Yes I'm full of questions today LOL Copywork.. .why? How do you add it in? How do you keep it from being boring? What do you use?
I personally use different things. My kids like the happyscribe workbooks as they got to pick out their subject....there is a free one at currclick now: http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=14780&it=1 For my older son he has longer paragraphs that he has to do which are from the books he is reading in most cases.
Ds does copywork now to perfect his penmanship and get used to writing in general. We read poetry every day, so lately his copywork is either the poem's title or the first line. It doesn't have to be lengthy - the point is the write as nicely as you can. Since he has so little to write, it doesn't have a chance to get boring Actually with dd (12 now) she would copy entire poems and keep them all in a pretty notebook. She loved that. Copywork, along with narrations and dictation exercises are a key part of ds's curriculum (Ambleside Online). From the AO website: "TRANSCRIPTION (COPYWORK) A child learns the physical skills of learning to write, first by perfectly forming each letter, and later by copying sentences or paragraphs. In the beginning, copywork is no more than letter practice - the child works on forming letters perfectly, with the emphasis on neat, accurate formation--quality rather than quantity. A Year 1 child should do only as much as he can do neatly in ten minutes, perhaps only a single word, or a few examples of one letter, such as "a." Some children may not have sufficient muscle coordination to begin writing until 7 years old. It is through transcription that specific skills such as punctuation and mechanics (what a paragraph is, when to use capital letters) are picked up. Copywork done properly forces a child to slow down and absorb the punctuation details, notice capitalization, and internalize sparkling, well-written prose. Copywork is usually done daily, but children who are exceptionally resistant to writing may do it two or three times a week. What should be transcribed? Since modeling excellence in writing is important, children should copy literary examples - poems, scripture verses, passages from wonderfully written books, memorable quotes. For that reason, using a child's own creative writing for copywork is not recommended. Some members like to collect and prepare memorable sayings and advice for use as copywork, but that is not necessary - you can use poems and passages from the child's school books. Some parents choose copywork passages that include spelling words or punctuation examples that they want their child to learn. Many children like helping to select their copywork."
Cara - if you go with First Language Lessons (ref to your other post), it will give you days, etc. of when to introduce the copywork and the things they can use. It will also (as you go though...more towards the middle of 2nd grade) introduce written narration at dictation. (most of the narration in 1st grade is oral...I think there was one or two occasions where you would write it down for them to copy, I believe).
Thanks, maybe I'll wait till I get the book and then worry about copywork since it's included in the lessons.
If I understand you correct. Copywork is just that a child's copy of somthing your learning? If that is the case when you come up with questions based on your learning. You could simply write them on a dry erase board and when they answer the questions instead of just writing answers they could also copy your question first then answer it. Is my understanding correct?
COPYWORK is just that: kids copying something. It can be anything, of any length. For young children, it may just be one sentence. I've gotten away form copywork this year (unfortunately!). My kids' copywork usually comes from history. It might be a poem, or a part of a speech, or a quote. Sometimes it's an excerpt from a historical fiction, or a paragraph from the history book. We've done the Preamble of the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, and some of Ben Franklin's proverbs. All of these my kids will keep in their history notebook. Oh, I've found it easier to make a copy of what you want them to do onto the computer, using WORD. I make the font a little bigger and set the spacing to 1.5. That makes it easier for the kids to see than if they were copying directly from the book.
Currently I'm in the process of making my lesson plans for K-3 (I know I will need lots of wiggle room) I figure if I make them I could use them or not but at least there is a guide so I don't get to far off track. I'm going to keep it all in a binder so that way I will have premade questions and activities that maybe i wouldnt have other wise tought of. Plus I can do lots of research and figure out what does work and what I will really need to take. I know this is alot of work now and I'm trying to do to much at once but I want to make sure that if we are in the middle of nowhere canada I have what I need to teach her.
One really fun program I used when my son was small was Draw, Write, Now! It is great in that the kids do both - drawing and copying and it is not long enough to get boring. http://www.drawyourworld.com/
I think copywork is wonderful because we can stress that this is the time to use your best writing and then other times it's okay not to be so perfect. I usually try to pick something of interest to my child to keep their attention and focus. My son loves surfing so I pick passages from surfing books for copywork and dictation. I also like to have my kids copy famous quotes for copywork.
I use history for my third grader. She is in SOTW and there is narration at the end of every reading assignment so instead of making her think of something, which she had a hard time with I have her use it for copy work. for my 2nd grader we are using Rod and Staff for English and that provides good copy work stuff.
