4th grade - struggling writer...WWE?

[Tree House Academy]

I am thinking of doing WWE along with CLE LA 300 for my end of 4th grader. For those of you who have BTDT, is this a decent option? We did Writing Tales II and stopped after 16 lessons. It was just repetitive for him and I didn't notice any amazing improvement - not to mention it was confusing him with all the things I was using.

 

Anyway, will WWE be too "young" for my 4th grader?

[razorbackmama]

I'm using it with my 6th grader and 4th grader. Neither were good at narrating, coming up with their own ideas in a sentence when writing, etc. So we began with level 1 and are moving through it to build those foundational skills. We are going much faster - we do 1 week's worth of stuff each day. It is going very well.

[rainforest mama]

I bought WWE for my 4th grade DD because she wasn't very good at narrating, and neither of us were happy with the Writing Strands books that we were using.

 

We worked through WWE level 3 quickly and are now working through level 4. I am very pleased with the progress she has made. I was worried at the beginning of the year that she might not be ready for Logic level writing next year, but now I am sure she will be.

 

Although I have read and re-read my WTM, I didn't fully grasp the writing instruction until I bought WWE. WWE has made the objective of narration and dictation so much clearer to me. I only wish that they had the workbooks ready for levels 3 and 4. It would have made the instruction even easier.

[Ann@thebeach]

I haven't BTDT yet because I just read through the text book to see if it would work for my current 4th gr who is also not writing well.

I decided I would start at level 2 and go from there. We will move through it quicker or slower-depending on how he does.

We'll be starting next week.

[razorbackmama]

Although I have read and re-read my WTM, I didn't fully grasp the writing instruction until I bought WWE. WWE has made the objective of narration and dictation so much clearer to me.

 

I agree. It is so gentle and step by step. Each skill builds into another, and they aren't even realizing it.

 

We have the workbooks for levels 1 and 2, and I have really liked the passages. It's introducing us to books I've never even heard of, and one in particular (The Happy Hollisters intrigued my kids so much they asked me to borrow it from the library to read aloud. And 2 of them are reading ahead!

 

I LOVE WWE!!!

[PeterPan]

Are you wanting to work on narrating or style or modern paragraphing? What is it you're wanting?? The meat of WT2 that works on style is in the 2nd half, so you hadn't gotten to it yet. He's young, so it really might be an age thing. Was he writing good retellings, or was he having difficulty? Did we talk about this before and he was the one stumped by the grammar?

 

Going in too many directions at once is not good. Nothing says you need a writing program. If all you want him to do is write narrations and book reports, then have him do that. If you want to work on style, proceed on into the 2nd half of WT2. If he's having difficulty writing a solid narration, then going back to WWE would help. If that's not his issue, then I'm not sure you need it. Have you seen this? http://www2.redmond.k12.or.us/mccall/renz/bookprojects.htm They're crazy fun book reports and would get him writing for free. Have him do one a week and toss your writing curriculum for the rest of this year (to May). Then you can decide what to do after that. Sometimes you just need a break or some time to grow or a fresh way of doing things. He may not be a fairy tale rewrite kind of guy. :)

[Tree House Academy]

I ordered WWE 1 - I hope it is not too easy. I guess even if it is, it will be a good "break" for him. Trial and error here, I guess. :(

 

OhElizabeth - yes, he was the one having a hard time with putting all of the elements of grammar together because I was using too many programs that were going in too many different directions at once. I have a degree in English and I thought I could pick and pull and make the curriculum myself. I was WRONG. :( My son is not English-y at all and I was making a mess of things.

 

We simplified and went with CLE LA 300. This took him all the way back to "easy" just so we could kind of "start over" and make that foundation better. With writing, he is sometimes having trouble getting his thoughts together. He was getting better in his narrations of the stories in WTII, but I never did WT I with him and I really think I started a level ahead of what I should have. Either way, he was getting really bored with WT II because he was doing the same thing over and over, week after week. It was hard for him to write the narration and I was finding his efforts to add detail to the story minimal at best. :(

 

I guess "starting over" is kind of my theme here. LOL

[Colleen in NS]

Anyway, will WWE be too "young" for my 4th grader?

 

Not at all. I've seen so many posts here of people with up to 13 year olds who are using WWE to help them get their thoughts into words and onto paper. I skimmed through it last year with my then 10yo son. It helped him tremendously with shoring up narrating skills that I had been trying to teach him in 1st to 4th grade.

 

With writing, he is sometimes having trouble getting his thoughts together.

 

Did you order the hardcover textbook along with the workbook (it sounds like you ordered the WWE1 workbook)? Even if it turns out that the level 1 workbook is too easy for him, the textbook will help you to place him into another level. And you can work with the textbook only, even if you don't order another level workbook.

 

From your description, it sounds to me as though WWE will be perfect for him. It helps kids to put their thoughts about a story they read into words, by using comprehension questions after reading the story, then helping them narrow down their answers into a short narration. It helps them think through what's important in a story or description before they get it down on paper. It's very confidence building, and it's flexible to prevent boredom - you use whatever history/science/literature material you are currently reading.

[PeterPan]

Yup, sounds like WWE will be great. I agree you probably jumped the gun going up to WT2. It assumes an advanced dc (when you're doing it young) who is comfortable getting that narration down on paper. Until he is comfortable doing that, the rest is just clutter and making it harder. But rather than going to WT1, I suggest you do an entirely different book, say a theme book from IEW, to keep the approach but make it more spicy. You could come back to WT2 in a year and might find it a better fit. The approach of WT2 is so similar to IEW (sentence beginnings = IEW dress-ups, etc.), that you could just proceed with IEW and get to an equally (or more or less equally) good point.

 

I hear you on the english-buff who tries too hard. :) I think you're partly running into a gender difference, which is why I suggest IEW to you. I know it takes a bad wrap sometimes, but it's SO boy-friendly and will get you to where you want to be. At least download Pudewa's convention talk on boys and learning ($5 or less!). That alone would help you sort through these things. I was amazed how insensitive I was to the issue and how I could have tweaked things with WT to make it fit boys better.

[Tree House Academy]

Did you order the hardcover textbook along with the workbook (it sounds like you ordered the WWE1 workbook)? Even if it turns out that the level 1 workbook is too easy for him, the textbook will help you to place him into another level. And you can work with the textbook only, even if you don't order another level workbook.

 

 

I did. :) I bought it from a member here on the board!