Mary Quattlebaum's Blog, page 32
August 20, 2012
The Poetry Friday Anthology
by Jacqueline Jules
Looking for a way to spice up Friday lessons in the elementary school classroom? Try The Poetry Friday Anthology: Poems for the School Year with Connections to the Common Core edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong.
This rich resource contains 218 poems by 75 poets, including Jane Yolen, Jack Prelutsky, Betsy Franco, Arnold Adoff, Nikki Grimes, fellow Pencil Tip blogger, Mary Quattlebaum, and myself. Each poem is accompanied by a section called Take 5! containing five easy activities designed to both enhance enjoyment of the poem and teach language arts skills from the Common Core Standards. Conveniently divided by grade level with age appropriate poems, The Poetry Friday Anthology begins with back-to-school verses sure to spark lively classroom discussion through ready made lessons for the beginning of the year.
Other poems center on animals, weather, books, friendship, food, nature, and other kid-friendly topics. There is literally something for every taste and mood.
All written in an accessible style, the poems make excellent writing models for writing workshop. In particular, the anthology has a number of letter, list, and other pattern poems students always enjoy writing. Poetic forms and terms are explained by example, in the Take 5! Guides, and a glossary. The Poetry Friday Anthology even has an appendix listing additional poetry resources for teachers.
Each chapter is preceded with an inspirational quote on the power of poetry. My favorite is one by Ralph Fletcher reminding us that people read poems at funerals, anniversaries, and other ceremonies rather than articles or stories. These quotes are additional resources teachers will enjoy sharing in the classroom.
In their introduction, editors Vardell and Wong, set forth a dual purpose of providing quality poems students will enjoy, along with curriculum-based suggestions for sharing poetry in the classroom. They have succeeded brilliantly with both.
For a little taste of the book, please take a look at this sample page about a lost baby tooth by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. Happy Poetry Friday!
www.jacquelinejules.com
Looking for a way to spice up Friday lessons in the elementary school classroom? Try The Poetry Friday Anthology: Poems for the School Year with Connections to the Common Core edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong.
This rich resource contains 218 poems by 75 poets, including Jane Yolen, Jack Prelutsky, Betsy Franco, Arnold Adoff, Nikki Grimes, fellow Pencil Tip blogger, Mary Quattlebaum, and myself. Each poem is accompanied by a section called Take 5! containing five easy activities designed to both enhance enjoyment of the poem and teach language arts skills from the Common Core Standards. Conveniently divided by grade level with age appropriate poems, The Poetry Friday Anthology begins with back-to-school verses sure to spark lively classroom discussion through ready made lessons for the beginning of the year.Other poems center on animals, weather, books, friendship, food, nature, and other kid-friendly topics. There is literally something for every taste and mood.
All written in an accessible style, the poems make excellent writing models for writing workshop. In particular, the anthology has a number of letter, list, and other pattern poems students always enjoy writing. Poetic forms and terms are explained by example, in the Take 5! Guides, and a glossary. The Poetry Friday Anthology even has an appendix listing additional poetry resources for teachers.
Each chapter is preceded with an inspirational quote on the power of poetry. My favorite is one by Ralph Fletcher reminding us that people read poems at funerals, anniversaries, and other ceremonies rather than articles or stories. These quotes are additional resources teachers will enjoy sharing in the classroom.
In their introduction, editors Vardell and Wong, set forth a dual purpose of providing quality poems students will enjoy, along with curriculum-based suggestions for sharing poetry in the classroom. They have succeeded brilliantly with both.
For a little taste of the book, please take a look at this sample page about a lost baby tooth by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. Happy Poetry Friday!www.jacquelinejules.com
August 13, 2012
THE POWER OF SONGWRITING
by Mary Amato
When I was in the eighth grade, my teacher Mr. McCauley brought in a record: Paul Simon's “I am a Rock.” He played it and we analyzed the lyrics as poetry. The excitement of getting to listen to popular music (at the time, Simon & Garfunkel were huge) during class electrified the whole room. The power of metaphor hit me that day and stayed with me forever. My newest book, Guitar Notes, is a novel about the power of songwriting and I wrote and recorded songs that accompany the book, a project that had its inspiration way back in Mr. McCauley's class.
