any suggestions for activities that will help a yr 6 who is really struggling with writing

[Bitzer]

Hello knowledgeable folk,

I'm working in a volunteer capacity with a Yr6 boy who is very behind on his writing and maths. His concentration levels are really poor so I need to find a variety of engaging activities that I can do in the hour-long session that we have together to help him improve his writing. Any ideas?

The maths side feels a bit easier to tackle but any suggestions for fun maths activities also much appreciated.

Thanks v much,

bumping

Have been looking online but writing activities that can be done in short bursts seem to be a be thin on the ground

Um.

By volunteer I assume you mean you aren't trained?

Are you taking him out of class or tutoring him at home?

I'm not a teacher by profession, no (though I did do a PGCE years ago and have done some training at the school that I volunteer at).

I'm one of a number of volunteers who work with children identified by the school as being likely to benefit from extra one-on-one time - at the moment he comes out of class for sessions with me. We have work books but they mostly consist of very traditional comprehension-type exercises each of which takes a long time. I was looking for something to break them up with.

Does he like hands in things? We use very cheap shaving foam and the kids draw letters or numbers in it. Or you can use cornflower with a bit of water. Goes gloopy and you can make marks in it. ??

Hands on not hands in!!

Have you tried getting him to mindmap his thoughts either as a way of summarising a topic or planning. Using colours helps. DS yr5 finds they get him started much faster even if does seem like an extra step.

I don't think the problem is handwriting, it's sounds more like content?

Thanks v much, all – appreciate the suggestions thus far

Sorry, I haven't been very clear - it is, as gymboy says, more a problem of content than letter formation (though that could probably do with some work too).
thank you.

isee like the mindmap idea v much

Try some short writing activities. So you break up hour session into 5 mins initial writing an interesting sentence (what I had for breakfast/did yesterday night) using adjectives, adverbs etc . Then a couple of 10 min activities like writing a description: thoughts, emotions, 5 senses. Take in interesting pictures to spark off. Build a story, practice paragraphs. BBC bitesize is very good as is Times educational supplement online and anyone can create an account and download great resources/worksheets.

Definitely read, read, read! And TES has loads of worksheets for diary of a wimpy kid!

overthemill that's brilliant, thank you

coconutty he's not a keen reader. His reading is not bad at all but at the moment I think it's really unlikely he'd read outside of school time. Great to have a recommendation though

I think you need anything that gets him talking and describing first, as a warm up and also to increase his confidence in using words and sentences.

I agree with Ros Wilson (who is behind the Big Talk) "if the child can't say it, the child can't write it." - so although it is a "writing" session, I would not be afraid of having a lot of talk before the writing.

e.g. warm-up games where you have several similar objects (e.g. ten green leaves, all different) - he has to describe them so you guess which one he means; games where you discuss the differences / similarities between things? Can be crazy - e.g. a banana and a phone (you can hold them both in your hand, you could have them both in Africa, ...)

Then work on describing things with the five senses and who/what/where/when/how/why. Maybe a different picture or object each week - or make it fun, take in actual objects e.g. from your kids dress-up box.

Take a boring sentence - The man ran out of the building and turn it into several different stories just by changing the nouns. The firefighter ran out of the palace, the robber ran out of the bank, the teacher ran out of the school. How many can he create? What happened next? How much more exciting would adverbs and adjectives make it?

Story mountains are very useful, am sure you would find some on TES. So he plans his beginning-middle-end or conflict-climax-resolution before he starts to write.

I personally think there is no harm in reading TO children who are behind. It means they hear correct English modelled and gives you something to talk about. If you look at the Scholastic study guide for Millions of Cats (a wonderful book), you will get the kind of idea: www.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=36051 This could then be turned into a piece of writing.

if you like diary of a wimpy kid type stuff, there is a book you write in yourself - my dyslexic ds1 did it when he was y6 age too. really motivated him. you sort of write your own diary / secret book thing, it's fab. Called "Diary of a wimpy kid do it yourself" iirc

I would definitely get him reading, and if he won't read then read to him.

Only reading in school time will be holding him back.

Great suggestions, caterpillar thanks

gymboy yup, I'm sure that's right. Going to work on that.

Just found that wimpy kid DIY book. looks good - thanks, MrsShrek

This sounds like a very ill thought out plan to me.

This child, who is behind, is going to be withdrawn from class for an hour - which will make him more behind - to work with someone who's untrained and has not been given clear instructions on what to do.

I would be very unhappy about this happening to my child.

This sutton trust report was very clear that this was bad practice.

I wouldn't call someone with a PGCE "untrained"

Untrained enough to ask questions like this on an internet forum.

You're not a qualified teacher till you've completed your NQT year.

Besides, I don't get the impression from the post, that her PGCE was a requirement for doing this work.

cheryzan inn that case, all parent volunteers in schools should stop listening to children read? They are not trained.

Poppycock! anything that encourages kids esp one to one is helpful and is of value. if only more people would do it - and more parents help their own kids out by reading and writing and talking to them. you'd be amazed at how far back my y6s have gone after 6 weeks spent with their parents who seem to think that only teachers can teach.

btw, you have Newly QTS for first year after studying. then its QTS if you meet standards. the N doesn't stand for NOT qualified.

A parent reading with a 5 year old who has no difficulties, is very, very different to a parent reading with a Y6 boy who is behind.

Parent volunteers should not be used to help children on the SEN register. Ever.

Kids on the SEN register generally already spend too much time with TAs instead of teachers. The damage this causes is immense.

Reading to an adult does not teach a child to read. Teaching them to read teaches them to read (ie by following a structured phonics program.)
This fallacy that reading to people helps may be why this child is behind in the first place.

I am speaking from personal experience..... But it has also been commented on by the Sutton trust and Ofsted are looking for this not to happen now.

How do you know your Y6s went back - as opposed to their Y5 teacher being over generous? If a Y6 child still needs help to read then they need specialist help. Not their parent. And not some random other parent.

Same with writing. They need to be taught to write by someone who knows what they are doing and is following some kind of a plan.

Er, right - well, Cheryzan. I was actually asking for suggestions about engaging writing-based activities I could use to break up the other 'prescribed' work I am doing with said pupil. Admittedly my first post was written in a bit of a hurry and probably slightly misleading. Nonetheless, it's surely obvious that I was asking for people to share ideas, things that have worked etc (rather than expound their theories on the evils of volunteer programmes ).

The pupil I'm working with does have SEN support as well. The school's headteacher and learning mentor who I meet with regularly (and both of whom I think are probably better qualified to judge the situation than you are) have deemed additional (guided) one-to-one support to be a good thing. That's good enough for me.

As for volunteer reading programmes – all the ones I've come across run throughout the school rather than just being restricted to parents 'reading with a 5 year old who has no difficulties'.

Also, I'm not a parent volunteer.

Good luck.

I hope the effectiveness of the intervention is measured in some way so they can decide whether to kep it, increase it or reduce it.