need a reality check so please don't tell me if they're writing essays.  :p

 

I want to hear about average kids or even average kids who really don't like to write.

[lexi]

Umm not much here. Her spelling is not good so we work on that. We do WWE 2 so she does copy work and dictation. I just got CAPs Fable book and we will very slowly incorporate that. But she doesn't do much writing on her own outside if dictation and copy work. I ask her to write 5 sentences for dictation (one at a time) and she has a fit. I'm hoping she will find the creative aspect of Fable fun.

But we have been more focused on math and spelling. I wanted those skills to be more solid before we added anything else.

I plan to add more writing next year but I didn't feel she was ready this year.

She does have good oral narrations though :) But we only write a few sentences and with lots of help from me.

[CamilleBethany]

Unfortunately, my 2nd grader is very behind on reading. I thought we were getting caught up, but realized he was just memorizing certain things. So I've scrapped almost everything, while I focus on reading with him. We did a quick review of all the letters and their sounds (he's got that down), and then started on, I believe lesson 26 of the OPGTR. Some lessons he could fly through, so we would do several in a day, other lessons take more time. 

 

He loves math, he's really good at math. But I didn't want to continue on with other subjects while he struggled to read. I'll be using the summer to catch up on other subjects (we still do them, just slower than we were going). I have no problem with doing summer catch up. I know he'll learn to read really well, we're just going to concentrate on that as our main focus for now. (He is really loving OPGTR, and actually ASKS to work on it. Where as before, there was so much resistance, and tears). 

 

So I've put the writing away for now. We'll pick it back up around April or May. Oh, we do Abeka language arts, so there is some "writing" just no fancy copy work right now. 

[My3girls]

We use FLL2, WWE2, ETC4, SpellWell, and ZB so we do the writing that comes with that.

 

Examples from this week:

 

FLL2: They wrote a letter and addressed an envelope.

WWE2: copy work and dictation centered on direct quotes plus a 2 sentence summary of a reading passage.

ETC4: Write a story about when they had fun at a special event. Emphasizing a beginning, middle, and end.

SpellWell: Didn't have any major writing this week just practice with the spelling words.

ZB: No significant writing other than simple copy work.

[CamilleBethany]

We use FLL2, WWE2, ETC4, SpellWell, and ZB so we do the writing that comes with that.

 

Examples from this week:

 

FLL2: They wrote a letter and addressed an envelope.

WWE2: copy work and dictation centered on direct quotes plus a 2 sentence summary of a reading passage.

ETC4: Write a story about when they had fun at a special event. Emphasizing a beginning, middle, and end.

SpellWell: Didn't have any major writing this week just practice with the spelling words.

ZB: No significant writing other than simple copy work.

 

This is exactly what I planned on doing had my son been up to speed with reading! 

[pitterpatter]

What is this...I'm drawing a blank. Thanks!

 

 

Umm not much here. Her spelling is not good so we work on that. We do WWE 2 so she does copy work and dictation. I just got CAPs Fable book and we will very slowly incorporate that. But she doesn't do much writing on her own outside if dictation and copy work. I ask her to write 5 sentences for dictation (one at a time) and she has a fit. I'm hoping she will find the creative aspect of Fable fun.
But we have been more focused on math and spelling. I wanted those skills to be more solid before we added anything else.
I plan to add more writing next year but I didn't feel she was ready this year.
She does have good oral narrations though :) But we only write a few sentences and with lots of help from me.

 

[alisoncooks]

Another late reader here. My 2nd grader writes when her reading/phonics program requires it -- 4 or 5 words or a sentence or two.

 

We use Just Write for writing, which is mostly brainstorming and writing short lists or a couple of sentences every few pages.

 

Handwriting is a few pages in a workbook per week.

 

So, overall, not much writing at all.

[8filltheheart]

My 2nd grader copies about 3-4 sentences and then we go over the mechanics and grammar in the sentences.  No independent essay writing required.  ;)

[My3girls]

This is exactly what I planned on doing had my son been up to speed with reading!

