Hi everyone! As mentioned in the previous post, for the next few sessions we will be looking at poetry, so I hope the Young Writers have geared themselves up to all things poetic. My plan is to introduce a theme to each session and hopefully find at least one Young Writer-friendly new poetry form to try, so fingers crossed. At this week's session, 27th January, I will provide a work sheet reminding everyone which poetry forms we have already tried and how they are set out, and I will probably bring in some of my poetry booklets for them to read through.
Looking forward to seeing you all there, then, same time, same place!
Thursday, 25 January 2018
Thursday, 18 January 2018
GREAT START!!!
Wonderful to see fourteen Young Writers in attendance at last week's session - the first since the Christmas break. I also had several enquiries which bodes well for the future.
We started off with the easy task of writing a short review and most of them rose to the challenge - even the younger ones. As a pre-cursor to the next few sessions, the assignment set at the end of the session was to write a free-style poem since Poetry will be the on-going theme for a while; I will explain why next time.
It was nice to welcome a new member and congratulations to Naya who received her Purple certificate. For the benefit of the new members, I will just clarify how the Certificate Trail works. Each member gets a Blue certificate to welcome them into the group. Upon completion of four written assignments, they receive a Red, upon completion of eight, they receive a Purple and upon completion of twelve assignments, they receive a Rainbow and that is the highest accolaide. If they decide to stay on, they move into Band 2, and then Band 3 and so on. I have a couple of members who are almost on their Rainbow Band 3. As always there are little awards plus sundry competitions they can participate in; anything to give them the incentive to Keep Writing, so please encourage your young wordsmiths to take part in the assignments.
I will also just add that I am not a teacher. I share my passion for writing and in doing so, I help the children to express themselves and grow in confidence. I also think it is good to have a bit of competition as well as to help one another along.
I look forward to seeing you all at the next session on 27th.
We started off with the easy task of writing a short review and most of them rose to the challenge - even the younger ones. As a pre-cursor to the next few sessions, the assignment set at the end of the session was to write a free-style poem since Poetry will be the on-going theme for a while; I will explain why next time.
It was nice to welcome a new member and congratulations to Naya who received her Purple certificate. For the benefit of the new members, I will just clarify how the Certificate Trail works. Each member gets a Blue certificate to welcome them into the group. Upon completion of four written assignments, they receive a Red, upon completion of eight, they receive a Purple and upon completion of twelve assignments, they receive a Rainbow and that is the highest accolaide. If they decide to stay on, they move into Band 2, and then Band 3 and so on. I have a couple of members who are almost on their Rainbow Band 3. As always there are little awards plus sundry competitions they can participate in; anything to give them the incentive to Keep Writing, so please encourage your young wordsmiths to take part in the assignments.
I will also just add that I am not a teacher. I share my passion for writing and in doing so, I help the children to express themselves and grow in confidence. I also think it is good to have a bit of competition as well as to help one another along.
I look forward to seeing you all at the next session on 27th.
Thursday, 11 January 2018
Let's Get Writing!
Hi everyone. Happy New Year! I hope all the Young Writers have made a New Year Resolution to write more because I am convinced there's at least half a dozen future successful writers out there somewhere!
Quick reminder that we have our first session of 2018 this Saturday (13th) so looking forward to seeing everyone there between 9.30 and 10.30. We will start off quite gently; it is never easy to get straight back into things after a break, is it - but I am planning some new projects to try from February onwards so watch this space.
Dates for forthcoming sessions are as follows:
13.01.18
27.01.18
10.02.18
24.02.18
10.03.18
24.03.18
07.04.18
21.04.18
05.05.18
19.05.18
02.06.18
30.06.18
14.07.18 - possibly the last session of the school year.
All these are yet to be confirmed by the library team and are subject to change, but I thought you'd like a rough idea.
See you all Saturday!
Quick reminder that we have our first session of 2018 this Saturday (13th) so looking forward to seeing everyone there between 9.30 and 10.30. We will start off quite gently; it is never easy to get straight back into things after a break, is it - but I am planning some new projects to try from February onwards so watch this space.
Dates for forthcoming sessions are as follows:
13.01.18
27.01.18
10.02.18
24.02.18
10.03.18
24.03.18
07.04.18
21.04.18
05.05.18
19.05.18
02.06.18
30.06.18
14.07.18 - possibly the last session of the school year.
All these are yet to be confirmed by the library team and are subject to change, but I thought you'd like a rough idea.
See you all Saturday!
Saturday, 23 December 2017
Merry Christmas!!!!
Huge thanks to everyone who came to the final Young Writer session of 2017 and for all your lovely presents!
It was a nice gentle session with a couple of quizes and lots of time to chat and socialise. I thanked all the children for their hard work and all the mums, dads and grans for their continued support - none of this would be possible without all of you to keep things ticking over.
It has been a good year for the Young Writers. We regularly have 15 or more members in attendance and there has been lots of certificate, prizes and awards along the way. The Picnic in the Park was a big success, as was the Fire Station trip and there was a good response to the summer challenge of writing a holiday diary so well done to everyone.
All that remains to be said is have a great Christmas and New Year break and I will see you all on 13th January.
Lots of love
Jilly
It was a nice gentle session with a couple of quizes and lots of time to chat and socialise. I thanked all the children for their hard work and all the mums, dads and grans for their continued support - none of this would be possible without all of you to keep things ticking over.
It has been a good year for the Young Writers. We regularly have 15 or more members in attendance and there has been lots of certificate, prizes and awards along the way. The Picnic in the Park was a big success, as was the Fire Station trip and there was a good response to the summer challenge of writing a holiday diary so well done to everyone.
All that remains to be said is have a great Christmas and New Year break and I will see you all on 13th January.
Lots of love
Jilly
Saturday, 25 November 2017
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!
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!
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.
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