I was working with my 3rd grader on a writing project for school. I noticed that he had taken copious notes in school in preparation for a report, and that most of them were written in simple, fact-based sentences. When asked to write a rough draft, he drafted a boring topic sentence, copied each fact from his notes, then wrote a boring concluding sentence. (I think it was “That is what I have to tell you about…”)

Does this sound familiar?

I was impressed at the amount of information my son had researched, but at the same time, I wanted to work with him so that he’d understand that simply regurgitating facts from notes does not make a well written report. I also realized that I couldn’t tackle all the issues of good writing with this one project or I’d alienate and overwhelm him, and possibly turn him off to the whole process.

So, I took a first step.

I quickly typed up his ‘rough draft’ and separated each sentence (did it in 18 pt font and skipped multiple lines between sentences) then printed them out, cut them apart, and directed him to group like facts together. This turned his one, very long paragraph into three – it was much more organized. I also pointed out a few areas where he had very similar facts that could be combined to make more interesting sentences, and make the report ‘flow’ more nicely.

I was pleased with the outcome of this little experiment, and I think it helped his project. He enjoyed manipulating the strips of paper that had his facts on them, and it gave him a way to edit that was very tactile and low-risk.

As for those lame opening and closing sentences? I decided that we’d tackle that beast with the next project!

As always, I’d love to hear feedback from fellow parents or from teachers.

Heather