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Curriculum Helps: Language Arts Ideas
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Request: Do YOU have any other suggestions for Language Arts? If so, e-mail us your ideas by clicking here
Language Arts Links Guide
to Writing a Basic Essay Teach
Your Child to Read in Two Weeks Handwriting
for Kids
Writing Contests Ultimate Guide to Student Contests American Society of Mechanical Engineers Student Contests and Competitions Be sure to see our Library Page for Book Report links and more ideas! Writing Ideas for a worried mom of a second grader: Allie's response: Have your child record a story into a tape recorder. Let him make up stories that he can dictate into it. Then you could write them down, and he could see how well he's doing! I only have mine doing copywork ...not making things up, although they do enough of that on their own. Both my boys are into making comic books.
With a boy that young, I wouldn't worry too much. I would let him copy a couple of sentences or a short paragraph every day (they are using those fine motor muscles, seeing good grammar & punctuation, etc). I have my youngest copy a paragraph or 2 (remember, he's 10!) into a spiral bound notebook. I have him copy a chapter (this could take a month) out of whatever book he is currently reading. Also, let him tell a story to you. You write it down, then let him copy it into a special notebook and even let him illustrate his story. My youngest loves doing this. He really enjoys reading his last year's stories! Do something simple and
don't worry right now about the "creativeness." You want
him to build good writing and communication skills and that does not
happen overnight. Select a topic that interests him such as dinosaurs.
Have him write 3 sentences about dinosaurs...Name 3 different kinds
of dinosaurs. How big was the brontosuarus? Verrrrrrrry simple and
basic. Then you can move on to more descriptive and detailed sentences
as he masters the basics. Jamie's response: Do you have him keep a journal? That's what I would do at this age and that's all I'd do at this age for creative writing, especially. We still do journal. Here's how I do it:
He can do it more on his own now. But I have to give him prompts like: what's the man's name? what is he doing? why is he doing that? Eventually I think he'll be able to do these things on his own. I do not grade journal
other than to circle spelling mistakes. It's just something to help
him learn to enjoy writing. Keep in mind that he's in 5th grade now,
so this has been a long process. I think boys, especially, have to
be taught how to do this. It doesn't come naturally. Now we also cut out the
parts of speech from mags and newspapers: They all go into envelopes and then we start by picking a noun. Then a verb. Then we add articles, prepositions, more nouns (think direct objects, etc) and whatever else we need to make a funny sentence and he uses this for a story starter. The only rule is you're not allowed to put any words back. You keep working until you have a sentence of some sort. You might have to tweak the verb forms or stuff, but it's funny. Sometimes we do both: a picture and a silly sentence and I can't even tell you the hilarious writings we've gotten out of that! :) It takes a while to accumulate enough words to have a good variety, but this is also good practice at the parts of speech as you search the newspaper together. Even a 1st or 2nd grader can do nouns (person, place, thing) or verbs (action words) and you can make it more sophisticated as they grow up. I just made this up, but it's a good use of the daily newspaper if you subscribe to it - helps to recycle. I reuse my words (and should laminate them, probably) but my pictures I staple on the left side of the notebook page, and the story goes on the right so at the end of the year, we have a nicely "illustrated" storybook that Wes is so proud of. I love English! Mary Leggewie's response: I had Yvette dictate a
story to me while I typed! Then I'd have her re-write it in her own
handwriting. Letters seemed to work the best for her, and if she could
draw a picture in the letter, so much the better! Writing ideas for older elementary and up: Mary Leggewie's idea: Letters and journals. I got this idea of a shared journal from a friend locally. Get a nice journal and write a note to your child. Then the child has to write back to you. I did this with Yvette when she was twelve, and it brought us even closer to each other. She would be so excited about writing to me, knowing that I'd write her back. She would share very private thoughts and concerns with me. She never did this during "school hours." She'd write it, almost secretly, and then whisper in my ear that she'd finished. She'd check back with me shortly afterwards to see if I'd read it yet, or if I'd written a response yet. She really was interested in this. I never corrected her journal, but her spelling errors would show up later on her spelling work! I can't recommend this enough--it really brought us close. Martha Robinson's idea: Try this free and easy idea! Start with a fairy tale. Have her read it and then narrate it to you. Now ask her to think about how she could change it to make it different -- funny, strange, etc. Brainstorm with her on this if necessary. Then have her tell you the new story and YOU write it down. Then let her copy it the next day. It is really difficult for many children to think and write at the same time, so if YOU do the writing, their stories become much more rich and interesting. Besides all that, you should be able to spell and punctuate better so when she copies it, it will require less correction. Also, try working on outlining skills. Martha Robinson ideas on Business Letter Writing: 1. Resume cover letter
