5th grade writing question for traditionally schooled kids' parents

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Hi....

Our syllabus does not provide any indication of how "long" a written assignment should be for Language Arts or History and I certainly cannot remember from when I was in 5th grade.

Could you please share about how long are paragraphs and how many paragraphs are you seeing on average for a written assignment?
I just want to be certain that we are not skimping and contacting the writer of our syllabus is not a possibility at this time due to a tragedy within her family.

Thanks in advance!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I always thought a paragraph was 3-4 sentences that held together a complete thought. There was always the option of going longer as long as it didn't stray from the original thought.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

With my dd the teacher always told her how short it must be.

A paragraph is at least 5 sentences, at least that is what sticks out from my english days.

If a number is not specified then at least 1 page, with "introduction", "body" and "conclusion".

If you have to add other elements to the assignment, like quotes, supportive details, then it is going to be longer than 3 paragraphs.

Anyway that is about the rule of thumb with unspecified length.

 

[NHdisneylover]

My rule of thumb, from about 4th grade on, was (until writing became more fluent and they did not need a rule of thumb) to stick to the basic 5 sentence paragraph and 5 paragraph essay as a base (with 2-3 sentences being appropriate in the intro and conclusion paragraphs).

 

[Rora]

3rd grade teacher here...

In my classroom, a paragraph is 5+ complete sentences.

Also, I'm no help on how long an average paper should be as I always specify the length when I distribute the assignment. More often than not, I ask for an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

HTH!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Thanks...

We have a "paper"...or I should say she has a "paper" to write about important people/events during George Washington's time. It was not said how many we should use and I thought 3 was fair. That would make it a 5 paragraph paper with an intro, 1 paragraph for each important person/event and then a conclusion.

Does that sound appropriate for a 5th grade history paper? I'm not certain of we should make it longer or if there would be a better way to organize it.

It was non-specific and the reason for the assignment is a 350 page book that she spent 6 weeks reading that has probably 200 persons and events to choose from in those 350 pages. The only help offered was a suggestion that as she read, she should make note of those she liked or felt important and we have a lot more than 3.


Thanks again for the help.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I think that does sound appropriate--and exactly how i would suggest it be one.. I would also suggest choosing 3 people or events that she can tie together in some way (like three of the most important women during Washington's time, or three people who were important in putting Washington in office, etc.).

 

[Hannathy]

See now that changes things. If it has been that long of a project I would think it should be at least 2 pages. She will have more than 3 paragraphs about Washington's life.

I was ready to agree to what the others were saying for just a regular homework assignment but a project like that It would need to be longer than 1 page and more than 3 paragraphs. I mean you have his early life and education, his early adult hood, his life in the military, his life as a statesman, being president, what he did after, etc.

I know you said she can't talk to the teacher before it is due but isn't there a sub? or why doesn't she call another student they may have heard the teacher say 2 pages or 3 pages max.

 

[NHdisneylover]

See now that changes things. If it has been that long of a project I would think it should be at least 2 pages. She will have more than 3 paragraphs about Washington's life.

I was ready to agree to what the others were saying for just a regular homework assignment but a project like that It would need to be longer than 1 page and more than 3 paragraphs. I mean you have his early life and education, his early adult hood, his life in the military, his life as a statesman, being president, what he did after, etc.

I know you said she can't talk to the teacher before it is due but isn't there a sub? or why doesn't she call another student they may have heard the teacher say 2 pages or 3 pages max.

I believe the OP homeschools and uses some sort of online or correspondence type course--so no other teacher or students available to contact.

Personally, at the 5th grade level (and with the very general assignment as described) I still think a 5 paragraph essay is about right. OP, is there some latitude on due dates so that your daughter can do that much and include a note with it that she was unsure of the scope of the assignment and being unable to contact the teacher made her best guess, but will re do it if necessary?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We homeschool...the syllabus/curriculum is written by someone whose husband just died from a cancer that was stage IV at diagnosis.

This is only due to me and isn't submitted formally to anyone...so from that perspective, it isn't a big deal.

But often I do like to find out what her peers are doing so that at a minimum...she is on par.

She has another paper that she will write in several weeks after reading a lengthy book on Ben Franklin and my memory is blank on how many other report-style papers she will have in the rest of her syllabus. (Mondays are our household day and I am out on an errand at the moment and cannot look at her syllabus to check how many other papers there will be).

I do agree though that with a book of that length there must be more meat to this assignment than is directly specified.


What I the paragraphs were arranged with....

Important scientists,
important artists,
important composers,

as well as other important Americans and events centering around American Independence.

Would that work?

