If you currently have or have had a child in PS for gr. 4, 5, and/or 6...

[plain jane]

I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind my asking a question of you. I hope it's okay to ask this here and that I won't get flamed off this board. :o

I would like to get an idea of what sort of writing assignments kids in this age group typically get in PS. I'm not trying to compare what I do to PS (this isn't what this is about) but I would like to get some more writing done across my curriculum. Thing is, I'm not very creative in coming up with ideas (and narrations are getting a bit dull sometimes) and I want to change things up a bit.

I'd love to come up with writing ideas like I remember doing in PS (and yes, some were just busy-work but as mom, I get to control what gets done here :D) but I'm drawing a blank and could use some help.

Would you mind sharing your child's experience with LA in and around grades 4-6?

Thanks so much!

[starrbuck12]

Have you looked at the Core Knowledge Sequence?

http://books.coreknowledge.org/home.php?cat=314

We homeschool, but I browse through the CK Sequence for gaps. The download is free and it has K-8 broken down by subject.

Not sure if that helps...

[Amy loves Bud]

My 6th grader's writing assignments in English have been less than great. The class is heavy on literary analysis.

Off the top of my head:

Describe your favorite birthday
Compare and contrast the cultural/historical settings of two short stories
Write a time travel story where you go back to Pompeii

In History, the writing assignments have been few and far between, but better.

Two that I can think of:

Explain factors that influenced the westward expansion of the United States

Explain the cultural impact of your assigned country on one of its colonies. (Luke did France/Haiti).

I hope this helps.

[Cadam]

So far my 4th grader is just getting prompts for a journal. That's it.

Last year in third she did a report on a famous person and one on an animal. thy had to read a book about the person/animal and then will out a sheet that had blanks. It was a really nice way to introduce oral reports.

[Tylianna]

I am making my 4th grader do one book report each week. Due by Friday, I correct it and she rewrites it.

[Mandamom]

Grade 3: first report book report, fantasy story, personal narrative -- something you did, dragon story

Grade 5: brief constructed responses (answering questions); write about Thanksgiving Break; personal narrative -- what they like to do; book report.

My 3rd grade dd is in the highest reading group and is accelerated while my older daughter struggles some with reading and writing.

[Mak_Fogs]

sometimes i just say nicely.."well, this is what i do, if you want to do it differently go ahead"...BUt i have to do what i have to do...she say nothing???? What gives???

[Bee]

Some people just can't do them. The most my 4th grade dd is usually expected to write in any of her courses is 1-2 sentences, just enough to answer the question. That being said, I noticed today that she can write 3-4 dictated sentences at a time after only hearing them once. She's a little slow at it but it'll likely come in handy when she starts having to take notes in class. Her teachers both this year and last year use tons of worksheets. I suspect many of them come from the internet. She only has a textbook for math.

[ack25]

My 6th grader has had writing assignments for LA, Science, and Social Studies.

DD's most recent LA writing assignment was to write an essay about something you are good at. The essay has to include how you became interesting in the subject matter and include instructions for someone else to do/participate in your topic.

The most recent science writing assignment was to write a story about a journey to the center of the earth. The story has to include facts about the crust, mantle and core including temperature, composition, etc.

The most recent social studies writing assigment was to pretend that you are living in a country that is a one-resource economy that only relies on coffee. Write a letter to the leader of your country that explains why you should diversify your crops.

[Heigh Ho]

Our sixth gr. writing curriculum has the content in Write Source Grade 6. It is the first year with a term paper; all grades from 2-up have included long term projects with poster and short paper. Between LA and SS there is an essay each week and about 20 paragraph response questions. Science also has a variety of writing - paragraph responses and poster projects.

[Dee_Garretson]

My daughter is in a private, not a public school, but I don't think the LA curriculum is much different than our local public schools. She's in 5th grade and so far this year they have done a unit on fables and are now working on writing one of their own. They have done a few short papers related to the history they are studying, where they make a visual for one aspect of an ancient civilization and then write a couple of paragraphs about the subject. Oh, and I just remembered the first two months were devoted to poetry, so they wrote LOTS of poetry. At first she thought she wasn't going to like it, but then she really got into it.

[urban mama]

my 4th grade son just finished a 3 paragraph paper where he was supposed to write an "editorial" on if the French introduction of fur trade to the Native American Indians was a positive or negative thing. so he had to do a bit of research, formulate and support his opinion and then sum it all up.

[plain jane]

my 4th grade son just finished a 3 paragraph paper where he was supposed to write an "editorial" on if the French introduction of fur trade to the Native American Indians was a positive or negative thing. so he had to do a bit of research, formulate and support his opinion and then sum it all up.

Oh, thanks for sharing this. I hadn't thought of having her write a paper stating her opinion on a matter. I may add this idea into something we're studying this year- just to get her used to forming an opinion. :)