Need Writing Program for 5th Grader

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

Can anyone recommend a good writing (not handwriting) progam for 5th grade/ middle school? I am trying to find a tutor for my 12 year old daughter, but am looking for a program I could start with my daughter in the interim.

My daughter reads at grade level or beyond, but has a difficult time with written composition. It doesn’t appear to me that her school stresses “how to write” strongly enough. She needs help with clarity and organization in her writing, and I hope to get this addressed before middle school. She is a capable student and wants to go to college. I usually homeschool part time in the summer.

Has anyone tried the “Step Up to Writing” program?

Thanks, Jody

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 01/30/2003 - 1:02 AM

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Jody,
I LOVE Step Up to Writing. I love it for regular ed and special ed from LD to gifted. I have been using it and my LD sixth grade students who have improved tremendously. In fact, yesterday I shared it with several of the junior high teacher at the neighbor school my 6th graders will go to next year and they were most impressed.

I shared it with a brand new teacher who is using it and of the 6 experienced junior high teachers, his student scores were the highest at the first quarter assessment. (Only one class did better but they are the gifted kids.) He teaches at low to middle income school with lots of English Language Learners.

Check out www.stepuptowriting.com They have a parent book but don’t know if it is any good but all the other materials I own and can speak for . I have been tutoring a boy who is a 6th grader and he has made excellent progress.

You might consider buying the book and teaching your child yourself if you can get away with it. Working with your own kid is not always easy but you will love this program. I even bought the video tapes (not cheap 400 bucks) but now my son’s school is going school wide with this program and the teachers are really finding success with it.

I just wish I had it years ago. I have never seen a better program.

You don’t need to look any farther as far as I’m concerned.
Michelle

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 01/30/2003 - 11:03 AM

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I was just going to recommend the Step up to writing program! It is wonderful for any age. I teach high school special ed, self-contained and inclusion and the English Department is using it after they had seen the results of me using it last year. My kids went from not being able to write a sentence to writing research papers at the end of last year. these kids were of course ‘writing’ disabled. If you get the program, get the handy pages and the manual. the handy pages come in packs of 10, but the don’t cost that much. If you buy them, I will buy what you don’t need.

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 01/30/2003 - 7:17 PM

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Thanks for the quick response! I ordered the Step Up to Writing manual only this morning. The representative at Sopris West said that I would be able to recreate the worksheets from the manual. It was a bit pricey for me, but I guess nothing is more expensive than ignorance! (BTW, Sporis West’s Read Well program has been a miracle for my son, so I am hoping this is a similar high quality program.)

It occurred to me, as I was working with daughter last night on a book report, that teaching someone to write well is really teaching them to think well. So perhaps this investment will pay off in more than just improved writing…..

Thanks again. You all are great.

Jody

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