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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Story writing and Yr2 boys

24 replies

sailingby · 29/12/2013 21:40

I'd like to know what is the 'norm' for writing abilities for reasonably clever Yr2 boys. Are your DS able to write 5-10 sentences about a topic with little help / are they writing full page essays or do you struggle to get them to put pen to paper too write in a structured way?
DS is in the latter category, tho his verbal communication is excellent, as is his handwriting and spelling. His teacher says he manages fine at school and says not to worry about it at home - but she hasn't experienced the battles to get him to do written homework and thank you letters!
He seems to need to have an almighty meltdown before he gets down to write, after which he's usually able to get down a few good sentences.
He's quite an 'intense' boy, and probably suffers from my tendency to want perfection, which may be obstructing his ability to put pen to paper.
What would you suggest?

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marmitecat · 29/12/2013 21:42

Story cubes. Original or voyages. A nice notebook and some encouragement.

nonicknameseemsavailable · 29/12/2013 21:50

could you get him some sort of 'secret notebook'? if he is worried about not doing things right or well enough then this might encourage him to try writing but without anyone able to see what he is doing. so perhaps that and story cubes or making a story box/bag of his own might get him interested?

Original poster

sailingby · 29/12/2013 21:52

Thanks! I hadn't come across story cubes before, and may give them a try. Believe me, we have tried gentle encouragement until we are blue in the face! we bought him a nice hardback notebook (no effect). We've been struggling on this for over a year.

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nonicknameseemsavailable · 29/12/2013 21:57

I think some children just don't like writing and it is important to remember that his teacher says he manages fine at school so it could well just be he doesn't enjoy it.

DD1 was reluctant at first with writing because she seemed worried about spelling things wrong but we got through that with the secret notebook and now she loves writing anything and everything and does some very good spellings (she is 6). DD2 is more confident with it because she has seen her sister writing.

almapudden · 29/12/2013 22:02

I don't know if you can still get them, but my brother and his friends loved those themed filofaxes - 'Spy Files' and the like - that you could get in the early to mid 90s. They had lots of little bits to fill in and the opportunity for more extended writing, but they were really fun!

Original poster

sailingby · 29/12/2013 22:05

But with a secret notebook how do you get them to write sentences? He's often making lists and random comments and 'plans' etc on notebooks, it's the move to writing 'storys ' which he doesn't get. And I feel that if he is to achieve his potential at school / in education then we need to help him overcome this one (fairly major) stumbling block.

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Original poster

sailingby · 29/12/2013 22:09

Thanks Alma, I've had a quick look but they don't do those from what I can see. But extended writing is something I hadn't thought of, so I'll look into that.
He's a voracious (and advanced) reader, I just don't understand why he has this one 'block'

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SwimmingMom · 29/12/2013 22:17

OP - we were in the exact same position couple of months ago. DD is in Yr2 & a very advanced reader, but struggling to write. We did baby steps, first copying out a phase from a book to improve writing confidence, then writing a page on her own, then the story mountain & now she does short essays in 30 mins. Took a while but just needed a boost & constant work. We did 'bits' every weekend to keep up the consistency. Now focussing on adjectives & time sequential sentences. TBH her spellings & punctuation are far from perfect but she's happy to write every once in a while.

SwimmingMom · 29/12/2013 22:20

Page not phase!

Original poster

sailingby · 29/12/2013 22:21

Swimmingmom: where you are now sounds like nirvana! But it was quite a big step from going from copying sentences to writing a page? And who chose the subject on which she wrote? You certainly made a lot of progress in 2 months!

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tribpot · 29/12/2013 22:24

Ds and I write his stories together. So he will walk up and down in the living room making the story up. I take notes and then he writes it up from the notes (admittedly with some strong 'encouragement' from me, as is ever the way with homework). His handwriting is not good enough for him to be able to write as fast as his brain can make up the story, and although he is very articulate verbally I don't think he gets quite how to put it down on paper.

I think he also has to feel motivated. When his step-grandfather died recently, he wrote a long and very heartfelt card to his grandmother about it with no prompting at all from me. I should stress this is not my recommended solution :) But it might help explain why they don't feel motivated in everyday circumstances.

mummy1973 · 29/12/2013 22:27

Sounds just like my son in yr2 only mine doesn't want to write at school either. You are not alone! My ds is a good reader and imaginative so I don't understand it either. l am going with the hope that he will do it when he wants to (he can so I'm not concerned he can't). Think he wants to do it well or not at all...lots of positive reinforcement going on but not much writing and I am not going to push it.

nonicknameseemsavailable · 29/12/2013 22:29

I think the sentences just evolved naturally in our case but then she wanted to write.

