Writing choice for 6th grade

[3girls4me]

Ok - so I think I've had an aha moment. We have been using W&R this year with my fifth-grader. We are only on the second book. She has been loving it. She has no trouble at all with creativity and a desire to write. But this week I decided to take a break from it and I got back out WWE4. (We used some of the other levels loosely along with other things) Wow! I realized that she really struggles with taking a passage and summarizing it in just a few sentences. She just couldn't pull out the main ideas very easily. She wanted to add every detail. Keeping in mind that I would like for her to be ready to take classes from either WTMA, Wilson Hill, or something else similar to those in 7th grade, of these three choices, what would you use? Or something totally different?

1. Continue W&R

2. MP Classical Composition

3. IEW

 

We are enjoying W&R, but from the samples online, it looks like classical composition might help her more. And then there's IEW......

What would you suggest?

[mamamoose]

What are the acronyms? Is there a sticky somewhere? I would love to follow this...sounds a lot like my dd.

[3girls4me]

WWE - writing with ease

W&R - writing and rhetoric by classical academic press

WTMA - well trained mind academy

MP - Memoria press

IEW - institute for excellence in writing

[mamamoose]

Thank you!!!

[SilverMoon]

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Edited June 9 by SilverMoon

[OneStepAtATime]

IEW would probably help with the issues you are seeing.  You could maybe pair it with W&R so you aren't taking away the program she really loves.  Just weave it in.  If you started IEW now you could finish it by 7th grade without making it something she had to do every day.  Having that framework might really help her in the areas that are hard for her while keeping up with the other program might keep her motivated.

[RootAnn]

W&R3 does do some summarizing work.

[The Governess]

If you would like her to take Expository Writing 1 in 7th with WTMA, you might want to consider signing her up for the Preparation for Expository Writing 1 class for 6th. It will cover summarizing skills with excerpts from the various WWE books and adds in a few other resources as well.

[3girls4me]

IIRC, the first two levels of W&R would be more appropriately aligned with WWE 3? 

 

 

From what it sounds like in your goals I think sticking with W&R would likely get you there in the end. The fact that she likes it and it's working well would be HUGE for me. No reason to fix something that isn't broken. :) Have you looked closely at the other published levels? They cover much more than fable rewrites in the long run.

I have looked the next levels over a little, but I will go take a closer look.  Thanks!

 

IEW would probably help with the issues you are seeing.  You could maybe pair it with W&R so you aren't taking away the program she really loves.  Just weave it in.  If you started IEW now you could finish it by 7th grade without making it something she had to do every day.  Having that framework might really help her in the areas that are hard for her while keeping up with the other program might keep her motivated.

That's a really good idea!  

 

W&R3 does do some summarizing work.

 

Thanks for pointing this out.  I didn't realize that.

If you would like her to take Expository Writing 1 in 7th with WTMA, you might want to consider signing her up for the Preparation for Expository Writing 1 class for 6th. It will cover summarizing skills with excerpts from the various WWE books and adds in a few other resources as well.

Hmmm........that's an idea, but honestly, I would really like to keep writing at home at least for 6th grade, maybe even longer if it's working.  I'll have to see where she is and how capable I feel at moving forward with her with no help.  :)

[Chelli]

I'm not sure which book it starts in but WR does start summarizing. The student has to tell what happens at the beginning of the story in one sentence, the middle in one sentence, and the end in one sentence. When they're done, they have a very nice summary.

 

BTW, my dd12 sounds like yours. She can narrate for days and remember all the details, but she struggled with summaries and choosing only the most important details (they are all important to her!). WR has definitely helped her with this.

[blue plaid]

Not a writing curriculum, but I think CLE Reading has really helped my 5th grader with summarizing and recognizing what is important in a story. This is our first year using it--I got it after attempting Writing With Skill in the fall and quickly realizing her narration and summarizing abilities were ....lacking. Could be coincidence, but I pulled out WWS this week to try again and so far it is going much better.

[Another Lynn]

You could work on single level outlines without a curriculum (ala WTM middle school writing, before WWS was out).  Just pick a passage in any non-fiction book (history might be easier at first than science), stop after each paragraph and ask her what was the 1 main idea in that paragraph, write it down.  You could do this about 3 times per week or so, covering 7 or so paragraphs at a time.  After a month or so of this, decide if you are seeing progress or if you need to continue the same.  If you think she's ready, start rewriting from her outlines.  After that is automatic, you could add 2 level outlines, etc.  (You could go about outlining and re-writing differently than this progression - it's just a suggestion.)

[Faithful_Steward]

WWS

Edited March 12, 2016 by Faithful_Steward

[Juliegmom]

 

 

From what it sounds like in your goals I think sticking with W&R would likely get you there in the end. The fact that she likes it and it's working well would be HUGE for me. No reason to fix something that isn't broken. :) Have you looked closely at the other published levels? They cover much more than fable rewrites in the long run.

I agree! We are having success with W&R. My dd loves it and I continue to see gradual, steady growth in her writing.

[3girls4me]

You could work on single level outlines without a curriculum (ala WTM middle school writing, before WWS was out). Just pick a passage in any non-fiction book (history might be easier at first than science), stop after each paragraph and ask her what was the 1 main idea in that paragraph, write it down. You could do this about 3 times per week or so, covering 7 or so paragraphs at a time. After a month or so of this, decide if you are seeing progress or if you need to continue the same. If you think she's ready, start rewriting from her outlines. After that is automatic, you could add 2 level outlines, etc. (You could go about outlining and re-writing differently than this progression - it's just a suggestion.)

Great idea!

[3girls4me]

So I've been looking things over and I think I may have narrowed things down, and picked more things up :)

I think I may want to continue W&R and rotate it with either Write with the Best 2 or Writing Strands. I also will try to add in some basic outlining from things we are reading.

I ordered the new WTM today but it looks like a September ship date! Boo! So does anyone know where I might find a good explanation of how to teach my daughter to do the outlining? Not a whole program, just as "Another Lynn" posted about above. Also, in my old WTM edition, SWB seemed to really like Writing Strands. But somewhere online it looks like she is suggesting Essentials in Writing or Kilgallon if not using her products. Does anyone know if this is accurate and if so, why?

Thanks!!

Edited March 13, 2016 by Pdriskell

[ScoutTN]

Try listening to SWB's lecture on teaching writing for the  middle grades. Very helpful!

 

 

[Targhee]

I would continue to use W&R and just have her so summaries for science/history/lit passages. Why abandon something that is liked and going smoothly? If you want to add summary skill then work on it in content areas.