Excellent!!

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!