How Much Writing Should Second Graders Do?

These discussions are taken from our Earthschooling Member Forum where Earthschooling members can have weekly discussions with Waldorf teacher Diane Power.

Question from Member Kirstee R: I was wondering on the amount of writing that would be expected daily/weekly for a child in second grade. He reads well above grade level, spells well but is resistant to any writing at all. I just need to know how much to insist upon please.

Response from Waldorf teacher Diane Power: Welcome Kirstee! In first grade we would copy a letter, then words, and by the end of the year, a sentence, maybe two. In second grade, we started with copying one sentence and working up to three to five sentences, depending on how we decided to summarize the story. In third, beginning with copying one paragraph and working up to two to three, In each grade they would also practice their oral skills by copying a word/sentence (depending on their ability) from my dictation. I found that some children in second grade would know what they wanted to write, while many did not. We practiced putting a sentence together, compared sentences that summarized the story, agreed on what worked best and then they copied the sentence from my correctly spelled sentence.