Here's what you can do. Bring in a current song, print out the lyrics or have them up on your smartboard. Listen to the song and then talk about what literary elements the songwriter used and why. I have two ready-to-use resources to share from my new book's website. One is a lesson plan in song revision; and the other, in case you want to follow up by encouraging your students to write their own songs, is a songwriting lesson. Rock on!
www.maryamato.com
When I was in the eighth grade, my teacher Mr. McCauley brought in a record: Paul Simon's “I am a Rock.” He played it and we analyzed the lyrics as poetry. The excitement of getting to listen to popular music (at the time, Simon & Garfunkel were huge) during class electrified the whole room. The power of metaphor hit me that day and stayed with me forever. My newest book, Guitar Notes, is a novel about the power of songwriting and I wrote and recorded songs that accompany the book, a project that had its inspiration way back in Mr. McCauley's class.Here's what you can do. Bring in a current song, print out the lyrics or have them up on your smartboard. Listen to the song and then talk about what literary elements the songwriter used and why. I have two ready-to-use resources to share from my new book's website. One is a lesson plan in song revision; and the other, in case you want to follow up by encouraging your students to write their own songs, is a songwriting lesson. Rock on!
www.maryamato.com
August 6, 2012
VISUAL LITERACY IN PICTURE BOOKS
by Joan Waites
As we have discussed in previous blog posts, the words and images in picture books make up two equal halves of the whole project. Whether a book is read independently by an older student, or read to a younger one by an adult, the images an artist uses to accompany the text add another level of understanding-Visual Literacy. Visual Literacy refers to the ability of an individual to understand and interpret images. The term "Visual Literacy" is credited to John Debes, Co-Founder of the Visual Literacy Association.
An artists' choice of images, style and medium all help to further tell the story. Point of view, cause and effect, mood, emotions, setting, features, and age of characters etc., can all be conveyed in the illustrations, even if not explained in the text.
Two exercises I have used with student groups which focus on Visual Literacy are as follows:
1. Pick out several of your favorite picture books. After reading the text aloud, ask students to point out examples of how the artist tells the reader more than is explained in the text. Do we learn more about where the story takes place? Do we learn what the character's room looks like? Do we see how the main character reacts when he meets the new kid on the block?
2. Present several examples of the same story illustrated by different artists. There are endless versions of Fairy Tales such as Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid Ask students to point out the similarities and differences between each version. How has each artist depicted the main characters? How are they dressed? Do the versions show the characters in similar settings ? What about the choice of colors used?
Lastly, chose either one contemporary picture book or well known Fairy Tale and ask students to illustrate the same scene. Have students present their work to the class and discuss how each artist has used their own unique point of view to tell the story in pictures.
For more information Visual Literacy go to:
International Visual Literacy Association
As we have discussed in previous blog posts, the words and images in picture books make up two equal halves of the whole project. Whether a book is read independently by an older student, or read to a younger one by an adult, the images an artist uses to accompany the text add another level of understanding-Visual Literacy. Visual Literacy refers to the ability of an individual to understand and interpret images. The term "Visual Literacy" is credited to John Debes, Co-Founder of the Visual Literacy Association.
An artists' choice of images, style and medium all help to further tell the story. Point of view, cause and effect, mood, emotions, setting, features, and age of characters etc., can all be conveyed in the illustrations, even if not explained in the text.
Two exercises I have used with student groups which focus on Visual Literacy are as follows:
1. Pick out several of your favorite picture books. After reading the text aloud, ask students to point out examples of how the artist tells the reader more than is explained in the text. Do we learn more about where the story takes place? Do we learn what the character's room looks like? Do we see how the main character reacts when he meets the new kid on the block?
2. Present several examples of the same story illustrated by different artists. There are endless versions of Fairy Tales such as Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid Ask students to point out the similarities and differences between each version. How has each artist depicted the main characters? How are they dressed? Do the versions show the characters in similar settings ? What about the choice of colors used?
Lastly, chose either one contemporary picture book or well known Fairy Tale and ask students to illustrate the same scene. Have students present their work to the class and discuss how each artist has used their own unique point of view to tell the story in pictures.
For more information Visual Literacy go to:
International Visual Literacy Association
July 30, 2012
SETTING THE WRITING RABBLE ON FIRE
by Jane Harrington
There may be a swath of summer still ahead, but if you’re a teacher, right about now you probably can’t get fall off your mind. I know I can’t. Each day when I watch the sun pop over the mountains and set the morning mist ablaze, I think about how I want to be that sun to my students. Not bake them and send them indoors to watch streaming video, but infuse them with artistic energy!
