From what my son has said, and from what I've observed in the classroom, he's doing a lot of copying written material. For example, today, he had to list all of the polygons they learned. There were quite a few, and of course, those are very long words. He has to check, double-check, and triple-check his spelling on each word and often loses track looking up and down from the board to his notebook. Although, he was quite proud that he spelled one of them correctly without looking. ; )
Another example is a historical timeline puzzle about US presidents. He had to put the puzzle together in order, write the title in his notebook, and then write all the information provided on one of the presidents. (i.e., Goerge Washington was the first US president. He lived....) I trust his teacher, and I just can't imagine that she's having him write an excessive amount. She told me she gives him the instructions, and if he resists, she asks him how much he thinks he can write. Once he tells her, she has him write that and asks for just a little more but not the whole thing. To him, it seems like all he does is write all day. He is a perfectionist, so maybe some of this is self imposed.
I did talk to the teacher to see if she thinks there's a problem with writing, but she wanted to give it a little while to see if it's just a matter of adjustment. He reads books that are 3rd-5th grade level, but handwriting is difficult. Spelling is ok, but certainly not near the reading level-not even sure if he's on grade level with spelling. He can verbally create amazing, detailed stories with lots of character and plot development. His vocabulary blows us away. If he has to put his thoughts into writing, it goes downhill and turns into tears. I am planning to spend some more time talking with the teacher to get a firm grasp of what is expected. He's been there less than 3 weeks, so I wanted to give him some time to adjust. I didn't forsee this level of stress already. My underlying fear is that we've found yet another poor school fit, but I don't to make any snap judgements.
