I'M NOT--Writing About Fears with Peep and Egg

by Laura Gehl

In Peep and Egg: I’m Not Hatching, Egg is scared of everything—from the too-high roof of the hen house to the too-dark sky at night.  Egg wants to stay inside of her nice, cozy, SAFE shell. 

When I present Peep and Egg to school groups, I ask kids to think about their own fears.  What would make them want to stay inside their eggs? 

When Egg finally hatches, it is because she wants to be with Peep, and because she wants to read a story.  I ask students, “What would make you hatch out of your egg?  What do you love enough that you would come out of your safe, cozy egg for it?” 

In your classroom, you may want to have each student make a chart—one half of the paper for What Would Make Me Stay in My Egg and one half of the paper for What Would Make Me Hatch.  Ask students to write a list, or draw pictures, on each side. 

(So far, I’ve found sharks to be the most popular answer for What Would Make Me Stay in My Egg and ice cream to be the most popular answer for What Would Make Me Hatch.)

Peep and Egg: I’m Not Hatching is the first in a series of books that will include Peep and Egg: I’m Not Trick or Treating, Peep and Egg: I’m Not Taking a Bath, and Peep and Egg: I’m Not Eating That.

Ask your students to think about an I’m Not title that reflects their own fears.  Ask, “What would YOU be scared to do?”  I often tell school groups that my title would be I’m Not Skydiving.

Next, ask students to write or tell an I’m Not story, with the story primarily written in dialogue like Peep and Egg. A student could use the characters Peep and Egg, she could use herself and a parent (“I’m Not Trying Out for the School Play!”) or she might use a scared penguin and a comforting polar bear (“I’m Not Ice Skating!”).  Anything goes! 

Writing I’m Not stories can help students think about their own fears in a humorous way.  I’m Not stories can also help kids remember that we can overcome our fears, although we may need a special someone like Peep to help us break out of our shells!

Laura Gehl is NOT skydiving!  But she IS the author of One Big Pair Of Underwear, a Charlotte Zolotow Highly Commended Title, International Literacy Association Honor Book, and Booklist Books for Youth Editors’ Choice for 2014; Hare And Tortoise Race Across Israel and And Then Another Sheep Turned Up (both PJ library selections for 2015 and 2016); and Peep And Egg: I’m Not Hatching, an Amazon Best Book of the Month for February 2016. A former science and reading teacher, Laura also writes about science for children and adults.  She lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with her husband and four children.  Visit Laura online at www.lauragehl.com. 

Writing Connections with Dan Gutman

by Mary Quattlebaum

Like a master alchemist, Dan Gutman can take ordinary stuff and turn it into comic gold.  As the best-selling author of 125 books, he knows how to keep kids laughing as they turn the pages.  I recently interviewed him for KidsPost/WashingtonPost about the first book (The Lincoln Project) in his new history series, “Flashback Four.”  With its time-travel shenanigans, the new series is sure to be as popular as Gutman’s “My Weird School” and “Baseball Card Adventure” series.

Below are writing lessons for the classroom or for individual writers ages 8 and up.  Gutman’s website www.dangutman.com includes puzzles and games related to his books.

VIEWS OF HISTORY:  In the “Lincoln Project,” the four main characters travel back to the time of the Gettysburg Address, in 1863, for a wild adventure.  But each experiences that time differently, depending on race and gender.  Luke and Julia are white, Isabel is a scholarly Hispanic girl and David is an African American boy.

Classroom Discussion:  Ask students to read the book and to jot down differences between the way boys and girls dressed or were treated.  How about African American and white people?  What is David worried about?

Classroom Writing: Ask each student to list what they would have liked/disliked/been worried about if they had traveled on Miss Z’s invention back to Gettysburg, in 1863.  What would have been their favorite thing? Now, ask them to be someone from a different race and/or gender and do the same thing.  How were the answers different?

Classroom Writing:  Miss Z has tapped you to be one of her time-traveling students.  What point in time would you like to travel back to—and where?  (It doesn’t have to be the United States.)  What important moment would you take a photo of?  Write Miss Z a letter explaining (1) why you are the best person to go, (2) why this place and time are important to visit, and (3) why it is important that this moment be photographed.  To prepare the most persuasive letters, ask students to do some research into their point in history.  Ask them to write down what excites them and what they may be afraid of.  How do they think they will be treated back then?  Give some reasons why.

www.maryquattlebaum.com

Embarrassed? Frightened? Write a Poem!

by Jacqueline Jules

Poetry is a great outlet for expressing strong emotions. The Poetry Friday Anthologies are a wonderful source for poems about first day jitters, disappointments, fears, and other emotional moments students experience on a daily basis. I’d like to share two poems I wrote that your students could use as models to write about their own feelings.

