4Real Forums: Copywork question

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Topic: Copywork question

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kristinannie
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Posted: May 08 2013 at 5:11pm \| IP Logged

We are doing CM style language arts. My son does copywork daily. I usually write something that is about 4 lines long and then he does one line a day. How much do you discuss grammar, punctuation, capitalization, etc. and how much do you just let the child see it written properly? I have been doing copywork selections with quotation marks so we had a short discussion yesterday about why there needs to be a comma or a period before a quotation mark. This discussion was spurred by my son asking a question about that. It got me thinking that maybe I should be actually discussing more of these items with him. The fact that he was asking a question did tell me that he at least noticed this trend. I would love to hear your thoughts on this! Thanks!

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Mackfam
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Posted: May 09 2013 at 4:26pm \| IP Logged

kristinannie wrote:

How much do you discuss grammar, punctuation, capitalization, etc. and how much do you just let the child see it written properly?

For a 6 yo? Not often. I mostly let them see the sentence written correctly, spelled correctly, and direct them to copy it EXACTLY as they see it written - slowly and with their best effort. I don't require a minimum amount of work written - but I do set a timer for a short time. We stop even if the child is in the middle of a line.

Once a child is reading well, I may introduce very, very basic grammar ideas - but not before 3rd grade. I want copywork to solidify good penmanship habits before I begin to take a new road/focus with copywork. Dictation lessons come soon enough and I can approach more grammar/spelling through these dictation exercises when the child has really built the habit of correct form in penmanship.

These are the only things I introduce in later copywork years before dictation lessons:

** Sentences begin with capital letters.
** There is punctuation at the end of every sentence.
** Commas are used to separate items in a list. (There are other reasons for commas but this is all I introduce at this age).

kristinannie wrote:

This discussion was spurred by my son asking a question about that.

The fact that he was asking a question did tell me that he at least noticed this trend.

Yes, when they notice something like that and ask directly, I do explain very simply. But I don't do this regularly, and usually don't point anything grammatical/mechanical out in a copywork lesson since the purpose of copywork is really just to solidify penmanship and I want that habit developed and useful by the time we hit 4th grade and dictation lessons.

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Jen Mackintosh
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kristinannie
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Posted: May 09 2013 at 8:06pm \| IP Logged

Jen, thanks for taking the time to respond when you have your new baby to take care of!!! Thanks for setting my mind at ease. I started feeling like I wasn't doing enough, but I will just keep doing what I have been doing!

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