Great minds... ! Lol. My only real goals for this year were to improve their reading and spelling and to have them be able to write a strong sentence by the end of the year. Everything else was gravy. This curriculum seems to really be doing the job. They have improved leaps and bounds from where they were at the end of last school year in ps. I think you'll like it once he's ready for it.

[lexi]

This:

 

http://classicalacademicpress.com/writing-rhetoric-1/

[blondeviolin]

We are doing WWE 2, FLL 2, and AAS 3. All in all, she writes 5-6 dictated sentences each day, and narrates at least one passage a day as well.

[petepie2]

My 2nd grade DS does copywork, dictation, and narration in WWE. Sometimes in history or science, he'll do a notebook page. I'll ask him to tell me what he remembers, and he'll give me one or two sentences. I write them down, and he copies them.

[Another Lynn]

My 2nd grader is using Writing Skills Book A.  I need to have him do more oral narration. 

[Butter]

We're working on forming letters nicely.  He's a lefty and for some reason my kids just don't get good fine motor skills until later than typical.  My daughter had atrocious handwriting at 9, but now, at 13, it's beautiful.  I remember 9 because I remember thinking how awful it looked and thinking she was awfully old at that point for a girl with bad handwriting and wondering if I had done anything to make it so bad.  Then I remembered that when I was in 3rd grade (so 8-9) I got C's in handwriting consistently because I had *awful* handwriting, too.  So, anyway, he does handwriting practice every day and some copywork.  He writes simple 3-4 line poems.  He answers questions in writing in a few words or occasionally 1-2 sentences.  We haven't gotten to paragraphs yet (unless you count dictation) and we are far from essays ;-P

[Chrysalis Academy]

My 2nd grader does copywork - either WWE2 or sentences I create to illustrate grammatical points - and she does dictation - WWE2 dictation, or spelling dictation (she likes doing her spelling via dictation sentences more than she likes word lists/workooks - so that's what we usually do).  And she does WWE2 narration.  No essays, hamburger or otherwise!  I think the big goal in 2nd is getting them writing good sentences, which involves understanding spelling and grammar.  This is the big focus for us this year.

[Roadrunner]

My 2nd grader does WWE. He also uses K12, which involves answering questions about the stories in writing and some summaries. He writes SOTW summaries on his own and does copywork in science (basically copies science summaries).

I would love to start CAP Fable, but he isn't ready for a creative component.

 

No essays :)

[Murrayshire]

For my 2nd grader, we are using:

 

WWE2- for copywork & narration

 

Essentials in Writing- this has been really great for him this year! He has been writing great sentences (shown on my recent blog post) and learning editing skills, which has been helpful in creating proper sentences.

 

Logic of English: spelling words for dictation, sometimes we'll do the composition exercises, editing skills, and other writing activities.

 

FLL2: I've made worksheets to go along with these lessons so he is writing instead of going over it orally. There is dictation in here as well.

 

History & Science: writing down his narrations and he copies them down. I try to have him do as much as he can by himself.... Then we edit together making corrections as necessary.

 

 

I have to say, he is overcoming the scariness of writing with the help of Essentials in Writing!

[rebbyribs]

My second grader is doing AAS2, GWG2, WWE1, and a bit of CHOLL ancients.  AAS has some dictated sentences. GWG often asks for a couple of sentences using whatever grammar concept she has just learned.  WWE1 is a bit of copywork and oral narration.  CHOLL has comprehension questions that we go over orally, and then she writes 3 or so sentences summarizing the story.  

[Alice]

Pretty much just WWE 2. He narrates for history but I do the writing. He is working on learning cursive also and he does a tiny bit of that each day. He doesn’t like writing at all but he loves cursive, I think he sees it more as art than writing. 

[pollo_la]

Well, my first grader writes nothing... yep, you heard that right, nothing. She's just not ready yet. No big deal. Next year she will write something. Probably not much. Copywork - a sentence or two probably each day.

