How many papers does your 6th grader write..

[KarenC]

I have been looking for a 6th grade english syllabus online, but haven't found anything with much detail. I want to be sure my oldest dd is writing enough.

How many papers does your 6th grader write in a semester? How long is your semester? What is the minimum length? How often do they write? Do they write various types of papers, like expository, persuasive, comparison/constrast?

Any information that you can give me would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Karen

[KarenC]

Anyone?

[Cadam]

My 6th grader is using Writing Strands 4 for writing instruction and he will be writing one research type paper this year about 2-3 pages long. That will near the end of the year.

He writes paragraphs (5-7 sentences) a couple of times a week regarding something we are learning. Those paragraphs will lengthen over the year and eventually we will add research skills and it will become his longer paper.

I don't believe that children become good writers by writing a great volume of stuff. I would rather he write one paragraph well than 4 pages of nonsense. The question is not "Is my child writing enough" but "Am I challenging my child to write her best". This flows out of narration and dictation, grammar as well as reading good literature to get the flow of our language.

The ps in my area have little kids writing and writing and writing as if they think the kids will stumble upon good writing if they do it enough. I haven't seen that to be true. You can take this too far and I did for a couple of years. Ds wrote very little at all but this past year I challenged him and required more from him and he met the challenge. Now I can say "write a paragraph about _____________" and he can sit down and do it. Everything needs a rewrite but "all writing is rewriting"!

[Doran]

School started just over a month ago. So far, she has written two "papers", each about a page long. They were reports on topics they were studying in history. I'm guessing that one a month would be reasonable, but it will vary depending on (1) how long each paper has to be (2) how much writing is required in the various curricula you are using for non-L.A. subjects, and (3) on whether your student gravitates toward or away from writing. History was always the primary link to paper writing when we were hs'ing. SOTW proved useful in that regard.

Not sure this helps you at all...:confused:

[tvaleri]

We are working through IEW SWICC-B. My 6th grade boy writes at least one paper each week, either an essay, writing from pictures, mini-research, book report, etc.

That is one feature I love about IEW (among many :) Mr. Pudewa doesn't believe writing should be a subject in and of itself. It should be incorporated into each subject being studied.

Blessings,
Teresa in NC

[CAROLinON]

None, any writing she does is for her own pleasure. She writes stories, plays, poems, or whatever suits her mood.

[Sahamamama]

These may help (I hope!):

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/journaling.php

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/elementary.php

http://www.peacehillpress.com/samplepdfs/03-why-writing-fails.pdf

http://www.peacehillpress.com/samplepdfs/04-three-stages.pdf (scroll down to page 10 and following for the Middle School Years).

HTH!

[KarenC]

My 6th grader is using Writing Strands 4 for writing instruction and he will be writing one research type paper this year about 2-3 pages long. That will near the end of the year.

He writes paragraphs (5-7 sentences) a couple of times a week regarding something we are learning. Those paragraphs will lengthen over the year and eventually we will add research skills and it will become his longer paper.

I don't believe that children become good writers by writing a great volume of stuff. I would rather he write one paragraph well than 4 pages of nonsense. The question is not "Is my child writing enough" but "Am I challenging my child to write her best". This flows out of narration and dictation, grammar as well as reading good literature to get the flow of our language.

The ps in my area have little kids writing and writing and writing as if they think the kids will stumble upon good writing if they do it enough. I haven't seen that to be true. You can take this too far and I did for a couple of years. Ds wrote very little at all but this past year I challenged him and required more from him and he met the challenge. Now I can say "write a paragraph about _____________" and he can sit down and do it. Everything needs a rewrite but "all writing is rewriting"!

I think many younger children write too much and too soon. But, the most common regret I have heard from parents of high schoolers is that they wished their kids are written more when they were younger. So, I am trying to find a reasonable balance.

Thanks,
Karen

[KarenC]

School started just over a month ago. So far, she has written two "papers", each about a page long. They were reports on topics they were studying in history. I'm guessing that one a month would be reasonable, but it will vary depending on (1) how long each paper has to be (2) how much writing is required in the various curricula you are using for non-L.A. subjects, and (3) on whether your student gravitates toward or away from writing. History was always the primary link to paper writing when we were hs'ing. SOTW proved useful in that regard.

Not sure this helps you at all...:confused:


We started 6th grade at the beginning of July, so it seems like a long time to me. We are currently doing one 300 word paper related to history once a month. So that seems about right.

Thanks,
Karen

[KarenC]

We are working through IEW SWICC-B. My 6th grade boy writes at least one paper each week, either an essay, writing from pictures, mini-research, book report, etc.

That is one feature I love about IEW (among many :) Mr. Pudewa doesn't believe writing should be a subject in and of itself. It should be incorporated into each subject being studied.

Blessings,
Teresa in NC

We had been using Jump In, but she wanted to study poetry this year. We will start back with Jump In when our poetry unit is over.

Thanks,
Karen

[KarenC]

None, any writing she does is for her own pleasure. She writes stories, plays, poems, or whatever suits her mood.

I'm not sure how much dd would write if left to do it on her own. :001_smile:

Thanks,
Karen

[KarenC]

These may help (I hope!):

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/journaling.php

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/elementary.php

http://www.peacehillpress.com/samplepdfs/03-why-writing-fails.pdf

http://www.peacehillpress.com/samplepdfs/04-three-stages.pdf (scroll down to page 10 and following for the Middle School Years).

HTH!


Thanks,
I will chech these out.

Karen

[Doran]

I think many younger children write too much and too soon. But, the most common regret I have heard from parents of high schoolers is that they wished their kids are written more when they were younger. So, I am trying to find a reasonable balance.

Thanks,
Karen


I agree that it's good to instill a writing habit as early as possible, though clearly some kids will be more inclined and able to do this than others. It sounds like you're doing a good job. It also might be nice to insist on some "unstructured" writing -- journal-type work that you don't grade or correct at all -- so that your student can work on being freely creative. JMHO.