literacy questions???

[mumtoo3]

i saw on a forum a while ago about conversation cards, which say things like 'a spaceship landed in sams back yard' you continue the story any ideas what these are?

 

when do you start creative writing?

 

what areas do you cover like phonics, reading, writing?

 

thanks for your time i am sure i will have more questions :)

[mumtoo3]

oopppps my computer through a wobbly can you tell?????

[MomOfOneFunOne]

My daughter is in the 4th grade and I'll begin formal creative writing in January. We use IEW and will use their creative writing guidelines. When IEW alternates among units for research and creative writing. It seemed to make more sense to me to do all the research then all the creative writing so we're doing it that way.

 

The conversation cards you're asking about: I don't know. Have you ever read Little Women? Once at a party/picnic they play a game called Rigamarole or something like that. It's simply this: one person begins the game by introducing a story thread that rises to a climax or cliffhanger and then stops. The next person takes up the thread resolves the issue or adds to it and passes on to the next. The idea is to keep going around and around for a fun story. We've played this several times since reading the book and find it a fun and entertaining way to spend some time. There are just 3 in our family so we don't have this problem but I have found when playing in a large group of mixed ages, it's best to alternate b/t older and younger players.

 

Phonics, Reading, Writing: (shhhhhh! Don't tell!) Just b/t you and me, I don't do phonics. I did in first grade but among English, Spelling, Reading, and Latin, I can't really see much of a need for it in our school.

 

Reading we do a couple of things: We read (almost daily) from the Catholic National Readers simply for the beautiful stories. We also treat our History text as many would their readers, I think. Also, b/c I wanted to start incorporating more of a literature study and discussion to reading we started a book club. We discuss books and literary techniques and other things (one of my favorites is to compare the historical setting or life events of the author to that of the book. fascinating!)

 

Writing: IEW!!!! love, Love, LOVE IEW!

Edited November 28, 2008 by MomOfOneFunOne

[Julie in MN]

What grades do you have? There is a big difference between "Language Arts" when a child is learning to read (or learning the fine points of reading if they read early) vs. a child who is fluent in phonics, reading, etc.

 

Language Arts is a huge subject and really carries across all other subjects. My 7th grader works on:

 

- Writing skills (copywork, grammar, occasional spelling work in science, vocabulary, creative writing details, informational writing daily)

- Independent reading

- Listening to literature and information through read-alouds

- A small amount of cursive (he still is not fluent)

- A small amount of memory work (mostly from the Bible)

 

Julie

[mumtoo3]

my dd is nearly 6, but we live in england and my local educational officer came round and said she should be doing creative writing!!!

 

so wanted some advice cause i think she is too young, and we do verbal making stories :)

[StephanieF]

We are in the uk too and I use WWE with ds5. I am not visited by anyone but I wouldn't take any notice of what they say if they were to visit. What I'm doing is sufficient for my son and that's the end of it! Until my ds can write properly he won't beable to do any creative writing which is why we are currently concentrating on narration and handwriting skills (copywork).

Stephanie

[Julie in MN]

How silly! We aren't even required to educate until age 7 here in MN!

 

Well, you could type up the stories she verbally creates? She could illustrate them, too. I volunteered at one of my kids' gradeschools as a "book publisher" and that's what I did. Oh, and we left a blank page at the end of each book for people to write comments about how great the book was :o)

 

Julie

[JenniferB]

For a strong foundation in overall literacy I highly recommend Spell to Write and Read. I think phonics is very important when it comes to reading and writing (which includes spelling). Here is a link to an excellent speech by the author of Spell to Write and Read. It's very informative on the topic of literacy. http://www.swrtraining.com/id27.html No, I'm not trying to sell this curriculum, I've just been researching phonics and spelling because I have a struggling speller, and I've gotten the most help from Spell to Write and Read and the yahoo support group.

 

Of course, verbal creativity can begin at an early age, and is good practice in making up complete sentences, but I think creative writing should be delayed until a strong foundation has been laid in phonics (spelling), grammar, and basic handwriting skills. IMHO, creativity (ideas, thoughts, expressions) can only be beautiful if the mechanics of it are sound. Otherwise, it's not beautiful, and IMHO, not *really* creative. :001_huh:

Edited December 2, 2008 by JenniferB