Laura Krauss Melmed’s nifty “endeavor to involve other people” in her literary life (see her July 9 post) got me thinking about how young writers, too, like to write in a crowd. And that got me thinking about NANOWRIMO. If you’ve never heard of this, it’s “National Novel Writing Month,” run by the nonprofit Office of Letters and Light, a bunch of very clever writing zaniacs. (Neologisms like that are just the kind of word-fun encouraged by the Nanowrimoids.) It is probably best known as a collective of aspiring novel writers who binge-write for the month of November each year. I actually wrote a first draft of one of my teen novels during one of their writing sprees, and it was then that I discovered their ridiculously fun resources for educators and students. Their “Young Writers Program” is chockfull of totally free and well-designed stuff: pep talks from popular authors; downloadable workbooks to help kids of all ages write stories with strong characters, settings and plots; and gizmos like the “Dare Machine”—today’s dare was to “make one of your characters speak pig Latin or another made-up language.” Students LOVE this, and the intense camaraderie of a writing month sparks some incredible scribblings. If you want to see how the Office of Letters and Light can help you create in your students a burning desire to write, check out: NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program.
http://www.janeharrington.com/
There may be a swath of summer still ahead, but if you’re a teacher, right about now you probably can’t get fall off your mind. I know I can’t. Each day when I watch the sun pop over the mountains and set the morning mist ablaze, I think about how I want to be that sun to my students. Not bake them and send them indoors to watch streaming video, but infuse them with artistic energy!
Laura Krauss Melmed’s nifty “endeavor to involve other people” in her literary life (see her July 9 post) got me thinking about how young writers, too, like to write in a crowd. And that got me thinking about NANOWRIMO. If you’ve never heard of this, it’s “National Novel Writing Month,” run by the nonprofit Office of Letters and Light, a bunch of very clever writing zaniacs. (Neologisms like that are just the kind of word-fun encouraged by the Nanowrimoids.) It is probably best known as a collective of aspiring novel writers who binge-write for the month of November each year. I actually wrote a first draft of one of my teen novels during one of their writing sprees, and it was then that I discovered their ridiculously fun resources for educators and students. Their “Young Writers Program” is chockfull of totally free and well-designed stuff: pep talks from popular authors; downloadable workbooks to help kids of all ages write stories with strong characters, settings and plots; and gizmos like the “Dare Machine”—today’s dare was to “make one of your characters speak pig Latin or another made-up language.” Students LOVE this, and the intense camaraderie of a writing month sparks some incredible scribblings. If you want to see how the Office of Letters and Light can help you create in your students a burning desire to write, check out: NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program. http://www.janeharrington.com/
July 23, 2012
READER'S THEATER (Part 2)
by Mary Quattlebaum
In my last post (June 4, 2012), I mentioned Reader’s Theater as a great motivator for classroom reading and writing. And since this is summer, it can also be a playful camp or family experience. Both the group performance and no-need-to-memorize aspects take the stress out of the reading/performing experience for most kids.
And they also love the writing part.
Storyteller/children’s author Aaron Shepherd offers detailed tips on adapting a picture book or story for Reader’s Theater. Here are the basic steps:
1. Look for a book (or scenes) with dialogue, action, and a number of characters. Are there places where you might “create” a role to be filled by a large number of kids so that everyone might participate, not just the relatively fewer kids with bigger roles as primary characters. A pet who makes noises, perhaps? A crowd that repeats a particular refrain? Or a repeating sound effect?
2. Break kids into teams of 2 or 3 people each.
3. Assign each team a section of the story.
4. Have them identify narration vs. dialogue and then identify each bit of dialogue as belonging to a specific character.
5. Assign roles of narrator(s) and various characters.
6. Read and have fun!
But how, you might ask, are students doing any writing if, essentially, they are adapting an already written text?
1. They are learning to read more analytically for certain elements, in this case dialogue, narration, and gesture.
2. They are making careful choices as to what/how/how much to include (for example, details of setting or characterization).
3. They might take a story they’ve written earlier in the year and adapt it for Reader’s Theater, gaining insight into how to improve that first story in the process.
Adults writing for children can also benefit from #3, learning to create more dynamic picture books and stories by examining, performing, and then revising the dialogue/story in various drafts.
