Kiwi kids' writing

Two books which teachers could imagine using as writing inspiration for students were :

Leprechaun ice-cream - Magical Tales by Kiwi Kids is the publication resulting from a competition for aspiring young authors (years 1–8), which was run by New Zealand Post in conjunction with the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards 2010.
It includes the work of fifty Kiwi kids from all over the country. An expert judging panel, including well-known New Zealand writer Kate De Goldi, selected the winning works from more than 7000 entries. The challenge for the competition was to “share your writing magic”, giving young writers the opportunity to interpret and explore the theme in their individual ways.

Order from Learning Media ph 800 800 565 or local bookshops $



http://www.learningmedia.co.nz/our-work/portfolio/leprechaun-ice-cream

and

20 winning stories written by New Zealand children!

When Scholastic ran a Short Story Competition through its Book Clubs, over 1300 entries were received. With the help of educator Jill Eggleton, children’s author Kyle Mewburn and What Now! TV presenter Charlie Panapa, 20 stories across three age groups were selected as the best in the country. Imaginations are thriving! Read these great stories written by NZ children between the ages of 5 and 13 and see for yourself.

ISBN : 9781869439958 Scholastic New Zealand Limited, September 2010 $20



Kevin has both of these in stock at Take Note Kerikeri phone 09 407 9721, or try your local bookseller...

Two writing teachers blog

From the Stenhouse publisher's newsletter, here is a snippet about a teaching writing blog and new book which is available to preview online...

The blog post I saw used a picture book to illustrate ways for children to write the noises a cat and dog make beyond miaow and woof...
http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/beyond-meow-and-woof/

and here is a post about helping student writers to "show, don't tell"...
http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/show-dont-tell/


Ruth Ayers and Stacey Shubitz, creators of the popular blog Two Writing Teachers, have translated years of wisdom on writing instruction into a cornucopia of practical advice in their new book, Day by Day. Ruth and Stacey provide encouragement and manageable, bite-sized "discussions" that teachers can review daily to continuously improve their practice.



This blog includes various quotes "words that are speaking to me" - here is one...

You have to be brave to take out that white sheet of paper and put on it words that could be evidence of your stupidity. — Sol Saks

Ralph Fletcher and student writing

Ralph Fletcher http://www.ralphfletcher.com/index.html

Using your writer’s notebook
http://www.ralphfletcher.com/tips.html

Pyrotechnics on the page - preview the entire book online at
http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=9202&idcategory=108

Boy writers
http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewprd.asp?idProduct=9033&r=&REFERER=

How to write your life story
Have a look at Writing Fix where this book was "Mentor text of the year"
http://www.writingfix.com/Classroom_Tools/MTY.htm

Reading and writing - influences on each other

The Reader in the Writer - Myra Barrs and Valerie Cork - this is an interesting and inspiring book based on research about what impact teaching children’s literature would have on the development of children’s writing...



1. What do children take from their reading of literary texts and how do we know? How does what you read influence your writing?
Used samples of writing throughout the year – to track progress, and changes, development in the children’s writing. Encouraged children to move out of their usual style of writing – tried out new language, found that students "took on the language of the text they were reading.”

• Children’s knowledge of writing styles extends both their writing and their reading. Here the role of reading aloud is very important – students need to hear the words. Parallels with ELP Chapter 5, page 112.

2. How far do certain classroom practices support children in learning about writing from literary texts?
Researchers used questionnaires, classroom observations, individual case studies, drama.
Most effective practices identified were:

• Reading aloud “brought to life by skillful reading aloud.” Reading aloud “makes the writer’s voice resonate in classrooms.”
  
• Discussions around the text after reading aloud
  
• Drama work around texts – led to strongly imagined writing in role
  
• Planning writing – but not too prescriptive
  
• Building in response and collaboration - working in pairs – sharing and helping each other with their writing. Reading your own writing aloud is important – need to listen to your writing to work on it.
  
• Sustained writing time – look at fewer texts more closely.