Can he make up stories verbally? what about doing joint stories? he writes a sentence, then you do, then him and so on. they could be silly ones so you don't know the previous sentence, make him see writing can be fun.

Extremewife · 29/12/2013 22:35

If it's any consolation we are in the same place as you with our Yr2DS.

I have found building up to 'homework' helps ie we will be doing homework in x mins y mins etc. Also after checking his school work with his teacher I have decided it's the pressure to get it right that frustrates him. I have backed off and he seems a little better but honestly if I get 3/4sentences with coherent writing and spelling I can decode I am happy.

Hope that helps??

Original poster

sailingby · 29/12/2013 22:35

Tribpot: another good idea about writing down DS's ideas in note form and getting him to write it afterwards. DS happily wrote birthday thank you letters to his best friends, it was the ones to relatives he was less keen to do!
My stores of positive re-inforcement have almost been used up (hence the desperate post). It shouldn't happen, but when I lose my rag with him, and he gets upset, it seems to reduce his stress levels and he calmly sits down and writes a few good sentences. I HATE this.

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Original poster

sailingby · 29/12/2013 22:53

Thanks Extremewife. Good to know from you and a number of people that we're not alone. I will try some of these tactics and hope that we make some progress.

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Ferguson · 30/12/2013 17:43

If he has access to a cassette recorder, or some other recording medium, can he dictate stories, and then write them out later?

As a TA, with VERY reluctant Yr2 boys I would type to their dictation (I'm a touch typist) and they loved to see their ideas coming up on screen almost as quickly as they said them. It was amazing some of the things they could come up with: rather a lot of aliens, and blood and gore, but you have to start somewhere!

Maybe have a detailed look together at stories he does enjoy, and he if he can gain ideas from those.

Or you give him a 'setting' and he has to make up the characters and action. Also, give him a simple sentence or scenario, and get him to 'pad it out' with good descriptions, detailed action etc.

toomuchicecream · 30/12/2013 19:39

Why the focus on story writing? It's less than 50% of the English curriculum in school - non fiction writing is just as important and he might be more inspired to write about facts. So can he write a recount of something he's done (perhaps in a letter to a grandparent or a diary)? Could he write a set of instructions on how to do something he's enjoyed? Could he produce his own information book about something he's interested in? Or does he enjoy reading poetry (my lazy reluctant reader son did - not so many words to bother with)? If so, could he be inspired to write different kinds of poems?

mrz · 30/12/2013 19:47

I'm afraid that isn't true toomuchicecream there isn't a 50/50 split

toomuchicecream · 30/12/2013 20:24

How would you describe the split then? I would say approx 40% fiction, 40% non fiction, 20% poetry (although I've tended to do 50% non fiction and 10% poetry in practise - that's just the way it's worked out).

freetrait · 30/12/2013 20:45

I think writing is hard. Give it a year or two. Not that that helps!

MilkRunningOutAgain · 30/12/2013 21:24

We were in this position, and I didn't manage to get DS to write much, but he did get much less resistant in yr 4 and is now much happier to write in yr 6 . So it can have a happy outcome, he now will sit and do homework, even stories, without a meltdown though he does not write for pleasure. But he does write when he sees a need to, did loads of cards for Christmas and a few thank you letters without needing prompting.

mrz · 31/12/2013 07:42

I would say fiction is very much smaller percentage

children need to write instructions, letters, diary entries, reports, recounts, discussion, explanation, persausive ....

Original poster

sailingby · 31/12/2013 14:13

It's story and letter writing that he struggles with. Writing facts and instructions he gets on with ok. Maybe a half way house is writing explanations as mrz suggested. Another battle with thank you letters today - but once he gets on a roll he's ok. Reducing the pressure on him sounds the right approach, I just wonder whether he'll ever get anything down on paper - maybe I should test it out and see what happens.
Might also see If he can write stories on the new laptop which is seen as the new treat!
Thanks for all your suggestions - it's given me a 'bank' of things to try in 2014!

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