Sorry I haven't been back in a couple of weeks but I just seem to have so much going on that time runs away with me! Wanted to remind everyone we have a Young Writer session this Saturday at the library so looking forward to seeing everyone there. Please don't forget to return your consent forms ASAP so that I can start to plan the new book. I really cannot stress how important this is.
This weekend I will be introducing the Young Writers to writing reports. I would like to show as diverse a range of their work in the new book as possible and this will include book reviews and reports as well as stories and poems. Each member will be given a Junior Reporter sheet to read and work through which, I hope will inspire them.
Now that the weather is finally improving I am looking ahead to arranging the next Picnic In The Park session so keep an eye out for that. I am yet to get a response from the fire brigade about the tour of the station so I will chase that up. I will also find out if the Polka Theatre in Wimbledon has anything on that we could go and see, with a view to getting a back-stage tour again; I know the first group members enjoyed this immensely and it is yet another experience for them to think about. Finally, how does everyone feel about a trip to the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill? It is only a bus-ride away and could be a really thought-provoking event so let me have some feedback and tell me if you want me to look into this.
See you all Saturday then and Good Writing ...
Thursday 31 March 2016
Monday 21 March 2016
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ...
Great session Saturday (but then I'd expect nothing less from your talented young wordsmiths) with 11 children in attendance including Shaan who came straight from a drama class to spend the last 20 minutes of the session with us. Saturday's session revolved around our previous Word Magic book. The idea was for the members to acquaint themselves with the book's contents and also to get a feel for the Author Profile of each of its contributors.
It was brilliant to hear them reading parts of the book out loud to each other and during the course of the session they were also encouraged to practice their own Author Profiles for Word Magic 2. At the end of the session, the assignment set was for the youngsters to read the first book through at home and then each of them were given their own Author Profile to complete and return on 2nd April. Each member was also given a consent form to take home to their parents. It is absolutely essential that the parents complete and sign these because without your consent, I will not be able to publish the young writers' work. The consent form asks you to indicate how you would feel comfortable having your child identified as the author of their featured work. If you are happy for their full name to appear, that is fine, similarly if you would prefer them to be identified by just their Christian name or their initials. Whatever your preference, you need to let me know.
The library staff have suggested that it would be lovely to launch the new book at the library and we could in fact make quite an occasion of it, so that has given me something else to think about. I will fill you in on this after further discussion.
And finally a round of applause was given (and deservedly so) to Amber for achieving her Rainbow Band 2 certificate for which she also received a book "Write Your Own Story Book" which I hope will encourage her further in her writing projects, so Well Done Amber.
With an Easter Egg from the Easter Bunny held firmly in their grasp, the session ended on a high note. I will see you all again on 2nd April.
Have a lovely Easter break!
It was brilliant to hear them reading parts of the book out loud to each other and during the course of the session they were also encouraged to practice their own Author Profiles for Word Magic 2. At the end of the session, the assignment set was for the youngsters to read the first book through at home and then each of them were given their own Author Profile to complete and return on 2nd April. Each member was also given a consent form to take home to their parents. It is absolutely essential that the parents complete and sign these because without your consent, I will not be able to publish the young writers' work. The consent form asks you to indicate how you would feel comfortable having your child identified as the author of their featured work. If you are happy for their full name to appear, that is fine, similarly if you would prefer them to be identified by just their Christian name or their initials. Whatever your preference, you need to let me know.
The library staff have suggested that it would be lovely to launch the new book at the library and we could in fact make quite an occasion of it, so that has given me something else to think about. I will fill you in on this after further discussion.
And finally a round of applause was given (and deservedly so) to Amber for achieving her Rainbow Band 2 certificate for which she also received a book "Write Your Own Story Book" which I hope will encourage her further in her writing projects, so Well Done Amber.
With an Easter Egg from the Easter Bunny held firmly in their grasp, the session ended on a high note. I will see you all again on 2nd April.
Have a lovely Easter break!
