I'm throwing in an extra update this week to let you know what we are covering this week in writing. (Those classes that I'm not seeing this week will have these lessons after spring break.)
Our current focus in writing is making sure our main ideas in our expository writing pieces are "broad, yet distinct," which means, the topic is broad enough to come up with supporting details, but not so general that it overlaps with another main idea.
A good example might look like this:
Topic: Moving
M.I. #1 making new friends
MI #2 going to a new school
MI #3 getting a new house
An example that would NOT work might look like this:
Topic: Moving
MI #1 feeling nervous
MI #2 going to a new school
MI #3 new teachers
In the second example, details a writer might come up with could easily fit in to more than one MI category. In addition, "new teachers" is too narrow of a topic, and not directly tied to moving. Instead, it should be a detail under the MI topic of "new school."
Once the ideas are decided upon, it's important to write them in to STRONG main idea sentences. Students at this grade level begin to lose points when they are redundant in their writing, such as, "First I will tell you about how you might feel about moving." "Next, I will tell you about going to a new school." "Finally, I'll tell you about new teachers." Dull, right? We really need to reserve First, Next, Then, Finally transitions for How To writing, such as how to build a sandcastle.
Instead, students might come up with:
MI #1 Sentence: You will surely miss your friends if you move far away, but it's a great chance to make new ones.
MI #2 Sentence: It might be a little scary to enroll at a new school.
MI #3 Sentence: Once you decorate the room at your new house, you'll begin to feel right at home.
Any extra practice you want to do at home will definitely help your child feel more comfortable. During lessons, discussions, and activities, they know exactly what to do, but the transfer is not always made to their own writing. Check out the tab at the top of my blog dealing with websites for writing. There may be opportunities to practice there.