I recently saw a performance of a powerful book of poems, I Lay My Stitches Down by Cynthia Grady (Eerdmans 2012). These poems are in the voices of fictional slaves of the 19th century, which students took on at the middle school where Grady is a librarian. The resulting performance was stunning.
http://www.maryquattlebaum.com/
In my last post (June 4, 2012), I mentioned Reader’s Theater as a great motivator for classroom reading and writing. And since this is summer, it can also be a playful camp or family experience. Both the group performance and no-need-to-memorize aspects take the stress out of the reading/performing experience for most kids.
And they also love the writing part.
Storyteller/children’s author Aaron Shepherd offers detailed tips on adapting a picture book or story for Reader’s Theater. Here are the basic steps:
1. Look for a book (or scenes) with dialogue, action, and a number of characters. Are there places where you might “create” a role to be filled by a large number of kids so that everyone might participate, not just the relatively fewer kids with bigger roles as primary characters. A pet who makes noises, perhaps? A crowd that repeats a particular refrain? Or a repeating sound effect?
2. Break kids into teams of 2 or 3 people each.
3. Assign each team a section of the story.
4. Have them identify narration vs. dialogue and then identify each bit of dialogue as belonging to a specific character.
5. Assign roles of narrator(s) and various characters.
6. Read and have fun!
But how, you might ask, are students doing any writing if, essentially, they are adapting an already written text?
1. They are learning to read more analytically for certain elements, in this case dialogue, narration, and gesture.
2. They are making careful choices as to what/how/how much to include (for example, details of setting or characterization).
3. They might take a story they’ve written earlier in the year and adapt it for Reader’s Theater, gaining insight into how to improve that first story in the process.
Adults writing for children can also benefit from #3, learning to create more dynamic picture books and stories by examining, performing, and then revising the dialogue/story in various drafts.
I recently saw a performance of a powerful book of poems, I Lay My Stitches Down by Cynthia Grady (Eerdmans 2012). These poems are in the voices of fictional slaves of the 19th century, which students took on at the middle school where Grady is a librarian. The resulting performance was stunning.
http://www.maryquattlebaum.com/
July 16, 2012
TRYING A NEW FOOD WITH A BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END
by Jacqueline Jules
Before our oldest son moved to New York City and married a New York girl, my husband and I were pretty timid when it came to restaurants. We almost always chose the same chain restaurants with American style food. But entertaining New Yorkers, accustomed to a wide variety of ethnic cuisine, forced us to broaden our palates. We didn't want to be called boring by our adult children.
So the first time I tried Indian food, I was with my son and daughter-in-law at an independent local restaurant I had found in a coupon book and hoped was good. I didn’t really care if I liked the food or not. I just wanted my kids to be impressed that I had suggested something other than Outback or Olive Garden.
The restaurant was decorated in red and black. There was an open beaded curtain draping the entrance to the dining area that jingled softly as we walked through. When we sat down at a polished black wood table, the waiter told us the meal was a buffet. We went up to the serving line to see an assortment of colorful dishes in steaming metal hot trays. Each one contained vegetables and/or meat in a dark sauce. No plain meat patties or white potatoes in sight. Spices I later learned were cumin and tumeric tickled my nose. A creamed spinach with homemade cheese chunks caught my eye. Everything was labeled clearly, so I knew that the brown lumpy substance in front of me was eggplant and onions, not a mystery meat. I took little portions of several things before going back for seconds. Some of the foods were a little spicy for my previously unadventurous palate, but I found most of them very flavorful and a nice change from more bland American style fare. I especially enjoyed the sweet carrot pudding on the dessert table. I’ve always been a fan of carrot cake and tapioca pudding. The Indian carrot pudding was a soupy mixture of them both.
All in all, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Indian food. From that time on, I’ve eaten at several different Indian restaurants and always enjoyed it. In fact, Indian food was my choice for a birthday and Mother’s Day treat in recent years.
So that’s my story of trying a new type of food for the first time. What’s your story? If you are looking for an easy structured lesson to demonstrate beginning, middle, and end, try asking your students to describe the first time they tried a new food. Ask them to answer the following questions in sequence:
BEGINNING:1. Where were you and who was with you?2. Why did you try the new food?
MIDDLE:3. Describe the food and the place where you ate it, with sensory details. How did it taste, smell, look, etc? Can you compare it to other foods or experiences?
CONCLUSION:4. What did you learn? Would you try the food again?
