Dictation

[Jessica Louise]

When is dictation addressed in the curriculum? To clarify, I mean the skill of hearing a phrase or sentence and transcribing it.

[jen1134]

It starts in Kindergarten with First Start Reading. In first, it’s part of Traditional Spelling 1 and then again in TS2 in second. There are also optional dictation activities throughout the literature guides, in the enrichment sections.

[jen1134]

I should have added that it doesn’t matter when you come to the curriculum, you can pick up the dictation activities at any time. The only difference is you may have to shorten them, or repeat them more than once, or something like that to scaffold while the skill develops.

[DiannaKennedy]

It starts in Kindergarten with First Start Reading. In first, it’s part of Traditional Spelling 1 and then again in TS2 in second. There are also optional dictation activities throughout the literature guides, in the enrichment sections.

If I remember correctly, it's also in Intro to Composition.

[smithamykat]

There are many dictation exercises in the Enrichment sections of various literature guides, as well as on some of the literature tests. I can't list them all from memory, but my daughter is in 5th grade and had dictation assignments in several quizzes/tests in Lassie and Lion Witch Wardrobe.

[tanya]

Yep, Dianna!

[Jessica Louise]

Thank you, ladies! So far my child can only take down a sylable at a time. Will I possibly need to add dictation exercises? or should I just work with what is in the program? Thank you!!!

[enbateau]

I might start with a line of poetry or scripture that my child has memorized. Ask your child to say the sentence or line 3 times aloud. As she starts her first word, prompt her to say the line or sentence again. Have her look at the word she just wrote as a cue to the next words. As she writes the second word, have her say the entire line aloud again, reading each word she has written as a cue to the rest of the line. She should not be writing words that are not familiar to her in MP2. You can absolutely look through those Phonics Flashcards for some common words (like said, should, come, etc) and drill those daily so the spelling is fresh in her mind if those are a problem. On quizzes, I remind my child that names of characters are usually already somewhere on the paper (if spelling a character name produces anxiety or overwhelms your student). In 2nd grade, I would always remind my child the necessary parts of a sentence, which the MPK folks have so eloquently reduced to: "What does every sentence need? Uppercase! Finger space! Punctuation!" Get all of the stressful parts of dictation out of the way by having your child repeat that memory trick, look for character names nearby, and repeat the line over and over in her head as she writes. When she's done, have her read what she just wrote (not what she thinks she wrote) to make sure it makes sense. Scaffolding is the key to success with out-of-the-box learners.