Pleased as punch to have fifteen Young Writers at this morning's session including three Newbies. I thought I would challenge their imaginations today by taking in ten small Trigger Objects. The children were able to hold them, scrutinize them and pass them around and were then encouraged to write either a story or a poem about one or more of them. I made it clear that anything they did today would be the first draft which meant they could make as many mistakes as they liked as long as they could then utilise their ideas into a final polished draft. This is their Assignment in time for the next session on 9th December. We then have just one more session this side of Christmas which will be the following week (16th) after which the group will go on its Christmas break until the first session in Janary on the 13th.
For the benefit of the Newbies I will explain again how the Certificate Trail works. Upon returning after their initial visit, they will receive their Blue Membership Certificate. After that they can start working their way through the trail by handing in completed Assignments. After four they will get their Red Certificate, after a further four, their Purple and after the next four, their Rainbow. The Rainbow is the Highest Award in the trail and they will be rewarded with a book that is designed to help them develop their Creative Writing. Once they reach that, they then go into Band Two (ie Red Band Two, Purple Band Two etc) and when they reach their second Rainbow, they will get a trophy and if they stay long enough and work their way up to their third Rainbow, they will receive a further trophy. The trail is designed to give them a sense of responsibility and commitment as well as the opportunity to mark their achievements.
I am hoping to organise an Exhibition next spring and I will come back to you about this after I have spoken to the Library team. There may also be the occasional competitions if I have time to devise them and, hopefully, one or two special events, so keep an eye on the blog.
Looking forward to seeing you all on the 9th!
Saturday 25 November 2017
Thursday 23 November 2017
See You Saturday ...
Hi everyone. Sorry not to have updated sooner. I have been swept away on a tide of Christmas shopping!
After the disappointment of the session before last, it was a relief to find thirteen children turn up for the session on the 11th, including several very welcome Newbies. We were looking at Haiku and Tanka which are syllable based poems and I was impressed, as ever, with the Young Writers' enthusiasm and willingness to have a go, particularly since there were a few who had never tried it before so a big Well Done to them - and to those who were perhaps revisiting the topic for the second or third time! The Assignment was to produce a page of poetry and, of course, any handed in will count toward Certificates so it is well worth the Young Writers giving it their best shot.
Unfortunately, despite the good turnout, it became clear by the end of the session that the proposed theatre trip on 16th December had become a non-runner. I do understand however, with Christmas just around the corner, that the added expense of two or more theatre tickets might currently be a bit out of reach for all you hard working mums and dads. I have spoken to my contact at the Polka who was very sympathetic and said she'll let me know if something else comes along at a more suitable time of year, possibly in the spring, so we shall see how we go.
Don't forget we have a session this Saturday - 25th - same time, same place and it will be nice to see you and your talented wordsmiths there. Till then - Good Writing!
After the disappointment of the session before last, it was a relief to find thirteen children turn up for the session on the 11th, including several very welcome Newbies. We were looking at Haiku and Tanka which are syllable based poems and I was impressed, as ever, with the Young Writers' enthusiasm and willingness to have a go, particularly since there were a few who had never tried it before so a big Well Done to them - and to those who were perhaps revisiting the topic for the second or third time! The Assignment was to produce a page of poetry and, of course, any handed in will count toward Certificates so it is well worth the Young Writers giving it their best shot.
Unfortunately, despite the good turnout, it became clear by the end of the session that the proposed theatre trip on 16th December had become a non-runner. I do understand however, with Christmas just around the corner, that the added expense of two or more theatre tickets might currently be a bit out of reach for all you hard working mums and dads. I have spoken to my contact at the Polka who was very sympathetic and said she'll let me know if something else comes along at a more suitable time of year, possibly in the spring, so we shall see how we go.
Don't forget we have a session this Saturday - 25th - same time, same place and it will be nice to see you and your talented wordsmiths there. Till then - Good Writing!
Sunday 5 November 2017
Breaking News !!!
Hello again everyone. Just to remind you we have the next Young Writer session this Saturday and let you know that my contact at the Polka in Wimbledon have said they are happy for me to collect the ticket money for The Snow Queen on that day in order to secure the seats, which means this is your absolute last chance to secure your spot. Please bring the ticket money in on Saturday 11th or I will have to cancel. The price is £16.50 per person.
Thank you all for your co-operation, and see you Saturday.
Thank you all for your co-operation, and see you Saturday.
Wednesday 1 November 2017
Oh Dear !!!
Hello everyone. What a shame that only three Young Writers turned up at last week's session! I do appreciate that it was the last day of the half term school holiday - a fact I had overlooked when I initally booked it. However because of the ticket money for The Snow Queen being due in that day, I just kind of hoped to see a few more - particularly since so many people had seemed interested in going.
The money had to be collected last week so I could get it over to the Polka by the end of this week to secure the seats and I am not sure now if we will still be able to go. I have asked my contact at the Polka if I could have a bit more time thinking I might still be able to collect the ticket money on 11th November, which is when our next session takes place. I am hoping she agrees but if she doesn't those parents who did hand in their ticket money last Saturday will get it back on that day and we will just have to cancel the trip. It would be a shame but there will be other chances so it won't be the end of the world.
The creative writing subject covered was Sci-Fi which is something we have not looked into before on its own merits, although it has been incorporated into other genre we have covered, such as Fantasy Fiction, Superheros and Fairy Tales. It challenges the imagination at every level because nothing is impossible when talking about future worlds, time travel or space, the final frontier. I suggested a couple of things to get the creative juices flowing - finding an alien lost in the woods, for example, or spotting a flying saucer at the local park. One handy tip when thinking of names for aliens and other worldly beings is to take a word and turn it back to front ie - as demonstrated by Amber - taking the word Comics and coming up with the name Dr Scimoc. Not only does it sound like a space baddie, it looks like the name of a space baddie so well done to Amber. If any of the Young Writers who were not able to attend last Saturday still want to give this a go, it will still count towards their next Certificate.
Anyway, hope to see you back on 11th November, but if I do hear anything from Polka before then, I will let you know.
The money had to be collected last week so I could get it over to the Polka by the end of this week to secure the seats and I am not sure now if we will still be able to go. I have asked my contact at the Polka if I could have a bit more time thinking I might still be able to collect the ticket money on 11th November, which is when our next session takes place. I am hoping she agrees but if she doesn't those parents who did hand in their ticket money last Saturday will get it back on that day and we will just have to cancel the trip. It would be a shame but there will be other chances so it won't be the end of the world.
The creative writing subject covered was Sci-Fi which is something we have not looked into before on its own merits, although it has been incorporated into other genre we have covered, such as Fantasy Fiction, Superheros and Fairy Tales. It challenges the imagination at every level because nothing is impossible when talking about future worlds, time travel or space, the final frontier. I suggested a couple of things to get the creative juices flowing - finding an alien lost in the woods, for example, or spotting a flying saucer at the local park. One handy tip when thinking of names for aliens and other worldly beings is to take a word and turn it back to front ie - as demonstrated by Amber - taking the word Comics and coming up with the name Dr Scimoc. Not only does it sound like a space baddie, it looks like the name of a space baddie so well done to Amber. If any of the Young Writers who were not able to attend last Saturday still want to give this a go, it will still count towards their next Certificate.
Anyway, hope to see you back on 11th November, but if I do hear anything from Polka before then, I will let you know.
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