Reason to Write: Help Your Child Succeed in School and Life Through Better Reasoning and Clear Communication, Elementary School Edition

by Douglas B. Reeves

REASON to WRITE Elementary School Edition You can help your Read with greater understanding Improve in all academic areas Develop a sense of community and social responsibility Succeed on tests Award-winning author Dr. Douglas Reeves offers parents a simple, practical, and effective approach to helping children develop good writing skills. Through writing, children build thinking, reasoning, and communication skills that carry lifelong benefits. Reason to Write An overview of the skills and knowledge your child should master at each grade level. A clear, simple system for evaluating your child's writing. An effective approach to identifying areas for improvement without discouraging your young writer. Stress-free tips for tackling writer's block. The top ten mistakes parents make when discussing writing - and how to avoid them. Dozens of ideas for writing activities your child will enjoy. FREE WRITING TOOLS ONLINE! Visit www.reasontowrite.com for brainstorming and organizational tools, writing tips, evaluation guides, and more.

208 pages, Paperback

First published September 3, 2002

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As not-a-parent and not-a-teacher, there's not really a reason I needed to read this book. However, I think education is the most important thing a child gets for free-ish, and I have many friends who are in the education field. This how-to-write book is now ten years old and it seems more important now than ever to teach our children how to write effectively so they can read and study more effectively.

There is a giant difference between reading well and being a good reader. Just because you can read the words and zip through Green Eggs and Ham does not mean that you comprehend the things you read in class every day. You may know how to pronounce quintessential, but if you cannot explain what it means to your teacher, there is a big gap in ability that will only grow bigger in junior high and high school.

Mr. Reeves has written a great guide for parents and teachers alike who are trying to build the bridge between the words on the page and genuine understanding. Reason to Write is chock full of writing exercises that teachers can use in the classroom and parents can use at home (especially good for summer reading!) to bolster their children's confidence and reinforce positive messages from successful kindergarten and first grade accomplishments. He even helps address the standard homework crises of "I can't think if anything to write about!" and "This is stupid! I hate this!"

Highlights: don't depend on spellcheck; handwriting is important always; write about everything you read; encourage every effort, every time.

I presume that there is a junior high or high school edition, as this is the Elementary School Edition. I'd be interested in seeing what more exercises are applicable to older kids and perhaps even grownups to assist us in better communication and getting more out of everything we read every day.

Please hand this to every teacher walking out of university with their newly printed teaching degree. It doesn't matter if they teach science, or math, or social studies or english, good writing ability helps everyone in every subject.

[Joy]

I haven't read the book yet, but after reading a great article, which caused a little concern, that writing instruction is greatly lacking, I decided I should give this a try and see what the book says. Apparently schools don't focus on HOW to write because it isn't important for the standardized bubble tests, yet writing is a great indicator as to how far one can go (or does go) in their educational career.