RoundAbout Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 I need some fun, or at least interesting, ideas to get my 4th grader writing more! He finished WWE3 last year and I didn't think he was quite ready for WWS so we're doing Kilgallon this year. It's fantastic for learning how to build quality sentences but there's just not enough practice doing original writing in my opinion. He does history summaries about once a week and they are quite good, but would like more practice and with other genres. The other option is just to start WWS 1 and see how it goes. Suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Wordsmith Apprentice! It's perfect for what you're listing -- and it can be a lot of fun for students. It covers the 4 types of writing (descriptive, narrative, expository, persuasive), is written to the student, it is the student originating the writing, it can be broken into as big or small of a "bite" per day as fits your student, or it can be used 1-2x/week as a supplement to your Killgallon. And it has a fun "cub reporter" theme with 1-page silly comics between each new section of the editor-in-chief introducing you to the next section of the newspaper that the student will then write for. Even my extremely pencil-phobic DSs both enjoyed this one. :) available at Amazon, Rainbow Resource, and others; see table of contents and sample pages scope and sequence additional sample pages possible schedule 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rose Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 How about some letter writing? My dc don't mind it because they feel like it has a purpose and there's the nice reward of getting a letter in return. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Add in The Creative Writer level 1 or 2, depending on where you think he would be. Lots of original writing, and level 2 more or less gives you a leg up on early analysis of literature (basic story components). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Wordsmith Apprentice is okay... I don't know if I'd call it "fun" but it wasn't un-fun either. If you want straight up "fun" projects, Brave Writer's Partnership Writing has a lot of good writing projects. It's meant to be a full year curriculum. For less formal ideas, you might like Rip the Page or If You're Trying to Teach Kids How to Write, You've Gotta Have This Book. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Wordsmith Apprentice is okay... I don't know if I'd call it "fun" but it wasn't un-fun either. If you had experienced the extreme pain in the patootie that my DSs made writing at our house for YEARS, and how much they wailed and gnashed teeth with other writing programs, you would be calling it "fun", too, when they cheerful did WA without complaint! ;) :laugh: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 If you had experienced the extreme pain in the patootie that my DSs made writing at our house for YEARS, and how much they wailed and gnashed teeth with other writing programs, you would be calling it "fun", too, when they cheerful did WA without complaint! ;) :laugh: It was a good workbook for sure. Part of me wanted to go back and tweak a few things to make it be fun. I felt like it was really close. Like, if each of those sections had culminated into something that was a little more finished product (or had the potential to be) and was a little more creative. I dunno... It wasn't bad. It also helped my ds during a difficult period last year. Secular people should note that it has hints of religion (like asking kids to write headlines for Bible stories or news blurbs about their Sunday School class in a couple places - the whole book has a newspaper theme - I just changed the assignment on those things to fairy tales or co-op classes or the like), but nothing too bad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 We use the Bravewriter ideas from her blog for "fun" writing add-ins. The kids LOVE the activities and they are free. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 (edited) Have you seen the book 'Don't Forget to Write?' We are doing this book with our coop this year and the kids absolutely love it. There is something there for everyone and so much fun. Writing letters to aliens, re-writing fairy tales, writing bedtime stories in pjs, writing how-to's on things like how to avoid a shower forever, writing jokes and riddles, cookbooks, choose your own adventures...you get the idea. Each one has fun ideas to integrate playfulness. Fort building, art, story mapping, mad libs, imaginary vacations, dancing:) It is also really effective for introducing literary elements and devices. If you can't tell it has been awesome for us😀 https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118024311/ref=sxts1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485355485&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65 Edited January 25, 2017 by Kerileanne99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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