Conclusions, which are often hard for young writers, are particularly easy to develop when writing about a new food experience. It is natural to discuss one’s decision to eat the food again or not. With luck, this concept will transfer to narratives on other topics, such as vacations or accidents. Would you like to go there again? Did the experience teach you something about yourself?
So try asking your students to write about the first time they tasted a new food. And when you present the idea, describe a new food experience of your own. Students love to learn more about their teachers and when you write the prompt yourself first, you can give them a model to follow.
http://www.jacquelinejules.com/
Before our oldest son moved to New York City and married a New York girl, my husband and I were pretty timid when it came to restaurants. We almost always chose the same chain restaurants with American style food. But entertaining New Yorkers, accustomed to a wide variety of ethnic cuisine, forced us to broaden our palates. We didn't want to be called boring by our adult children.
So the first time I tried Indian food, I was with my son and daughter-in-law at an independent local restaurant I had found in a coupon book and hoped was good. I didn’t really care if I liked the food or not. I just wanted my kids to be impressed that I had suggested something other than Outback or Olive Garden.
The restaurant was decorated in red and black. There was an open beaded curtain draping the entrance to the dining area that jingled softly as we walked through. When we sat down at a polished black wood table, the waiter told us the meal was a buffet. We went up to the serving line to see an assortment of colorful dishes in steaming metal hot trays. Each one contained vegetables and/or meat in a dark sauce. No plain meat patties or white potatoes in sight. Spices I later learned were cumin and tumeric tickled my nose. A creamed spinach with homemade cheese chunks caught my eye. Everything was labeled clearly, so I knew that the brown lumpy substance in front of me was eggplant and onions, not a mystery meat. I took little portions of several things before going back for seconds. Some of the foods were a little spicy for my previously unadventurous palate, but I found most of them very flavorful and a nice change from more bland American style fare. I especially enjoyed the sweet carrot pudding on the dessert table. I’ve always been a fan of carrot cake and tapioca pudding. The Indian carrot pudding was a soupy mixture of them both.
All in all, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Indian food. From that time on, I’ve eaten at several different Indian restaurants and always enjoyed it. In fact, Indian food was my choice for a birthday and Mother’s Day treat in recent years.
So that’s my story of trying a new type of food for the first time. What’s your story? If you are looking for an easy structured lesson to demonstrate beginning, middle, and end, try asking your students to describe the first time they tried a new food. Ask them to answer the following questions in sequence:
BEGINNING:1. Where were you and who was with you?2. Why did you try the new food?
MIDDLE:3. Describe the food and the place where you ate it, with sensory details. How did it taste, smell, look, etc? Can you compare it to other foods or experiences?
CONCLUSION:4. What did you learn? Would you try the food again?
Conclusions, which are often hard for young writers, are particularly easy to develop when writing about a new food experience. It is natural to discuss one’s decision to eat the food again or not. With luck, this concept will transfer to narratives on other topics, such as vacations or accidents. Would you like to go there again? Did the experience teach you something about yourself?
So try asking your students to write about the first time they tasted a new food. And when you present the idea, describe a new food experience of your own. Students love to learn more about their teachers and when you write the prompt yourself first, you can give them a model to follow.
http://www.jacquelinejules.com/
July 9, 2012
SUMMER WRITING RESOLUTIONS
by Laura Krauss Melmed
Six months into 2012, our New Year’s resolutions may have lost some of their luster. Mine haven’t but that’s only because I never make any! As I’m not a very good long term planner, resolving to do anything for a whole year only seems like setting myself up for failure. But summer is a nice manageable chunk of time in which I might actually be able to keep the promises I make to myself.
When it comes to writing, I always find winter the easiest season for keeping focused. In the lazier pace of summer (my favorite season, despite having lost our power in Friday’s massive storm) I tend to lose my resolve. So here is a list of the five summer resolutions I have made to guide me through the next couple of months, and maybe beyond:
1) I resolve to write for two hours a day, five days a week, without interruption.2) In order to accomplish the above, I will turn off my computer during the writing period. For me, this will mean writing in a room other than my office where the big monitor of my desktop calls seductively. It also means abandoning my laptop; ergo, I will be writing by hand. Woo-hoo! I get to take a preparatory field trip to Office Depot where I will select some crisp yellow legal pads and a package of new pens with exactly the right hand feel as well as flow and thickness of ink. My current fave is the Pilot B2P gel pen, medium point.3) I will start a poem exchange. That means finding a partner who will pledge with me to write a poem a day (I’m hoping this will be my daughter). The idea is to check in at the end of the day and say the poem has been written. It is not necessary to send your poem to your partner, although it’s fine to do so. No critiquing unless the other person asks for it. Success lies in just writing the poem so that you can confirm completion with your partner at the end of the day.4) Writing can be isolating, so I’ll start a new, energizing endeavor involving other people. In my case, this will be forming a book club or play-reading club, both of which I have been talking about wanting to do for years.5) I plan to read several autobiographies or biographies of creative people in fields other than writing, to learn more about the endlessly interesting creative process. The first is Yes, Chef, by Marcus Samuelsson. I would welcome other suggestions!
