Last week we kicked off our second semester classes with word and writing games. Each week we'll play some of these games to mine topics and challenge our creative and critical thinking. Our elementary class got a cup full of challenges - a mug of magnetic words from which they were to create sentences. Once they had mined a few topic sentences from their cache of words, they were to choose one and write a story with it.
Kyleigh employed both creative and critical reasoning skills to come up with this "gem":
The gorgeous diamond loves to dream about her beauty, shiny and smooth. She worshiped her beauty and light. That made God not happy. So, He crushed her into pieces and added the pieces to heaven's gate! This teaches me not to worship anything but God and God alone.
By Kyleigh Robertson
age 9
Bravo, Kyleigh!!
I have a whole slew of student writings to post here and have been remiss in getting them up. Here's a couple quickies from last semester's elementary students. It all started with a game of SCRABBLE! We set a time within which to play the game. At the end of that time, we wrote down all the words the students made. Here's the list:
TIE, MOB, LIP, OAT, COAT, INK, IN PIES,
SUSHI, LOOK, MUD, THIS, SLOB, DEAL
Taking a copy of the words down in their notebook, students were then tasked with writing a composition and being sure to use each word - and make it make sense! Here's a couple that had me smiling (minimal proofing):
ME
by Olivia Born, age 7
This is a story all about me. I have big lips and I have a dog, cat, and sister. When I wake up in the morning my hair makes me look like a slob. I eat oat meal for breakfast. You should look at my mom. She is beautiful. But, she makes a big deal about our chores. I like using ink pens and like to eat pies. My mom got me a pretty white coat. I do not like to get stuck in a mob but getting stuck in mud is fun. My mom does not like sushi. My dad wears a tie to work. I like Miss Kathy's class. And this is all about me.
MY DAD'S WORK (and Other Stuff)
by Sophia Born, age 9
My dad has to wear a tie when he goes to work. He says that at work there is a mob of people. He always puts chapstick on his lip before he goes to work. He eats oat meal for breakfast. He puts his coat on. He gets a pen. "Dad," I said, "Look, that pen is out of ink."
"Oh!" he said. "I did not know that." He put the pen back and got another pen. "Bye," he said.
"See you later," I said. He got in the car.
"We're making pies for your dad when he comes home," said my mom."Mud pies?" I asked.
"No." said my mom, "apple pies! This is the recipe." She showed me the box. "We also are making sushi for dinner," she said.
"EWWWWW!" I said.
"Just don't look at it." she said.
"That is slob!" I said.
"What's the big deal?" my mom said.
Ut-oh! Sophia left us hanging there - I sure want to know how that dinner came out. What kind of pie was in the recipe box? Did she eat the sushi? Did her dad like dinner?
A couple of my students really enjoy writing dialogue - and are learning the grammatical ins and outs of the skill. They may be showing signs of budding playwrights rather than prose artists! We shall see . . . and share more student work next week! Stay tuned!!
With Ink in My Pen,
Miss Kathy
