Concerned at the lack of writing assignments covered in year 4 so far.

[classicjaguar]

Hi, I am just looking for some advice as to whether this is the 'norm' for the first term in year 4 in a state primary. So far this term my DC age 8 has only been asked to do 2 written pieces of work in English, each concentrating on a different style of writing. Also when I went in to look at their books recently in school I really was a bit taken aback as to how little written ( or even typed) work they appeared to have done. My DC is reasonably dilligent so i know they will have completed everything that has been asked of them, but I feel writing longer pieces is something they definitely need more practice at and two or three pieces in a term doesn't feel like enough. However, I appreciate, teachers have a great deal to cover so perhaps this is the norm and I need to do more at home. I would be really grateful if anyone could give me any advice as to what it is reasonable to expect. Thanks!

Writing is not only done in English though. They may do some in other topics too.
If you think your dc needs to do more, you can always do some at home.

What is your concern based on? Your own memory of school? Comparison with another school? Have you checked the curriculum? These days it's very driven by children demonstrating different things within their work so it's not just about long pieces of writing.
My eldest was pushed to write more than half a page at that age, but he was well on target and is apparently on target for a grade 8-9 in year 11 for English. He's still only 12. so it doesn't necessarily mean he'll get it, but he's obviously in line with what is expected at this point to achieve well.

We tend to plan to look in depth at a fiction and a non fiction type of text each term, so one a half term. There will be lots of reading and exploring of those texts and the features they have, and plenty of sentence level and work level work to give them the skills to use. Then they plan and finally write their finished piece of writing. It takes time.

We do also, in topic work, use other types of writing as and when they are appropriate, but that would be found in our topic books, not our English books.

Thanks all, that is very helpful. Based on the evidence in the books Irvineonehone there doesn't seem to be much more writing being done in other topics either! But you are right I could do some more at home. I think perhaps my expectations are based on my own experience slightlyperturbedowlagain of school 30 odd years ago! I seem to recall having to do lots of lengthy pieces of writing even in primary ( which a peek at my old school books confirmed) but I suspect there was an element of quantity over quality! They clearly do have to demonstrate more in what they write nowdays. What you describe DrMaxwell seems to match what my dc is doing at school which is reassuring! I appreciate that a great deal more teaching / work / planning may go into those 2/3 pieces of work that are produced each term.

If they enjoy writing then I'd definitely get them to do some at home. Inspire them with a holiday diary or story competition or something. As a child I loathed writing at school but was always writing things at home and it's something I do competently now as part of my job without needing to think about it. One day I will write my novel

They might be doing extended pieces of writing that’s not in their books eg separate sheets of paper kept back for assessment/moderation/in a Big Write or Talk for Writing folder that you’ve not seen.

And yes they could be doing lots of work exploring texts as a class, writing on whiteboards, or in a jotter, shared writing as a class etc. I’m sure there’s a lot going on but you can’t always tell from the book as that might only contain work done at the very end of a unit.

I agree that there seems to be very little opportunity or attention given to creative writing or the children's original ideas. They might re-write a well-known fairy tale and change some details and they seem to do lots of drafting and rewriting of factual information, but I don't think DS (also yr 4) has been asked to write a story at all. This could just be his school or teacher though.

We aim to complete a piece of independent extended writing per week but write every day to develop skills that we expect children to apply in their independent writing.

mrz, but your teaching ks1, right? Ks2 works are a lot longer and more in depth/skill/etc.

My ds's weakness is writing. We do some form writing most of the day at home. We use pobble, articleaday, or free writing(choose topic and write anything for set time), depend on what he wants to do.

I’m talking across the school reception to Y6

sorry lots of typos!

mrz, your school sounds perfect, as always. Only wish ds was in your school.

Irvine one of the things we do is a trembly piece of cold extended writing and all the teachers swap classes. As literacy lead I also work in each class every term.

Termly not trembly

I have one in year 4 and year 7. To be honest, I've never seen either of my DC write anything for school that is longer than a couple of paragraphs. This may sound old fashioned but I have never seen a task starting with "write a story about....." It is all worksheets and grammar at our school. I get to see their homework and I get to flick through their books at parents evenings and I have never seen a full page of writing about a topic. It seems they do lots of things in English, but not this. I am actually quite sad that I do not see my DC doing much creative writing which at this age is probably the best time to do it.

Trembly piece of writing sound more exciting than termly!

Both of my DSs are expected to do a lot of writing - creative and research. They’re in y5 and Y1 in different schools. The one in Y1 frequently writes more than a side of a4 on history etc (though his writing is a lot bigger than the y5s due to age/handwriting ability.

I work in secondary. One thing I’ve noticed there is that the children come to us without the skills for extended pieces. Creative writing skills are especially lacking. I’m not sure if that’s also symptomatic of the area where as a broad generalisation literacy is weaker and they’ve had less exposure to stories at home than in other areas of the city.

Remember there is a big difference between teaching writing, with all the individual skills required and pupils doing writing i.e. long, independent pieces. Children do need to build up stamina, but without all the individual skills being taught they won't be able to use them and make progress.

The National Curriculum has an emphasis on drafting and editing as this helps pupils identify how to produce a stronger piece and that takes time meaning fewer finished products.

Also remember as pp says, there maybe separate works done from literacy books. My ds brought home few writings done on separate pieces of papers at the end of year(yr4), with all the nice presentations of drawings and extra stuff added, which I haven't seen it on parent's eves.

Thanks so much for all your replies! It is possible that DC does do a bit more writing at school that isn't in their books but I don't get the impression that is the case. Clearly DC's class is being taught in the manner DrMadelineMaxwell describes, in terms of looking at a type of text, discussing it, doing sentence level work, completing a piece of writing in that style and then editing it, which I think is great and I appreciate it all takes time. Ultimately though, if they don't then get to regularly put into practice what they are learning they will not improve or build stamina. I think what I feel is lacking is the weekly pieces of independent creative writing mrz refers too. I will raise it at parents evening but otherwise we will just have to do it at home, thanks for the links Irvine.

Sounds similar to DS's school. I know some schools in the area do a lot more. It does concern me a bit. OTOH I'm not sure DS would stay afloat in a more writing school as he really struggles with it. Or perhaps that's because of not enough practice?

i got my kids (6 and 7) the Scribble Scrabble writing Journal from Amazon a couple of months ago. My little one loves to write stories in it. (They attend a private school, and even there, they perhaps don't do as much as I'd like them to...)
I would suggest to get your children writing twice a week (at least) beginnng Yr 4 if not earlier, as you will see how it impacts the prep towards the 11+. I see children who aren't able to write a single sentence grammatically correct at age 10, and it reflects the exact issues you have described.
It doesn't have to be a full-fledged story, perhaps start with having them write a daily diary and build from there. Good luck.

Thanks Optimystic, that's a helpful suggestion about the scribblescrabble journal.