Essay/Writing (5th grade)

[ArteHaus]

If you only had one year to teach essay writing to a 5th grader, what curriculum would you use?

 

We did essay writing in 4th grade, but my rising 5th grader still needs improvement (he is a reluctant writer who would rather be drawing🥴). We are also doing ISEE test practice this year as well (which is why he needs a boost to his essay writing ability). We use MCT, but I don’t have the time this year for vague essay instruction. We love MCT, but I am looking for something that is more straightforward and explicit (old-school?) in teaching essay writing. My eldest is a natural writer, so it is different instructing my younger fella who has no writing interest. Anyway…

Any advice?

[Lori D.]

In general, my experience (from homeschooling my own DSs and teaching writing over the years at our homeschool co-op) has been that essay writing (as in a piece of writing that makes a claim or contention (thesis) and develops an argument of support for that thesis) requires more matured critical thinking, logic, and analysis brain development, which doesn't tend to happen until somewhere between ages 12-14 (depending on the student).

So that is probably not the type of writing I would focus on for a 5th grader, especially as you say this is a reluctant writer.

For a reluctant writer rising 5th grader, I would focus on:

1. writing as a multi-step process (brainstorm, organize, rough draft, revise, proof-edit), done over the course of a week -- so a stage or two per day to get comfortable with the reality that you come back to the piece of writing a number of times and don't expect to just),  complete paragraphs, writing 

2. writing complete paragraphs

3. doing a wide variety of writing assignments:
• various lengths -- some as short as lists and others as long as a long paragraph
• for various audiences/purposes -- an informal letter, a news article, a book review, an oral report/presentation, a short history/science report, create a flyer or brochure or poster, etc.
• using the 4 types of writing -- descriptive, narrative, expository, persuasive

I would also carefully consider what resources I used and make sure it was a good fit for the student.

For example: I had a reluctant writer (disliked writing) and a struggling writer (mild LDs in spelling and writing), and while SWB's formal writing instruction program series of Writing With Ease / Writing with Skill works for many, it would absolutely have KILLED any potential future willingness to write for both of my DSs (for different reasons).

On the other hand, both DSs really enjoyed Wordsmith Apprentice. It was gentle, written to the student, and we could do as small/big a "bite" per day as you wish. It takes students from words/phrases and complete sentences to complete paragraphs. It covers all 4 types of writing. It has a silly "cub reporter" theme that really appealed to DSs, and it sparked an actual enjoyment of writing that year.

However, YMMV, and all that is just my 2 cents worth. BEST of luck in finding what is the best fit for your family. Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited July 5, 2023 by Lori D.

[wendyroo]

With my reluctant writers, I have had a lot of luck with Lantern English. They offer 8 week correspondence courses at different writing levels. They offer specific, explicit instruction on one writing step each week, and then grade the student's assignment with a detailed rubric that gives solid feedback. It really demystified writing for my kiddos, and made it something they could crank through systematically rather than dread and avoid.

Depending what level your son is, you might want to start with their Paragraph class if he still needs work on that. Or maybe their Composition class where students work on linking together several paragraphs with a main idea. By the end of the year he would probably be ready for their Essay Basics class that tackles five paragraph essays.

[ArteHaus]

20 hours ago, Lori D. said:

In general, my experience (from homeschooling my own DSs and teaching writing over the years at our homeschool co-op) has been that essay writing (as in a piece of writing that makes a claim or contention (thesis) and develops an argument of support for that thesis) requires more matured critical thinking, logic, and analysis brain development, which doesn't tend to happen until somewhere between ages 12-14 (depending on the student).

So that is probably not the type of writing I would focus on for a 5th grader, especially as you say this is a reluctant writer.

For a reluctant writer rising 5th grader, I would focus on:

1. writing as a multi-step process (brainstorm, organize, rough draft, revise, proof-edit), done over the course of a week -- so a stage or two per day to get comfortable with the reality that you come back to the piece of writing a number of times and don't expect to just),  complete paragraphs, writing 

2. writing complete paragraphs

3. doing a wide variety of writing assignments:
• various lengths -- some as short as lists and others as long as a long paragraph
• for various audiences/purposes -- an informal letter, a news article, a book review, an oral report/presentation, a short history/science report, create a flyer or brochure or poster, etc.
• using the 4 types of writing -- descriptive, narrative, expository, persuasive

I would also carefully consider what resources I used and make sure it was a good fit for the student.

