Help with planning language arts for 4th grader in Bigger
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 12:28 am
I'm thinking ahead to the fall here and wondered if you all could help me out.
In the fall, my daughter will be just turned 9 and starting 4th grade. She will be starting Bigger so that she can be combined with her sister, but her language arts would probably have fitted her for Preparing. I expect her to be:
- finished with R & S 3
- near the end of dictation level 3
- most of the way through her second time through DITHOR 2/3 (she is starting to read from the level 4 book pack).
My question is, what should I do with her for Language arts when she does Bigger? I planned to model it after the Preparing guide (which I own), so I was thinking she would do R & S 4 full speed, but slow DITHOR and studied dictation down to 3 times a week. But I also see in that guide (which I own) that there are writing assignments based on the poetry one day per week, and there is also presumably other writing opportunities that she will not get in Bigger.
I want to keep her challenged and progressing with her writing just as she would be if she were doing Preparing, so should I add in some sort of writing assignments? Or should we continue with DITHOR and studied dictation every day as is scheduled in the Bigger guide? She loves history and always begs for more history reading (it is her favorite part of school), so I had thought of reading the extensions to her or possibly asking her to read them herself. Should I start having her do written narrations once a week? Or should I just continue with my original plan and not worry about her missing out on the writing assignments? Or other ideas?
In the fall, my daughter will be just turned 9 and starting 4th grade. She will be starting Bigger so that she can be combined with her sister, but her language arts would probably have fitted her for Preparing. I expect her to be:
- finished with R & S 3
- near the end of dictation level 3
- most of the way through her second time through DITHOR 2/3 (she is starting to read from the level 4 book pack).
My question is, what should I do with her for Language arts when she does Bigger? I planned to model it after the Preparing guide (which I own), so I was thinking she would do R & S 4 full speed, but slow DITHOR and studied dictation down to 3 times a week. But I also see in that guide (which I own) that there are writing assignments based on the poetry one day per week, and there is also presumably other writing opportunities that she will not get in Bigger.
I want to keep her challenged and progressing with her writing just as she would be if she were doing Preparing, so should I add in some sort of writing assignments? Or should we continue with DITHOR and studied dictation every day as is scheduled in the Bigger guide? She loves history and always begs for more history reading (it is her favorite part of school), so I had thought of reading the extensions to her or possibly asking her to read them herself. Should I start having her do written narrations once a week? Or should I just continue with my original plan and not worry about her missing out on the writing assignments? Or other ideas?