[FO4UR]

My 2nd grader does copywork.  One good sentence per day right now.  He does oral narrations as well.  I've taken a "Better Late Than Early" approach with him b/c I thought he needed it for various reasons.  He's doing well at one sentence, and we will be ramping up soon.  I will be ramping up via spelling lessons.

 

 

My previous 2nd grader (3rd grade right now) is a precocious writer.  I only required spelling, copywork and narration from her, even though she wrote through notebooks at a time on her own.

 

 

Some kids are born with a pencil in their hand, and some are not.  The important thing is to take the next step in cultivating the skill, regardless of their natural talent.

[5LittleMonkeys]

My 2nd grader gives me a 1 to 2 sentence summary of our history reading 3 times a week.  We focus on making good sentences, mechanics and grammar more than accurate content of the summary. ;)  It's usually just what he liked best about the passage or a detail that he remembered, but sometimes he'll tell me what he thinks should have happened....kind of cute to get a glimpse into how he thinks history should have happened.    He also does anywhere from 2 to 4 sentences of copywork for language arts 4 times a week.  We use all this copywork to discuss mechanics, spelling and grammar.

[Runningmom80]

It's very random at this point. Sometimes some notebooking with a copy work paragraph for science. Sometimes a little story for MCT. Sometimes he decides to write and illustrate a comic. Things like that. I would like to start something more formal for next year, but nothing is jumping out at me. He detests handwriting, so I'm hesitant to push him.

[reign]

My seven year old does these programs weekly.

 

WWE2: 2 copy sentences, 2 verbal summaries, 1 dictation sentence

FLL2: 2 sentences either copy work or dictation depending on the lesson.

History: Written narration 1-2 sentences

Science: Written narration 1-2 sentences

 

Journal done about every other day. She usually keeps it rather short.

One practice paragraph. I use the word paragraph loosely.

 

I just bought Jot it Down from Bravewriter this December. I really liked it and hope to add some of her ideas soon.

I actually did a blog post about this last week. I'm not sure how to link but will give it a try.....

http://boekindgirlsprep.blogspot.com

[SorrelZG]

I typically have him write a smallish paragraph per day, either copy work from literature or he writes his own narration. Depending on the length of sentences, it could be two to four of them. He does some writing for his math and Latin. I found early on that if I required a lot of writing in school (which is, of course, relative to the individual), he was less likely to write in his own time for fun. I am working on slowly raising what he does during school without turning writing into a chore that he avoids when it's not required of him.

[RebeccaMary]

We don't do much formally - our only daily practice is the writing associated with AAS.

 

On his own time, he gets a good bit of practice - he spends a lot of time writing and illustrating his stories and comic strips. 

[edeemarie]

My 2nd grader is using PLL and Language Lessons through Literature (not sure that we need to have both but we just started LLtL about a month ago...she hasn't complained about having to do both yet). For spelling we are using The Modern Speller (vintage google book for dictation). All in all she may be writing about 6 sentences a day, though most of it is copy work. No essay writing here! :-)

[KSinNS]

Copywork 1-2 sentences. She can't do full dictation, so she does "French dictation" a la BW where she fills in a few blanks in a dictated sentence. She does "free writing" once/week. Most of the time I scribe. Yesterday she wanted to do it herself. We spend sig time on letter formation. She can't spell without supports, and her handwriting is improving but inconsistent, so I'm not really worrying too much about the writing part of writing. The scribing gives her the opportunity to get her thoughts on paper, without the challenge of the actual physical writing. 

 

[scootiepie]

Copywork and dictation here, with a little intro cursive practice.

 

Just about every day he has to be reminded to capitalize, use punctuation, etc.   

[Mama Anna]

Dd7 does dictation almost daily. (Think FLL.)  I've just started asking her to write her own narrations for history.  She still sometimes forgets punctuation and generally misspells a couple words.  She's supposed to write 3 sentences.  One thing - when she writes them herself, there's very little chance of a run-on happening.  Unlike when she's dictating.  :)

 

She also does a little cursive practice regularly, writes a letter (about 2-4 sentences) once a week, and sometimes writes stories on her own.  Everything else is still done through dictation.

