Which level of WWE/WWS for a 5th grader?

[Jkacz]

I'm, quite frankly, at my wit's end with writing programs. DS10 (now in 4th grade) grudgingly did some of Writing Strands 2 in 2nd grade and I purchased WS3 for 3rd but we both hated it so much, it never got done. Last year we tried IEW-SWI A. It looked like it might be a success because of how it made writing "structured", but taking time for the videos was difficult and we just stopped doing it when time got tight. I'm thinking of trying Writing with Ease or Writing with Skill for next year (grade 5) but I'm not sure where to start. He's currently in All About Spelling 5, so he's comfortable with dictation and First Language Lessons 4, so he can do basic narration. I really don't want to start from the beginning as the sample pages for WWE 1 looked too basic, but WWS sounds like it might be too advanced. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

 

Jenn

[Kiara.I]

What about doing the WWE final assessments to see whether he's mastered those skills?

 

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[RootAnn]

What about doing the WWE final assessments to see whether he's mastered those skills?

 

Added a link to what Kiara's talking about. (It is a free PDF.)

 

I wouldn't start with WWE1, but perhaps a swing through WWE3? (WWE4 is tough!)

 

Or, you could try WWS1, but go slowly and don't be afraid to stop it if you hit a brick wall. I've used it with various ages & skills. The best results have come when I'm right there with the kid, holding their hand along the way. This is my third time through, so I'm starting to figure out what I can skip if the kid already knows how to do something (narrations), what things I need to review skill-wise periodically (outlines), and what I need to spend two or four days on (putting together the compositions, sometimes having to do extra research, and then editing them). I've never made it through the entire book in a school year because we don't stay on track day-wise. Then again, it has never been my goal to "get through the book."

 

I wonder how he would do with Treasured Conversations? The second and third parts would be the most relevant, I would think, but I never recommend skipping the first part since that was my girls' favorite part.  :001_tt1:

[MotherGoose]

In my opinion, you don't need to be able to do all that dictation in level 3 @or 4 wwe to do writing with skill. I'm doing WWS with my 5 th grader, a reluctant writer. I help and we go slowly but it's fine for her. We did wwe 1 and jumped around after.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

WWS 1 can be used in 5th grade, but many 5th graders are not ready for it, and SWB acknowledges this and suggests the possibility of waiting a year. I would personally recommend Writing and Rhetoric from CAP. I think WWE isn't meaty enough for a fifth grader unless struggling, imho. CAP is a very gentle transition from WWE narration and dictation. In fact, it still includes it, but it adds summary and amplification skills and more narrative skills in the next two books before it goes into some of the outlining and more advanced skills. It's very creative and seems more fun than WWE. WWE is essentially the same thing every week. The first book in CAP is Fable and ends with them writing their own fable. It explores first person and third person and other skills. It ties in some grammar. The next books go into description, dialogue, more summary and amplification. They will do creative exercises like changing the story, it talks about the main point, etc. I have WWS, and my fifth grader would just be overwhelmed with the volume of it all. I highly recommend looking at CAP at this stage particularly since you have not started with WWE and not had success with Writing Strands. Sounds like you need something gentle and fun to start.

[Jkacz]

Thank-you all very much! I think he could do the assessments for WWE 1-3 but I'm not sure how well or how happily. I accidentally found out that our inter-library loan actually has all 3 books, so that will give me a chance to look at them a little more closely. If they are really "that" repetitive, I don't think they'll work. I also looked at Treasured Comversations and CAP and they also look like great programs. My only concern is that they appear very time and teacher intensive. I realize that writing is going to add time to his school day, I just am trying to make it as efficient as possible.

 

Thanks again!

 

Jenn