For example: I had a reluctant writer (disliked writing) and a struggling writer (mild LDs in spelling and writing), and while SWB's formal writing instruction program series of Writing With Ease / Writing with Skill works for many, it would absolutely have KILLED any potential future willingness to write for both of my DSs (for different reasons).

On the other hand, both DSs really enjoyed Wordsmith Apprentice. It was gentle, written to the student, and we could do as small/big a "bite" per day as you wish. It takes students from words/phrases and complete sentences to complete paragraphs. It covers all 4 types of writing. It has a silly "cub reporter" theme that really appealed to DSs, and it sparked an actual enjoyment of writing that year.

However, YMMV, and all that is just my 2 cents worth. BEST of luck in finding what is the best fit for your family. Warmest regards, Lori D.

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I will absolutely look into Wordsmith Apprentice. I have looked into that one before. My son can write paragraphs and even essays, but needs a lot of oversight. He also loves silliness in curriculum. So yes, I will look deeper into that one. Thank you!

[ArteHaus]

19 hours ago, wendyroo said:

With my reluctant writers, I have had a lot of luck with Lantern English. They offer 8 week correspondence courses at different writing levels. They offer specific, explicit instruction on one writing step each week, and then grade the student's assignment with a detailed rubric that gives solid feedback. It really demystified writing for my kiddos, and made it something they could crank through systematically rather than dread and avoid.

Depending what level your son is, you might want to start with their Paragraph class if he still needs work on that. Or maybe their Composition class where students work on linking together several paragraphs with a main idea. By the end of the year he would probably be ready for their Essay Basics class that tackles five paragraph essays.

Thank you, I absolutely forgot about Lantern English! I think we will give that a try this year, too. Besides, I think it may be nice to have another person doing the critique/giving feedback, as opposed to doing it myself. They get so tender over mom’s (or dad’s) critique of their writing:) 

[Lori D.]

2 hours ago, ArteHaus said:

...I will absolutely look into Wordsmith Apprentice. I have looked into that one before. My son can write paragraphs and even essays, but needs a lot of oversight. He also loves silliness in curriculum. So yes, I will look deeper into that one...

Sounds like your DS is beyond the level of Wordsmith Apprentice, BUT, it could still be a fun supplement -- something to work on once a week, for example. Or as a unit every so often as a fun break from focusing on formal writing. 😉 

[ktgrok]

On 7/5/2023 at 6:26 PM, Lori D. said:

In general, my experience (from homeschooling my own DSs and teaching writing over the years at our homeschool co-op) has been that essay writing (as in a piece of writing that makes a claim or contention (thesis) and develops an argument of support for that thesis) requires more matured critical thinking, logic, and analysis brain development, which doesn't tend to happen until somewhere between ages 12-14 (depending on the student).

So that is probably not the type of writing I would focus on for a 5th grader, especially as you say this is a reluctant writer.

For a reluctant writer rising 5th grader, I would focus on:

1. writing as a multi-step process (brainstorm, organize, rough draft, revise, proof-edit), done over the course of a week -- so a stage or two per day to get comfortable with the reality that you come back to the piece of writing a number of times and don't expect to just),  complete paragraphs, writing 

2. writing complete paragraphs

3. doing a wide variety of writing assignments:
• various lengths -- some as short as lists and others as long as a long paragraph
• for various audiences/purposes -- an informal letter, a news article, a book review, an oral report/presentation, a short history/science report, create a flyer or brochure or poster, etc.
• using the 4 types of writing -- descriptive, narrative, expository, persuasive

I would also carefully consider what resources I used and make sure it was a good fit for the student.

For example: I had a reluctant writer (disliked writing) and a struggling writer (mild LDs in spelling and writing), and while SWB's formal writing instruction program series of Writing With Ease / Writing with Skill works for many, it would absolutely have KILLED any potential future willingness to write for both of my DSs (for different reasons).

On the other hand, both DSs really enjoyed Wordsmith Apprentice. It was gentle, written to the student, and we could do as small/big a "bite" per day as you wish. It takes students from words/phrases and complete sentences to complete paragraphs. It covers all 4 types of writing. It has a silly "cub reporter" theme that really appealed to DSs, and it sparked an actual enjoyment of writing that year.

