📝Grade 4 Writing Workshop

Writing is the subject homeschooling parents most often tell us they feel least equipped to teach, because it cannot be marked right or wrong. This course solves that by showing you exactly what a good, average and weak version of each task looks like, annotated line by line.

There are eighteen live-writing screencasts where a teacher writes a piece from blank page to final draft, thinking out loud and crossing things out. Children who watch an adult struggle with a first sentence write far more readily themselves.

What your child will be able to do

By the end of this course, a learner working at the expected pace will be able to:

• Plan a five-paragraph piece with an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion
• Write a thesis-style opening sentence that tells the reader what is coming
• Revise for clarity rather than just correcting spelling
• Vary sentence length and opening deliberately
• Proofread using a fixed checklist and catch their own errors

How the course is structured

Grade 4 Writing Workshop is organised into 6 units covering 110 lessons in total, designed to run across 32 weeks at roughly 3 hours a week. The unit outline below shows 24 representative lessons.

The writing process

• Why drafts exist
• Planning tools that actually help
• Drafting fast, editing slow
• Revising vs proofreading

Paragraph craft

• Topic sentence, evidence, explanation
• Linking paragraphs together
• Cutting the sentence that adds nothing
• Openings that earn a second sentence

Piece 1: A persuasive letter

• Choosing a real audience
• Three reasons, ordered by strength
• Handling the counter-argument
• Final draft and sending it

Piece 2: An information essay

• Researching without copying
• Structuring by sub-topic
• Diagrams and captions
• Bibliography basics

Piece 3: A short story

• Character want and obstacle
• Show, don't tell
• Dialogue that moves the plot
• Endings that are not 'it was a dream'

Piece 4: A book review

• Summary without spoilers
• Judgement with evidence
• Recommending to a specific reader
• Publishing to the Fayferz gallery

How it is taught

Only four pieces are produced across the entire year, each taking six to eight weeks. The intention is depth: children learn more from taking one piece through four drafts than from writing sixteen pieces once.

What is included

• 110 lessons including 18 live-writing screencasts
• Planning templates, revision checklists and marking rubrics
• Model pieces at three standards with annotations
• 20 quizzes on grammar and proofreading

Who this course suits

This course sits in the Grade 4 track and follows a oxford-aligned sequence. It suits families who want a complete, sequenced english year rather than a set of loose practice activities, and it assumes no teaching experience — every lesson includes a short method note for the adult. If your child is comfortably ahead or behind the intermediate level described here, use the placement check in lesson one and start at the recommended point instead of lesson one.