Writing Assignment Ideas

Here are some writing prompts that I came up with for those days when the kids need a break from the ordinary copywork, dictation, penmanship workbooks, etc. I tried to come up with things that were fun, matched their interests, and would inspire them, rather than just being another assignment.

Feel free to use this list for your own school, but you'll probably want to tweak it for your own kids and their interests:

Writing List

• A letter to Grandma
• A letter to ________(favorite relative's name)
• A letter to Grandpa
• A letter to ________(a friend)
• A letter to Mama
• A letter to Daddy
  
• Something you dreamed
• Write about a movie you like
• Write about a TV show you like
• What would be a good TV show
• Write a Bible story that you heard
• Tell about somewhere you went
• Tell about somewhere you want to go
• Story in which someone learns something important
• Story in which someone learns something silly
• Story in which someone helps a friend
• Story about finding a surprise
• Story about planning a party
• Story about doing something kind
• Story about kids making something
• Story about a pony
• Story about a stuffed animal that comes to life
• Story about a TV character
• Story about _______(name of sibling)

I also had to write a second little list. Sometimes kids want to write a letter, then they don't know what to say.

Things that can go in a letter

• Tell something you like about the person
• Tell a story that happened this week
• What is ________ (your sibling) doing right now?
• Tell about something you had for a snack or dinner
• Tell about something that is outside
• Draw a picture and tell what it is
• Tell about something that is your favorite _____ (book, food, tv show, etc)

Some of my LA Lessons

Here are a couple of the Language Arts copywork lessons I wrote for my daughter, who is 8 years old and at third grade level. These are provided so that you can see what another family is doing. I'm in no way saying, "Do it this way!" I will say that my daughter has done these two lessons and they were neither too easy nor too hard.

Lesson One
Lesson Two

Deciding between the Grammar Approach and the Natural Approach

This summer I’ve been re-reading some education books by Ruth Beechick. She is a proponent of the natural method of learning to write. This is the way children learn speech, and the short definition she gives is this: Children learn to write by writing.

This is the method I’ve been using so far with Peanut. It has been working, but I started wondering if this year I should just get her some grammar workbooks and go that way. It is a hard decision to make. So far, she has been doing copying and slow dictation, as well as some writing on her own. Her own writing is usually to describe her drawings or to write small books that she is illustrating. According to Beechick, she would benefit from writing from models, instead of so much of her own creative writing. It does not help that she is a pretty reluctant writer, especially when it comes to something that she did not think of herself, but I suppose that is how most kids are.

The little booklet I have, A Strong Start in Language, does have a checklist of objectives. That is helpful. It also has some sample lessons, and those are very helpful. I am going to use those to make some lessons that come directly from our daily reading. I plan on sharing some of those lessons here in the days to come.

In my mailbox this week...

I finally got the COOL thing I ordered a while back. It is a DVD set of "The Electric Company" episodes. I really don't know why this is so entertaining to me, but it is hilarious. Now it seems very low-tech and corny, but I'm sure they were as well-done as they could be back then. It was still PBS and all. You can see clips of it here You have to click "Audio and Video Clips." I guess you would had to have watched it back then to appreciate it. My kids are young enough that they find it very interesting. They really like the "Silent E" song. It starts out: "Who can turn a "can" into a "cane?" I think Peanut just likes it for the music, but Junior is fascinated by the fact that there is a letter that doesn't make a sound.

Scott, you need to get one of these!

Todd doesn't remember this show. At all. I don't know what the deal is! I think he watched plenty of TV as a kid, I guess not daytime TV. He was probably listening to the radio. Whenever we hear a song from way back in the early seventies, he'll say, "Remember when this song came out?" No, hon, I don't remember when "An Old Fashioned Love Song" came out. How can you remember '71 or '72? He probably was listening, though.