However, YMMV, and all that is just my 2 cents worth. BEST of luck in finding what is the best fit for your family. Warmest regards, Lori D.

Lori D, we are using the Wordsmith products this year after you mentioned them. DS 10 was in 4th grade and worked in the Apprentice book and DD13 in 7th worked on the regular Wordsmith book. I will be totally honest and say it got dropped as much as it got done this year - we made a BIG push for social activities this year after being home 100% for almost 3 years, and although this was a HUGE success for DD's social anxiety it means we didn't get as much done academically as I planned. 

Would you just continue in the books until done, or is there anything you'd advise supplementing with? I'm thinking about getting Growing Brave Writers for some fun writing type projects? Or their Partnership Writing book? Or, going the other direction, and taking a bit of time this coming year to JUST focus on the basic "how to" of essay writing with the rising 8th grader. Not because I particularly think it is a big deal (personally I think essay writing isn't that hard when they are old enough to bother to learn it) but because SHE is a bit sensitive about not writing essays or "knowing how". Is there a product you'd advise for that, for a rising 8th grader with a lack of confidence? She is also dyslexic. 

[Lori D.]

5 hours ago, ktgrok said:

...we are using the Wordsmith products this year...  [but] we didn't get as much done academically as I planned. 
... Would you just continue in the books until done, or is there anything you'd advise supplementing with? I'm thinking about... Growing Brave Writers for some fun writing type projects? Or their Partnership Writing book?
... Or... JUST focus on the basic "how to" of essay writing with the rising 8th grader... because SHE is a bit sensitive about not writing essays or "knowing how".
... Is there a product you'd advise for that, for a rising 8th grader with a lack of confidence? She is also dyslexic. 

Totally JMO:

I absolutely get that  need to reestablish social outside the home aspect this past year, and that academics took a bit of a hit as a result. And for your DS10, that's not going to be a big deal. It won't be hard to pick up writing next year, and you can probably use whatever you want. Really, consistency is going to be your best friend -- whatever you use, just make sure you are doing SOME writing every school day for about 20-30 minutes to build up those writing "muscles" (lol). If he was enjoying Wordsmith Apprentice, then great, go ahead and finish it, as it is easy to do. But I would also be looking at something you can implement daily that will work on things like, what is a complete paragraph, and the writing process (brainstorm, organize, rough draft write, revise, proof-edit). The IEW method of breaking those 5 stages of the process down and doing one stage a day over the course of the week yields a paragraph a week. And you can even knock out longer multi-paragraph pieces of writing by doing the next paragraph the next week, etc. It's amazing how you can "eat that elephant" by tackling it in one consistent "bite" of writing every day... 😉 
 

re: Brave Writer
I think you have to be a certain kind of student and a certain kind of parent/teacher for their stuff to work. I have the Help for High School program, and In some ways, I feel like there's just so.much.talking in the program, rather than just getting down to it and DOING the writing. lol. But some people really do better with all of the prep/pep talk about writing, and it gives them a context. So, YMMV. 😉 


re: Wordsmith
Did your DD click with that? Or do you feel she needed something more formal in explanation?

If she clicked with Wordsmith, then I might suggest Jump In, which is a more in-depth program, written to the student, that focuses on helping students figure out what to say, and how to organize their thoughts. It goes from single complete paragraphs into multi-paragraph essays in the 4 areas of writing: descriptive, narrative, expository (factual/report), and persuasive (opinion/argumentative) with a wide variety of writing assignments, and not just essays. (assignments include: a process ("how to") paper; persuasive essay; book report; news article; compare & contrast paper; cause & effect; report with citations) Here's the Cathy Duffy review.

re: "knowing how" to write an essay
If what DD is really looking for is specific "how to write an essay" type of program, you might look at @wendyroo's suggestion ofLantern English. For your 8th grader, I'd say go with the "Essay Basics" series of classes (Essay Basics; Essay Basics Practice; Growing the Essay I; Growing the Essay II; Growing the Essay Practice).

Each class runs 8 weeks, is $60, and does provide instructor feedback. It is more of a self-paced "correspondence class" style of class, so no live interactions. Each of the classes in the series focuses on different important aspects of writing (like planning/organizing, or rough drafting, or revising)-- which are important transferrable skills to ANY kind of writing assignment (it just happens to be context of essay writing here).

