Write a set of rules that would make you incredibly happy to obey. For instance, one rule might be that you get to eat dessert first at every meal. Think about all the things you would love to have as “rules” that perhaps now are not.
Archive for November, 2009
Poetry Teatime: Indian Spiced Tea
Dear Julie,
We do Thursday teatimes as Tuesday is a busy day for us but I figure you’ll let me get away with that!
I came across your blog a few months ago and loved all your ideas to inspire kids to write and enjoy literature – we especially love the teatime idea and it is a firm favourite in our household! My elder daughter and I are currently on the kidswrite basic course which started this week.
The first picture captures our very first tea and as you can see the hot chocolate, Indian spiced tea and freshly baked cupcakes worked their magic and we had a blast! We read a few poems (my girls like the funny ones from Roald Dahl and Shel Silverstein at the moment) and we continued with our read aloud story which is currently Eva Ibbotson’s “Secret Of Platform 13” which the girls are loving. My little boy (just turned 2) likes the hot chocolate and cake and even sits patiently through our readings for most part! I’m thinking of including some fun nursery rhymes for our next tea so as to include him in the whole experience.
The girls really look forward to it. We all have our roles – I prepare the food (although sometimes they help me with the baking beforehand) and drinks, My middle daughter lays the tablecloth and gets the centrepiece to decorate the table and my eldest sets the plates, cutlery and napkins (we use real cloth ones!). The youngest usually sits in his high chairs and bangs on the plates calling for cake and hot chocolate – it is very sweet. He has now learnt to wait for everything to be laid and for us to sit down before he touches the food. Then we say grace and as we all dig into the treats – we take turns to read poems we’ve chosen. Finally, I read the chosen story for the rest of the time while the kids polish off the food.
Our subsequent teatimes have been joined by my mother and even the neighbours kids. We are having so much fun and it is a wonderful family tradition to establish. THANKS!
Chi-ann Rajah
Friday Freewrite: Write an review…
for a movie you saw recently. Don’t worry about format. Just get writing. Rant, if you like. Sometimes it’s more fun to write about a movie you thought was silly, ridiculous or stupid than one you loved. Go for it!
“He’s not growing!”
In fourth grade, I made my annual trek to the doctor for my physical. Each year, the moment arrived when the doc would line me up against the ruler mounted on his office wall to measure me. I was short. Excruciatingly short. Marking my growth helped me cope. But in fourth grade, I discovered to my horror: I had grown only a quarter of an inch! In the years that followed, my bone growth was scanned, I was put on thyroid while both parents and doctors wrung their hands wondering when I’d finally get on with it and grow.
It took awhile. My friends had long since settled into their adult heights when my body finally kicked into gear. Partway through my junior year, I became ravenous. Five meals a day, snacks between. 18 months later, I had added six inches to my petite stature!
What’s this got to do with writing? Sometimes I hear from moms who are worried. They’ve been with Brave Writer for a year or more. They see little progress. They measure last year’s writing against this year’s and have that swooping stomach sensation: He isn’t growing. I don’t see progress. But maybe he is. Maybe this is just a year of the quarter inch growth? Maybe he’s simply storing up all that energy, accumulated during the slow years for a great big burst of dramatic, lots of writing products growth that startles you with its suddenness?
I’ve noticed that when I’ve backed off of writing with a child who shows reluctance or intimidation, have kept reading aloud, conversed and chatted with him regularly, and continued the basics: handwriting/copywork/dictation, eventually writing growth happens and often happens in a burst! Six inches of growth in a year! Writing isn’t a linear process. It’s the slow accumulation of internal confidence (things to say, ways to say them) and mechanical competence. Those sometimes grow steadily, over time, without much evidence of big spurts of development. But in many cases, the growth is imperceptible until one day: Bam! The stars align and those pesky mispellings disappear. Words flow and insight develops. When that happens, it’s a relief. But just know, it was coming all along.