I know she picked at least 10....but that was half way through the book.

I bet if she were to group those people/events...then she can create her paper from there.

Would that be appropriate for 5th grade?

I would guess that this would be 2-3 pages handwritten. Would that be about right?

This paper would be her history for the week...


Again---this is not submitted...so it is really up to me to direct this and my dilemma is making sure that we don't skimp on the assingments or go way overboard.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Teacher and parent of a 6th grader here.

I know that here the expectation is that children are able to write well organized paragraphs, using 5 paragraph format in 3rd or 4th, and that in 5th they work on linking together 5 of those paragraphs into a paper.

Having said that, given the amount of reading that your child has done, I could see a paper that consists of a series of 5 paragraph papers.

So, I could see doing 5 paragraphs on people who influenced him, (e.g. 3 people who influenced him, an introduction and conclusion) 5 paragraphs on important events, and 5 paragraphs on his lasting influence on our nation.

What I wouldn't expect is for a child this age to be able to link it all into a cohesive paper. Instead I would expect a paper that consists of 3 different reports, with a title for each one.

 

[golfgal]

I agree, 5 sentences for a paragraph, and 1-2 pages for the paper is about what we saw with our kids in 5th grade. For a bigger assignment like this I would lean more toward 2+ pages though. I would say that for a 350 page book she should get 2 paragraphs/person down, intro and conclusion. If it was an assignment that they only worked on for a couple days, a 5 paragraph paper would be about right but a 6 week unit should require more though and in-depth analysis in the paper.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

All wonderful suggestions. Thank you for your help.

I will review her selected people/events and then work from there. I like the idea of possibly two separate papers as a compromise so that we are not overwhelmed with one.

She has had practice with 3 paragraph papers in Language Arts and this is our first big paper.

Thank you again!

 

[Hannathy]

I agree, 5 sentences for a paragraph, and 1-2 pages for the paper is about what we saw with our kids in 5th grade. For a bigger assignment like this I would lean more toward 2+ pages though. I would say that for a 350 page book she should get 2 paragraphs/person down, intro and conclusion. If it was an assignment that they only worked on for a couple days, a 5 paragraph paper would be about right but a 6 week unit should require more though and in-depth analysis in the paper.

That is what I was getting at. for a project in 5th grade and especially if this is her History for the week I would expect a 3 page paper, a poster and or power point on Washington. Will she present it to you? Most of his projects last year had to be presented to the class. Will she be pulling in any other sources or is this more of a book report? If it is only writing a paper from the book she read it shouldn't take her all week.

My son would write 1 page papers for homework in 5th grade.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

That is what I was getting at. for a project in 5th grade and especially if this is her History for the week I would expect a 3 page paper, a poster and or power point on Washington. Will she present it to you? Most of his projects last year had to be presented to the class. Will she be pulling in any other sources or is this more of a book report? If it is only writing a paper from the book she read it shouldn't take her all week.

My son would write 1 page papers for homework in 5th grade.

I didn't want to leave you hanging....

No--this is not a presentation assingment. We do have other project style assingments in our history for this section. This particular assignment is really just strictly writing with the history just being the springboard for that writing.

The book in question is more of an encyclopedia, so I would not consider this a book report. For those curious, the book is called: George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster and topics listed on the back that are covered are: Scientists, Doctors, and Inventors; Authors, Poets, Painters, and Musicians; Voyages and Expeditions; Important Events; Kings, Queens, and Leaders; as well as many American Contemporaries of Washington.

Anyone and anything from the time he was born until the day he died could be included (the list is LONG). It is a very neat time capsule of sorts along the lines of anything you read that covers "What was going in in 1985" for example and it could be anything in the world.

It is not necessarily things that George Washington personally did, people who he had met or events that he remembers or even had even a passive involvement with. (sorry about ending the sentence like that...my brain is fried at the moment). Of course it does include important highlights from the colonies and their fight for independence as well as some events during and after his presidency.

I apologize as it had not even occurred to me to explain the parameters of all this. I was looking for a generalization...but I guess I should have provided details about what we were working with. I had posted my original query while my son was in Speech.

But generally..the assignment was listed as a written paper that was no intended to be presented. But that doesn't mean that the ideas presented couldn't be supplemented. It might actually be fun for her---if we stuck to all the scienists and composers anyway.

Thanks again!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Oh...and depending in how I opt to move forward, we may or may not supplement with other research. The assignment wasn't set up that way, however. That is part of the issue and leads me to believe the purpose is more to illustrate composition skills and handwriting practice as opposed to learning all there is to know about Catherine of Russia or Goya, for example