Creative Writing - In 40 mins how much would you expect a Y3 child to write?

[follygirl]

Just that really? Curious what you think is achieveable in terms of A4 pieces of paper.

It should be at least 1 x ruled A4 (according to our Head)

In reality you can be lucky to get a couple of sentences.

Depends on child's ability and willingness to get on with work without any distraction.

I just asked my dd's teacher and was told that she should be doing 1.5 to 2 pages in 40 minutes! 1 page of A4 for the short writing test which is 20 minutes.
I think I would struggle.

I would expect 2 sides of A4 from my Y2 class most can manage ... the others do the title

mrz how much time would you suggest she set aside for planning the story?

I am impressed at the ability of some of your Y2 class!

I agree 1.5 -2 sides however would rather see 1 side of good quality work than 2 sides of drivel! Also dependent on size of writing, but in 40 mins most of my year 2 are able to produce 1.5-2 sides but they do practise their extended writing on a weekly basis so their stamina has improved. When I taught year 3 a few years ago who hadn't had that weekly practise and were used to short tasks they found writing more than 0.5 a side difficult. It would be interesting to know how often they practise extended writing tasks as this will have a huge impact.

We do extended writing every day> Some of the Y1 class join us once a week and they can manage half a page (some more) on narrow ruled A4.
I would suggest 10 mins planning and 30 mins writing

I am really surprised.
I don't know how much she has been writing but I would say probably just 1 side.
It was flagged as a weakness at her parents' evening. I have some ideas about what to do to help her but wanted to know what amount of work she was expected to produce.
Sadly I don't think she has been spending as much time doing extended writing as some of your pupils.

I expect quality and quantity

Yes it depends on the purpose of the writing. If it is creative writing I expect more than if it is instructions for example.

My DD would have done about two sides in that time. My DS would have struggled to write 6 lines. He's 12 now and still struggling with his writing and there's precious little support or help with it at secondary school - see if you can get your DD's school to give her some extra help with her writing, and give her some extra practice at home. My DS improved a bit by practising writing just for its own sake (eg dictation or copying) rather than trying to think what to write and how to write it all at the same time.

Could I ask those of you who are teachers.

How can I help her with extending her vocab? She does read a lot and knows a lot of words but if I were to ask her what other words to use than 'said' for example, she would probably only think of a few, instead of the dozen or more words that could be used.

I was thinking of just creating 'adjective banks' and 'adverb banks' as a way of helping her.

What would you suggest?

hmmm, my DS in year 4 would struggle with 1 page in that time. Thanks for the tips re extended writing practice, that's a good idea.

I'm finding this thread interesting as Y3 DD is struggling to write a reasonable quantity when asked. It makes it hard for the teachers to assess her abilities - there is nothing concrete. I suspect that she distracts herself trying to make it all perfect, instead of just cracking on with it.
mrz are there any exercises we could try at home to encourage her to get her ideas down on paper? Thanks (and sorry for hijacking OP).

A page of A4 at this stage in the year, with punctuation, connectives and interesting adjectives, verbs and adverbs to extend the sentences. That's fairly average in my school, with the difference in ability being marked out by the level of punctuation, vocabulary and structure being used.

In class we use Magpie books (a Pie Corbett idea) basically they jot down any interesting words they find in their own reading or when listening to others read. If they don't know the meaning they have to write down the definition too.
We also play 2 nouns and an adjective where they are given two random nouns and an adjective and have 5 mins to come up with a short story using the words and the best earns a prize.

I also have a grave stone (halloween prop) and overused words are burred - my class say "said is dead" - "and is banned"

One we often use

Ink waster
To warm up the brain and get into a creative mood - give the child a topic and ask them to write as much as they can in say, one minute. Time them and ask them to count the number of words then try again with another topic. They should write as rapidly as possible. This limbers up and frees up the mind.

Thanks for the tips mrz. I will certainly give them a go.

I like those ideas - will give it a try.
Thank you.