Wednesday 16 March 2016
Have A Lovely Easter!
Don't forget we have another session this Saturday (19th) in order to allow for the Easter weekend. After that we will back on April 2nd In fact here is a brief reminder of forthcoming session dates:
16th April
7th May
21st May
11th june
25th June
2nd july
23rd July
and that will be the last session this side of the summer holidays, we are then back on 10th September which gives me the whole summer to put together the new book so that it is published and on sale by early November at the latest so that people can buy copies to give as Christmas presents. And because the funding has been put up for the new book, the money raised from the sale of copies can be ploughed straight back into the Young Writers. It is a Win/Win situation and your talented children deserve it!
Assignment set last Saturday was to copy out the opening and closing sentences from three random books at home to explore the various ways to start and end a story.
Better go now - stuff to do. See you Saturday.
16th April
7th May
21st May
11th june
25th June
2nd july
23rd July
and that will be the last session this side of the summer holidays, we are then back on 10th September which gives me the whole summer to put together the new book so that it is published and on sale by early November at the latest so that people can buy copies to give as Christmas presents. And because the funding has been put up for the new book, the money raised from the sale of copies can be ploughed straight back into the Young Writers. It is a Win/Win situation and your talented children deserve it!
Assignment set last Saturday was to copy out the opening and closing sentences from three random books at home to explore the various ways to start and end a story.
Better go now - stuff to do. See you Saturday.
Tuesday 8 March 2016
Saturday Session Coming Up
Don't forget we have a session on Saturday 12th March. Looking forward to seeing some stories for our brand new book. Hoping to get our benefactor in for a visit soon so fingers crossed. He is moving house at the moment so it is unlikely to be this Saturday but I will let everyone know when we are expecting him.
See you Saturday!
See you Saturday!
Tuesday 1 March 2016
Great Session
We had a good session on Saturday! Thirteen Young Writers came along, including three new members and two returning newbies which is totally brilliant! We continued our foray into writing for comics and I asked the Young Writers what kind of story they feel would work well in comic form. It was great to see so many new ideas - and some not so new ones - and I pointed out why it is better to be original and come up with your own characters. Using Star Wars and Beano characters is ok at this stage - but thinking up your own characters and putting them into a totally new situation - is much better. I think they got it.
The big announcement was that a local councillor has offered to fund the production of our new book and with this in mind the assignment set was to come up with a short story, specifically for our new book. I referred the children to the original Word Magic because there are a few short stories written by former members in there, which should get them thinking.
The plan for the new book is to introduce some samples of as much as we have covered over the past year as possible. I decided starting with stories should be the first step. Some of the poetry handed in recently is already in my file because the standards of their work are so high that I want to share it with the world!
As with the previous book, I will be handing out consent forms to all the grown-ups over the next couple of sessions and the children will be getting Author Profile forms to complete and hand in. I want each contributor to be recognised for their work.
The other announcement is that I will be holding a competition for this summer's project - more details of that later.
So all in all it was a very successful session and I was thrilled to see the childrens' excitement when I announced we'd be publishing a new book this year!
The next session is on 12th March. I look forward to seeing you there.
The big announcement was that a local councillor has offered to fund the production of our new book and with this in mind the assignment set was to come up with a short story, specifically for our new book. I referred the children to the original Word Magic because there are a few short stories written by former members in there, which should get them thinking.
The plan for the new book is to introduce some samples of as much as we have covered over the past year as possible. I decided starting with stories should be the first step. Some of the poetry handed in recently is already in my file because the standards of their work are so high that I want to share it with the world!
As with the previous book, I will be handing out consent forms to all the grown-ups over the next couple of sessions and the children will be getting Author Profile forms to complete and hand in. I want each contributor to be recognised for their work.
The other announcement is that I will be holding a competition for this summer's project - more details of that later.
So all in all it was a very successful session and I was thrilled to see the childrens' excitement when I announced we'd be publishing a new book this year!
The next session is on 12th March. I look forward to seeing you there.
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