3. Are the experiences which help children to develop as writers the same as those which help them to develop as readers?
Less evidence gathered here – but suggested strongly that children’s reading was developing alongside their writing. Children much more aware of the texts they read and styles, narrative voice – curious about the way they were constructed.

4. What kinds of literary texts are particularly supportive to children learning to write?
Researchers gathered lists of books that had been used by classes and some books were used by all classes. Findings were:

• Traditional tales – demonstrate patterns and structures of narrative
• Poeticised speech
• Emotionally powerful texts – books which elicit a strong emotional response – helps children to take on another viewpoint.
  

For more information see http://www.clpe.co.uk/researchandprojects/research_01.html

What are the implications for teachers? Library teams?
Which books have you found useful to inspire and develop student’s writing?

Picture books and writing

Anastasia Suen’s Picture Book of the Day blog at http://picturebookday.wordpress.com/
and her Book of the week blog at http://asuenbooks.wordpress.com/ might be of interest.

These blogs recommend a picture book each day of the week (some days have a special focus eg Non-fiction Monday, Poetry Friday) with a 1 or 2 line plot summary, a short quote from the text (in italics), and a suggested writing activity for one of the six traits of writing

The six traits of writing were identified in the 1980s as a way to help young writers look at their own writing. They are

1. Ideas
2. Organization
3. Voice
4. Word Choice
5. Sentence Fluency
6. Conventions

The books featured in Anastasia Suen's blog are American, but many are available from National Library and may trigger ideas for similar books / activities.

Here is a link http://educationnorthwest.org/resource/503 to more information about the 6 Traits which has been expanded to now include a 7th - presentation...

The 6+1 Trait® Writing analytical model for assessing and teaching writing is made up of 6+1 key qualities that define strong writing. These are:

• Ideas, the main message;
• Organization, the internal structure of the piece;
• Voice, the personal tone and flavor of the author's message;
• Word Choice, the vocabulary a writer chooses to convey meaning;
• Sentence Fluency, the rhythm and flow of the language;
• Conventions, the mechanical correctness;
• and Presentation, how the writing actually looks on the page.

The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate

It was going to be hard to match the original version of this story published in 1984 by Shortland Educational Publications with delightful illustrations by Jo Davies capturing the spirit of the story so perfectly, but Gecko Press have done it, with a new edition of Joy Cowley's story illustrated by Sarah Davis. As the author herself says "I’m in love with this book! Everything about it is utterly beautiful: the design, the colours, the characters... [Illustrator Sarah Davis] has turned it into a classic that people will hug for generations."



Here is a link to Joy's website, with various resources for getting to know Joy - her books and her life, and this page has some useful tips for "Getting young authors started" http://www.joycowley.com/stories.shtml

The artist, Sarah Davis is a New Zealander, now resident in Sydney, and here is a link to her website and her blog called Pseudoarmadillo, a Links page with various connections to "internet goodness" and a few pictures from her Sketchbook.

Motivating struggling writers

Lynne Shearman's great powerpoint on Motivating Struggling Writers is available under the "Powerpoints from Workshops" label on the right hand side...

Teaching juniors to become writers : one teacher's experience

Here is some information from Lynne Shearman, RTLit, from her JuLS Workshop 7 session on writing.

This is the link to the document with the Junior Writing Intentions
http://tiny.cc/JuniorWritingIntentionsLShearman

and Lynne's powerpoint on Teaching Juniors to become writers is on the right sidebar under the heading Powerpoints from workshops.

PhotoStory software

PhotoStory is wonderful free software which enables you to turn a collection of digital photos into a "video" complete with your own narration, text and music background. It is lots of fun and very easy to use... It could be a great tool for the classroom with students of all ages for a variety of purposes, and in the library maybe for doing book reviews ? It could be a good resource to promote to families in the school newsletter too perhaps ?

Here is the website http://tiny.cc/Photostory610

There is a guide to making a video using a single photo which is also very effective, if a bit more complex ! http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/tips/create.mspx