Jamie K on Journal Writing: Do you have your child keep a journal? That's what I would do at this age and that's all I'd do at this age for creative writing, especially. We still do journal. Here's how I do it: I cut pictures out of magazines and newspaper and put them in a big manilla envelope. Every day, ds pulls out one picture. We work together to come up with a beginning of a story and then he finishes it. For example, yesterday was a picture of a guy on a motorcycle driving past an official looking building. My ds came up with this starting sentence: Frank, the biker, drove past the school quickly because.... I give him about 20 min to write (less sometimes) and he came up with a story about not wanting to put his kids in ps so he was driving really fast...and so on. He can do it more on his own now. But I have to give him prompts like: what's the man's name? What is he doing? Why is he doing that? Eventually I think he'll be able to do these things on his own. I do not grade journal
other than to circle spelling mistakes. It's just something to help
him learn to enjoy writing. Keep in mind that he's in 5th grade now,
so this has been a long process. I think boys, especially, have to
be taught how to do this. It doesn't come naturally. From a post (Nov 2001) by Laurajean on getting boys to write: I have 2 boys, 10 & 15. What I have noticed about boys is that they seem to be slower in developing the small motor muscle skills that are needed for handwriting. Both of mine have disliked the actual mechanics of handwriting (holding the pencil, moving it across the paper, etc) My oldest has/had some of the vision problems that Mary's son has. His handwriting was HORRIBLE and totally illegible for awhile. It has improved by leaps and bounds, though, so there is hope. With a boy that young, I wouldn't worry too much. I would let him copy a couple of sentences or a short paragraph every day (they are using those fine motor muscles, seeing good grammar & punctuation, etc). I have my youngest copy a paragraph or 2 (remember, he's 10!) into a spiral bound notebook. I have him copy a chapter (this could take a month) out of whatever book he is currently reading. Also, let him tell a story to you. You write it down, then let him copy it into a special notebook and even let him illustrate his story. My youngest loves doing this. He really enjoys reading his last year's stories! Do something simple and don't worry right now about the "creativeness." You want him to build good writing and communication skills and that does not happen overnight. Select a topic that interests him such as dinosaurs. Have him write 3 sentences about dinosaurs...Name 3 different kinds of dinosaurs. How big was the brontosuarus? Verrrrrrrry simple and basic. Then you can move on to more descriptive and detailed sentences as he masters the basics. I wouldn't worry too much over it. He will learn to write well. And like Mary said, we are in it for the long haul. Another idea on writing by SoCalPam: My children would rather
do something with their hands than sit and write about it. Sound familiar?
For study on constellations, we read legends about the stars written
by Native Americans and Romans. It was difficult for the kids to understand
how five stars could represent a woman sitting on a chair! We took
tiny shells (gummed stars work even better) and sprinkled them across
a sheet of black construction paper. After careful study, we connected
our shells (stars) with metallic pens and glued down the pertinent
shells, scooping off the rest. Then the kids wrote a legend for their
constellation. From a post by Jamie (Nov 2001): Now we also cut out the
parts of speech from mags and newspapers: They all go into envelopes and then we start by picking a noun. Then a verb. Then we add articles, prepositions, more nouns (think direct objects, etc) and whatever else we need to make a funny sentence and he uses this for a story starter. The only rule is you're not allowed to put any words back. You keep working until you have a sentence of some sort. You might have to tweak the verb forms or stuff, but it's funny. sometimes we do both: a picture and a silly sentence and I can't even tell you the hilarious writings we've gotten out of that! :) It takes a while to accumulate enough words to have a good variety, but this is also good practice at the parts of speech as you search the newspaper together. Even a 1st or 2nd grader can do nouns (person, place, thing) or verbs (action words) and you can make it more sophisticated as they grow up. I just made this up, but it's a good use of the daily newspaper if you subscribe to it - helps to recycle. I reuse my words (and should laminate them, probably) but my pictures I staple on the left side of the notebook page, and the story goes on the right so at the end of the year, we have a nicely "illustrated" storybook that Wes is so proud of. I love English! :)
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