“Embarrassed” appeared in The Poetry Friday Anthology, K-5 Edition,2012.

In this poem, I use food images to describe the feeling of being embarrassed after saying the wrong thing. I say “Words spilled like soda/Now there’s a stain.” Sometimes things slip from our mouths in a sloppy way we didn’t intend. It can feel like being a sloppy eater and having potato chips end up in your hair.

The use of images to describe one’s feelings is a powerful tool in writing, particularly in poetry. Ask your student to think of an embarrassing moment. It can be a time when they said something they were sorry for or it could simply be a time when they dropped something or lost their balance in front of someone they wanted to impress. Can they think of an image to describe their feelings? Can they compare it to another situation or object readers will immediately identify with?

Begin with a freewrite, asking your students to describe the situation in prose, with as many metaphors or similes that come to mind. Freewrites give writers the opportunity to find their images first before trying to rhyme or condense their thoughts into a poem. Sometimes, writers choose words only because they rhyme. Doing a freewrite first can help writers avoid this pitfall.

Another strong emotion is fear. Fear of homework. Fear of thunder. Fear of being embarrassed. These poems, “The Math Beast” and “Thunder” appeared in Balloon Lit Journal, August 2015.

In “The Math Beast” I compared math homework and my fear of failing to a tiger roaring in a cage. In “Thunder” I compared the frightening sound of a storm to a stampede of buffalos on the roof.

Ask your students to write about something they fear. Storms? Tests? The High Dive? Monsters? Can they compare their fear to something else?

Once again, begin with a prose freewrite, encouraging your students to identify images before they try to write a poem. Poetry should contain at least one clear picture for the reader and having one in mind before you start is very helpful.

There are so many emotions to write about. Encourage your students to explore emotional terrains and describe their feelings in concrete images.

www.jacquelinejules.com

Explaining Unfamiliar Words, Concepts, and Facts

Guest Post by Laurie Wallmark

Whether your students are writing fiction or nonfiction, there might be an unfamiliar word, concept, or fact that needs additional explanation. This might be anything from a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fact to a sports move, a fantasy world setting to an alien language. Here’s a writing exercise to help your students think about the many techniques available in their writer’s toolbox that will help.

First, as a group exercise, have your students imagine they’re writing a story about a little boy with asthma. Explain that not everyone knows about this disease. Ask for suggestions of how this could be explained in the story.

Here are some possible techniques:

·       Simplify the definition – it’s a disease where you have trouble breathing

·       Give an analogy – it’s like trying to breath through a straw

·       Show an action – describe a character having an asthma attack

·       Offer an example – character can mention famous people who have asthma

·       Show in the narrative – the text explains what asthma is

·       Use a question & answer – have another character asks about the disease

As an example, you can read my book Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine and point out how even difficult concepts can be explained using appropriate text techniques. Ada Byron Lovelace was the world’s first computer programmer. In order to appreciate her groundbreaking achievement, the reader needs to understand the concept of an algorithm. Some of the techniques I used to explain this were:

·       Give a definition – “A set of steps that are followed in order to solve a mathematical problem or to complete a computer process.”

·       Simplify the definition – “Ada decided to create an algorithm, a set of mathematical instructions.”

·       Show an action – “Ada broke the problem into a series of simple steps.”

·       Use an example – “The machine could follow these instructions and solve a complex math problem, one difficult to figure out by hand.”

Now it’s time for the students to do a writing exercise on their own. Have them think of an unfamiliar word, concept, or fact they might need to explain in a story. If they’re having trouble coming up with anything, you can give suggestions such as: cultural or religious traditions, sports terms, or hobby activities. Challenge them to write five or more ways to give an explanation to their reader. At the end of the exercise, have them share their techniques with the class. Have the students discuss which techniques they think work better.

BIO: Laurie Wallmark writes picture books and middle-grades, poetry and prose, fiction and nonfiction. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from VCFA. When not writing, Laurie teaches computer science at Raritan Valley Community College, both to students on campus and in prison. Her debut picture book, Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine, received four starred trade reviews (Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and School Library Journal) and several national awards, including Outstanding Science Trade Book. Visit http://www.lauriewallmark.com/