My tutor is looking for a writing instruction workbook for my child.Child is in 4th grade writing about 2nd grade level. Speech is not clear at times misses the verb in sentences this carries into her writing.Worked with explode the code in reading doing well with that,child likes the pictures.Any suggestions for workbook so child will write complete sentences,please let me know. Thanks
Re: needed writing instruction workbook
Use this simple idea. Choose twenty-five words you child knows on a theme. Color code words to function. Example: Nouns/Pronous black Verbs/Helping verbs/Exclammatives/Infinitives green
Adjectives/Adverbs/Conjunctions,etc red
If you have a singular noun - put its plural on the back church/churches kid/kids
If you have a singular tensed verb - put its plural tense on the back is/are was/were
Choose a “hard” word together. Work with it a minute so he/she knows it well.
Now ask questions and see if he can build one sentence answers. Then, copy the answers on paper remembering to capitalize and punctuate.
Have blank cards with the colored pens so if he needs a word, you can add it to the group.
Show how even better sentences can be built.
Hope this helps a bit.
Re: needed writing instruction workbook
I’m using a writing program from SRA now with some of the students in my resource room, it’s called Expressive Writing. It might me a little expensive, but from what I’ve seen so far it’s worth it. It starts off very simple, at a level where their not even writing full sentences, and integrates verbs (regular and irregular), pronouns, and other parts of speech into writing a complete sentence, then builds to a complete paragraph, then to a series of paragraphs. Almost everything is read out loud by the instructor, and it can easily be modified so that everything is read out loud. Some of the passages are in cursive, but these are ones that the students have to copy. I solved this for my kids who can’t read cursive by simply writing the sentence in print above it. One lesson takes 45-50 min. with my group, but you may find you can move faster with just one child.
Go to http://www.sra4kids.com/product_info/direct/ ~ on the left side of the screen there is a list of the programs they offer, scroll down until you see Expressive Writing. I hope this helps, good luck!
This is not a workbook, but an approach that could work if applied to simple reading material your child has already mastered. Choose a short reading passage of interest to your child. If the original passage is, for example, 5 sentences, you have the child use lined paper to write the numbers 1 to 5 on the left side, skipping every other line. Then you have the child read the first sentence of the reading material and help him/her come up with 3 key words and write them down, separated by commas. You continue this through the five sentences and set aside the reading passage. Then you have the child read of the sheet and use just the key words to retell the passage orally. He or she may have to try this two or three times to have it be relatively smooth, and they may find that naturally in retelling they are combining two of the original sentences into one. Then have the child use the key words to write the sentences one at a time, also allowing him or her to combine two sentences here or there if that is what comes naturally.
This technique is the foundation of an approach to writing taught by the Institute for Excellence in Writing. You can find out more by visiting the website www.writing-edu.com. The website is a bit confusing, but on the leftside click on newsletters. A list of articles will then appear—click on the one entitled “Writing Without Tears.” It explains the foregoing technique and the rationale behind it very clearly. It also will take you through a simple example.
Beause you can use this approach with any reading material the child finds interesting, I think it is far superior to using a workbook, which inevitably will ask the child to write about things he or she doesn’t care much about or, even worse, demand that he or she make up sentences about some vast subject like cars, leaving the child totally stumped about what to write about. Also, the keyword approach may very well allow the verb problem may take care of itself, particularly if the chosen passages use action verbs rather than relying on the verb “to be.” In addition, the oral portion of the exercise may over time help the child put more verbs in his or her spoken language. Finally, this approach is totally free, but if you find it successful and want your child to progress to higher level writing you might consider co-buying the IEW program with your tutor (it’s done through videotapes).