Enrollment starts July 17 for the first session (Aug. 20-Oct. 8)of the 2023-2024 year. They also have a summer session, so you could finish that 5th class next summer, which would complete the essay series just in time for starting 9th grade the following year.


re: fun writing projects
Again, Brave Writer doesn't quite click for me due to not as much clear, direct instruction and explanations, but if it works well for your DD, sure, that could be a great way to get back into your school year for 8th grade. Once she's back in the regular routine of daily writing with those type of fun projects in the fall semester, then maybe use the spring semester to focus on solid "formal" writing in prep for high school. Just an idea. 😉

Another "fun" option for 8th grade, especially if she is a bit inclined towards creative writing, is the full-year program, Cover Story. Here's the Cathy Duffy review. Cover Story has DVD lessons, which might be a bonus for a dyslexic student who struggles to read or to get full comprehension from written instruction (such as with Wordsmith or Jump In).

Edited July 8, 2023 by Lori D.

[ktgrok]

thank you, @Lori D.! I'm going to look over these and then share with her and make a decision. Also, your brave writer description kind of put to words my hesitancy with it. I think if she wants creative stuff cover story might be great - she's my artist and draws "characters" and gives them all back story and such, so that might be good. If she just wants to learn to write an essay, I think the correspondance class might be a good fit. Or Jump In if she wants mom to keep grading/teaching it. 

[knitgrl]

We are going to give the old Writing Strands a try for ds, who is an extremely reluctant writer. I'm hoping that having a week's break after each lesson will facilitate his buy-in.

[DadDeAvery]

For my 5th grader, I used three main things to teach English.

I used No Red Ink for grammar (the free version, because premium isn't available for homeschool). No Red Ink has its negatives, for sure. But for 5th grade, I found that it worked well when supplemented with the other stuff we did. For example, sometimes I'd pull some grammar exercises and explanations from Purdue OWL. By the second year of using No Red Ink, we had pretty much maxed out the free content, so we don't use it anymore.

I used Read Works for reading comprehension. Read Works has articles and stories that come with comprehension and analysis questions. It also has tasks that require long answer responses, which helped get more writing and analysis from my child. And I like that Read Works gives me the answers! My child liked Read Works because some of the articles have human voice audio with the text. Also, there are readings from different areas of interests, and the search filters sort them out. I continue using Read Works now that my child is older.

For essay writing, we used Lux Writing Center. Mr. Lux (the instructor) helped my child write stronger essays. I like Lux Writing Center because I get a huge say in what my child works on. My child started with essays, but when that became exhausting, we sometimes took a break and Mr. Lux did creative writing with my child. The teaching also included grammar, quoting texts, using some outside sources, different essay types, and some other things.

I hope that helps!

[mathmarm]

On 7/5/2023 at 5:09 PM, ArteHaus said:

If you only had one year to teach essay writing to a 5th grader, what curriculum would you use?

We did essay writing in 4th grade, but my rising 5th grader still needs improvement (he is a reluctant writer who would rather be drawing🥴). We are also doing ISEE test practice this year as well (which is why he needs a boost to his essay writing ability). We use MCT, but I don’t have the time this year for vague essay instruction. We love MCT, but I am looking for something that is more straightforward and explicit (old-school?) in teaching essay writing. My eldest is a natural writer, so it is different instructing my younger fella who has no writing interest. Anyway…

Any advice?

I would give the placement test for SRA's Essentials for Writing, which is a single-volume program for older students who need to shore up their basic writing skills. I'm a huge fan of the (made for public schools) SRA Reasoning and Writing Series, but it's a 6-level program (K-5) which are great if you're in it for the long haul and that clicks with what you want at that time.

SRA's Essentials for Writing is especially designed for older students who have the basics but need some explict and straight forward teaching. It's 80 - 95 daily lessons depending on where your student places. Essentials for Writing is my recommendation based on what you've shared here about what you're looking for and what you're looking to do.

After EfW, the student should have a strong foundation in the skills that one needs to complete most basic writing tasks and should be able to write strong essays. Once you have that EfW foundation, there will be mental energy to devote to build on from what they know.

 

 

 

Essentials_Writing_Placement.pdf