6-7 yrs old - essay writing?

[Septie]

Hi all,

I am wondering how long are the essays that your kids are writing in 1st/2nd grade? How good is the spelling/grammar?
Mine absolutely hates being told what to write about and while he is years ahead in math, I am afraid he is struggling in writing - but maybe we are simply expecting too much...OH and I surely weren't writing essays at this age, but think schools move differently now (though at the end of high school, students appear less well prepared than we were). Thanks ladies!

 

[Nibblenic]

Mines in year 2 and although expected to write sometimes at length nothing like I would call an essay. Certainly not more than one side of A4

She is expected to use good spelling, and grammar to her expected level which is fairly high these days. As well as good handwriting, which sh struggles with

It this homework or school work you are talking about?

 

[Septie]

We are making him write at home - had heard from school that he was drawing too much during writing class (they have boxes to draw on the sheets, so of course he draws). But it's not clear how much they write in class...When you say one page of A4, about how many sentences? With intro and conclusion? Thanks!
DS CAN write wonderful essays, but he hates it, and usually just does the minimum I ask for.

 

[Natsku]

Why are you making him write essays at home? Especially if he hates it. That's not going to stop him drawing too much in writing class at school.

 

[Septie]

We are not happy with the school for multiple reasons, and will probably homeschool next year (it's not worth 25k a year...and public schools here are terrible). One of the reasons being a lack of communication/expectations/challenging him where he is (can do multiplication and division but working on basic addition facts at school). I think since he is quiet and obedient, and a good student, they just let him be. So... we are trying to see how homeschooling will work while school is on break. While we've seen a lot of math and grammar worksheets that he brought home, we've seen very little in terms of writing, and certainly nothing written by the other students...Hence the question about what's expected at this age.

 

[Quartz]

I think you are expecting to much. What are you expectations of him? To write an essay or more than one page with an introduction and conclusion? Why? Why push him?

DD I would say usually writes 1/2 side to a side with spelling and grammar (she just turned 7). Have you checked out the curriculum expectations?

 

[george83]

I taught year 2 for 5 years straight and the ability varies so much that it genuinely depends on your child and their interests. I've had able children write 2 sides of a4 on a story or piece of non fiction if their imagination is captured, this could be with almost perfect spelling punctuation and grammar. I've also taught children who at the end of year 2 still cannot write the words 'it' or 'is'. There is also often a difference between maths and writing ability with some boys being stronger at maths than literacy.

I would usually suggest speaking to your child's school about their ability and potential but it sounds like a break down in the relationship might have already happened

Eta - we'd never get children to write essays at school but they would frequently do independent writing on a given subject or theme (fiction and non fiction). For the more able 6/7 year old this could end up being a long piece of writing similar to what adults would consider an essay maybe

 

[Natsku]

Well I can tell you they certainly don't expect any essay writing at 6/7 years old here, I think its really young to push anything like that but you could encourage him to write about something that interests him, or about a book he's enjoyed and just let him choose the length and see what his level is at.

 

[sabby52]

My son is primary 4 (year 3) and he has never had to do Essay writing, if I remember right my eldest didnt start doing proper Essay writing until the last year of primary school (age 10-11) My son loves writing and his imagination is fantastic but I dont think he would write in Essay style. His spelling, grammar and punctuation are well above average for his age but again I still think he is still to young to write Essay style. He gets creative writing for homework but they are never expected to do more than 2 homework book pages (about 1 A4 sheet)
I really do think 6/7 is far to young to be pushing Essay writing especially if he doesnt enjoy writing.

 

[minties]

I don't recall writing essays until I was about 11!

 

[jd83]

I agree with others, I think that age is way too young to expect lengthy (as in a full page or more) essay writing. I wouldn't expect more than a few sentences to a short paragraph at that age. My son is almost 6, and his "essays" consist of 1-3 sentences about a topic. If he is spending the majority of the writing time doing the drawing activity, I'd be asking for feedback on what tactics they've already tried to get him back on task with finishing the writing portion. I don't think the answer to this problem is forcing him to do additional lengthy writing assignments at home. The issue needs to be better addressed for when he has the assignment at school, so that he is completing his work there, as expected. That's going to take open communication between you and his teachers. I see you've said communication has not been good at all. Maybe schedule a meeting to talk in person would get it addressed better?

 

[tommyg]

I don't recall writing essays until I was much older either.

You say you are thinking about homeschooling, but surely the point of homeschooling is to have the child work at their own pace and avoid comparing to others?
There seems to be a lot of people on this forum who homeschool but ive only came across 2 families who have done it. One was a specialist tutor who did it successfully during the primary years before sending kids to high school. The other family seemed to struggle with it completely and were failing the child.

 

[Septie]

Thanks ladies for the very helpful feedback! Yes - 6 did seem young for essay writing to me as well, and I really wasn't sure what to expect at this age (heck, we just learned to write at this age!), which is why I posted He did write a very nice essay about Easter this weekend, coincidentally.
If we do homeschool next year, we will likely hire a retired teacher to support his English skills. We are not thinking of doing this long-term - but we are in a very very bad location for schools Even that expensive private school is more than a 30 min drive away (1hr+ roundtrip twice a day! with both OH and I working). We may have to move.

 

[SarahBear]

Here are the writing standards for first graders (ages 6-7) in Oregon:

• Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.
• Write informative/explana tory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
• Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

 

[morri]

essays where I went to school was started in year 3 so at 8/9 years of age.