 

HTH!

Mama Anna

[Madeline05]

We use the Zaner Bloser handwriting instruction program as well as the FontsOnline.  We had a slow start but we are starting to write short stories now using the template from the FontsOnline.  Some kids take a little longer than others, it’s nothing to worry about your kids will start picking up the writing habits soon!

 

Side note- has anyone tried the Zaner Bloser iOS apps for their kids writing? I was thinking of trying it out, something my LO can do on car rides, or when my DH and I are out to dinner they can practice with. Just a though! :) 

[mommymonster]

My second grader (8 yr old) does daily copywork, AAS1 dictation, and sometimes summaries of our readings. It's slow going, but a start...

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

DS does 1-2 sentences of copywork a day and the dictation in AAS 2.  He does the lesson and 10 words on Monday and then does dictation of 2 sentences and 2 phrases Tuesday-Thursday.  Handwriting and reading have come much slower to him than older dd.

[lanabug]

My 2nd grader is doing A Reason for Handwriting B, which has a verse for copywork each week.  We're also doing FLL2, skipping most of the enrichment, copywork, and dictation exercises.  We do WWE2 as prescribed.

 

DD tends to be a bit behind on fine motor skills, so I haven't pushed too much written work yet.

 

Lana

[Tiramisu]

Thank you for all the replies. I guess we're not really off track. 

 

Because I have had two in ps around this age, where they did a lot of writing, I tend to compare what we are doing to that and start feeling insecure.

[jkl]

This thread is very reassuring! I thought we were doing way too little writing! My second grader does copywork daily (1-2 sentences), journals once a week (2-3 sentences), and some kind of other writing weekly (short letters to family members or friends, etc. Last week he did a letter of thanks to our local fire dept). He does oral narrations at least once every day. He also makes little books in his free time--usually related to Star Wars :)

[nerdybird]

Very little besides copywork. This consists of scripture mostly, with some poetry samples and famous quotes thrown in for variety.

 

Occasionally, she writes a few sentences to go along with a picture that she has drawn.

 

That's about it. I haven't started doing any formal grammar or writing instruction with her and don't plan to for at least another year or more.

 

Next year, we will focus on spelling and vocabulary-building, with some light writing assignments and dictation thrown in. This year we focused mostly on penmanship and improving her attention to detail and reading comprehension...plan to continue this focus until summer and re-evaluate her progress and needs before starting anew next fall.

[Gil]

I'm :bigear: while I try and figure out 1st-2nd grade composition for my boys. They can write but I have no idea whether what they do is normal, behind or ahead.

I almost never ask them to write compositions but I did last week just to figure out what their writing skills are like and I am no closer to knowing where they are at or where I should start than I am to understanding Swahili.

 

Gil wouldn't know Swahili if it walked up  and introduced itself...in Swahili.

[Desert Strawberry]

Just copy work, oral or written narrations(his choice), and whatever minimal writing his phonics work requires.

He will start writing in earnest in 3rd grade.

[Nine]

Four days per week, Dd7 does: 

 

2-3 sentences of copywork from something she's reading

1-2 oral narrations

1-2 pages of cursive (just started this after Christmas)

1 language lesson, which is often done orally, but sometimes includes writing a few short sentences

[Tiramisu]

Four days per week, Dd7 does: 

 

2-3 sentences of copywork from something she's reading

1-2 oral narrations

1-2 pages of cursive (just started this after Christmas)

1 language lesson, which is often done orally, but sometimes includes writing a few short sentences

 

Welcome to the boards, Nine!

[Crimson Wife]

DS is an older 2nd grader as he turned 8 in November. He is working through book 3 of Singapore Sentences to Paragraphs as well as doing New American Cursive Book 1. He was doing dictation through AAS but we're taking a break from spelling at the moment to focus on learning cursive.