http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/
Six months into 2012, our New Year’s resolutions may have lost some of their luster. Mine haven’t but that’s only because I never make any! As I’m not a very good long term planner, resolving to do anything for a whole year only seems like setting myself up for failure. But summer is a nice manageable chunk of time in which I might actually be able to keep the promises I make to myself.
When it comes to writing, I always find winter the easiest season for keeping focused. In the lazier pace of summer (my favorite season, despite having lost our power in Friday’s massive storm) I tend to lose my resolve. So here is a list of the five summer resolutions I have made to guide me through the next couple of months, and maybe beyond:
1) I resolve to write for two hours a day, five days a week, without interruption.2) In order to accomplish the above, I will turn off my computer during the writing period. For me, this will mean writing in a room other than my office where the big monitor of my desktop calls seductively. It also means abandoning my laptop; ergo, I will be writing by hand. Woo-hoo! I get to take a preparatory field trip to Office Depot where I will select some crisp yellow legal pads and a package of new pens with exactly the right hand feel as well as flow and thickness of ink. My current fave is the Pilot B2P gel pen, medium point.3) I will start a poem exchange. That means finding a partner who will pledge with me to write a poem a day (I’m hoping this will be my daughter). The idea is to check in at the end of the day and say the poem has been written. It is not necessary to send your poem to your partner, although it’s fine to do so. No critiquing unless the other person asks for it. Success lies in just writing the poem so that you can confirm completion with your partner at the end of the day.4) Writing can be isolating, so I’ll start a new, energizing endeavor involving other people. In my case, this will be forming a book club or play-reading club, both of which I have been talking about wanting to do for years.5) I plan to read several autobiographies or biographies of creative people in fields other than writing, to learn more about the endlessly interesting creative process. The first is Yes, Chef, by Marcus Samuelsson. I would welcome other suggestions!
http://www.laurakraussmelmed.com/
June 25, 2012
CREATE A WORLD
by Mary Amato
Fiction writers have the fun of creating an entire world. Teachers and parents can encourage kids to use cheap materials like shoeboxes and peeps to invent a 3D scene. As they are constructing the scene, ask them to be thinking of a storyline for the character (s) in the scene.
Make a storybook to accompany the scene or simply allow for verbal storytelling. When I was a child, I told many stories as I played with my dollhouse. Creating a unique scene can facilitate even more interesting stories.
http://www.maryamato.com/
Fiction writers have the fun of creating an entire world. Teachers and parents can encourage kids to use cheap materials like shoeboxes and peeps to invent a 3D scene. As they are constructing the scene, ask them to be thinking of a storyline for the character (s) in the scene.
Make a storybook to accompany the scene or simply allow for verbal storytelling. When I was a child, I told many stories as I played with my dollhouse. Creating a unique scene can facilitate even more interesting stories.
http://www.maryamato.com/
June 18, 2012
CHARACTER DOODLES
by Joan Waites
School is out again for the summer. It’s time for lazy days, long car rides, and perhaps some time relaxing by the water- whether it’s at the community pool, the sprinkler in the backyard, or a trip to the beach.
I was recently reminded of a drawing exercise I used to do as a child that would be perfect to pass the time on those long trips or rainy days. It also works as a fundamental drawing exercise for art students of any age, illustrating how all objects can be broken down into simple geometric and organic shapes.
Draw 6-8 squares on a piece of plain white paper. Without thinking too much, quickly draw a random shape in each square. Have children create funny, scary or realistic characters using each shape in the squares.
Next, use each character doodle as a starting point for a story. What is the character’s name and where do they live? What are they doing? Do they have a special friend or an enemy? Have two or more of the characters go on an adventure together and see what happens! Stories can be told orally or written down and shared.
Enjoy the summer and happy doodling! http://www.joanwaites.com/
School is out again for the summer. It’s time for lazy days, long car rides, and perhaps some time relaxing by the water- whether it’s at the community pool, the sprinkler in the backyard, or a trip to the beach.I was recently reminded of a drawing exercise I used to do as a child that would be perfect to pass the time on those long trips or rainy days. It also works as a fundamental drawing exercise for art students of any age, illustrating how all objects can be broken down into simple geometric and organic shapes.
Draw 6-8 squares on a piece of plain white paper. Without thinking too much, quickly draw a random shape in each square. Have children create funny, scary or realistic characters using each shape in the squares.
Next, use each character doodle as a starting point for a story. What is the character’s name and where do they live? What are they doing? Do they have a special friend or an enemy? Have two or more of the characters go on an adventure together and see what happens! Stories can be told orally or written down and shared.Enjoy the summer and happy doodling! http://www.joanwaites.com/
June 11, 2012
DIVING LESSONS
by Jane Harrington
New to this blog, I’ve been reading over prior posts and thinking about what writing workshop advice I can offer that hasn’t already, and so swimmingly, been addressed. What ideas might I stand on and spring from? What words of wisdom will land me in this pool with but a graceful ripple? It should be something gentle, coaxing, encouraging.…
Nah. I’m going with the cannonball, the big splash. Today’s topic: REJECTION.
Believe it or not, I’ve had good fun with this at author visits. After getting the How do you get published? question for years, I began keeping a list of publishing opportunities for young wordsmiths on my website. Eyes open wide when I scroll through this list and preview some of the print magazines that publish children’s writing and art (Creative Kids, Stone Soup), writing communities that allow kids to start their own serial novels (Figment), and social literary networks for book chatting and reviewing (Goodreads). And when they see a list of writing contests—well, the energy in the room is palpable. Then I tell them that they’ll probably be rejected.
At this point, I push aside my laptop and pull out the folder I have also brought, which is filled with rejection letters. And I point out that there are a whole lot more of these than books I’ve published. (Though, fortunately, the books represent more width on my shelf.) And I read some aloud, and then pass some around and tell the students to please not be careful with them. Drop them! Accidentally step on them! They are mean, awful things that made me feel terrible. But I also tell the students that when I get one of these I only let myself wallow in the bad vibe for the rest of the day. (It used to be a week, but I’ve gotten really good at being rejected.) I wake up the next morning defiant, ready to prove that letter wrong—to reshape that reject and resubmit it. That’s what you have to do as a writer, I say to them. You have to perch your toes on the edge of the board again, and turn a belly-flop into a swan dive.
If you too want to help young writers publish, check this link called, yo, publish! out on my website.
http://www.janeharrington.com/
New to this blog, I’ve been reading over prior posts and thinking about what writing workshop advice I can offer that hasn’t already, and so swimmingly, been addressed. What ideas might I stand on and spring from? What words of wisdom will land me in this pool with but a graceful ripple? It should be something gentle, coaxing, encouraging.…
Nah. I’m going with the cannonball, the big splash. Today’s topic: REJECTION.
Believe it or not, I’ve had good fun with this at author visits. After getting the How do you get published? question for years, I began keeping a list of publishing opportunities for young wordsmiths on my website. Eyes open wide when I scroll through this list and preview some of the print magazines that publish children’s writing and art (Creative Kids, Stone Soup), writing communities that allow kids to start their own serial novels (Figment), and social literary networks for book chatting and reviewing (Goodreads). And when they see a list of writing contests—well, the energy in the room is palpable. Then I tell them that they’ll probably be rejected.
At this point, I push aside my laptop and pull out the folder I have also brought, which is filled with rejection letters. And I point out that there are a whole lot more of these than books I’ve published. (Though, fortunately, the books represent more width on my shelf.) And I read some aloud, and then pass some around and tell the students to please not be careful with them. Drop them! Accidentally step on them! They are mean, awful things that made me feel terrible. But I also tell the students that when I get one of these I only let myself wallow in the bad vibe for the rest of the day. (It used to be a week, but I’ve gotten really good at being rejected.) I wake up the next morning defiant, ready to prove that letter wrong—to reshape that reject and resubmit it. That’s what you have to do as a writer, I say to them. You have to perch your toes on the edge of the board again, and turn a belly-flop into a swan dive.
If you too want to help young writers publish, check this link called, yo, publish! out on my website.
http://www.janeharrington.com/
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