Writing Connections with Sandra Moore and Kazumi Wilds

by Mary Quattlebaum

Wars rage across the world, but rarely is there talk of the efforts undertaken by ordinary people to promote peace.  Sandra Moore and Kazumi Wilds tell the story of one such effort in their picture book The Peace Tree from Hiroshima (Tuttle, ages 8 and up).  This little bonsai was owned by the Yamaki family in Japan for almost 400 years, and it survived the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. In 1976, the family and the Japanese government gave the little tree to the United States, as a gift of friendship.  Moore, the American author, and Wilds, the Japanese illustrator, talk about their bookmaking process in a KidsPost interview for the Washington Post.

REACHING OUT/EXPLORING PEACE

Discussion:  Read and talk about the book and the idea of two enemies giving and accepting gifts.

Writing:  Ask students to write in their journals about a time when they may have been angry with or hurt by a friend.  Were they able to become friends again?   What did they do to help heal the friendship?

Sharing:  As a class, talk about moving past anger and fear to peace and friendship.  World Peace Day is celebrated on September 21 every year. It gives people around the world a chance to reflect on peace and do something to promote it, either as individuals or as a group.  This guide includes activities, from simple to complex, that might be done in the classroom.  Ask students to jot down ideas of what they might do as an individual to promote peace.  How about as a group of several friends or a classroom?  And there’s no need to wait till September 21 to help promote peace; a new year offers a perfect opportunity to do something, whether big or small.

www.maryquattlebaum.com

DIGGING DEEPER AS A WRITER

by Christine Pakkala

In my novel Jasmine and Maddie 7^th grade English teacher Mr. Carty asks his students to “dig deeper” when they write poems about themselves. He wants them to use “real emotions as the raw materials for their poems.”

When I created the character of Mr. Carty, I drew upon my own experiences, both as a former seventh grade English teacher at the elite private Horace Mann School in New York and more recently as a creative writing instructor at Writopia Lab and the Westport Writers’ Workshop.

I learned in the field (or classroom) that it’s tough getting kids to open up and take risks on the page at a time when all they want to do—at least in public—is to hide who they really are and blend in with the crowd.

So I did what Mr. Carty did—a version, at least. I gave my students writing journals, and in my case, I let their words remain private if they chose that option. I taught them poetic forms, such as sonnet and pantoum, but didn’t force them to rhyme. The great thing about a poetic form—even without the rhymes—is  that it forces your brain to focus on one thing, and while your brain is distracted, your heart pours out truth and love and pain and anger. Works like a charm.

So for some kids, digging deeper is aided by privacy in the form of a journal. For others, expressing themselves inside the constraints of a form serves to help them dig deeper. For others, responding to a writing prompt (write a poem to your frenemy and write what you can’t say) works for other.

Others respond to  Poetry Slam or Poetry Jam or Poetry Reading—whatever you want to call it. That gets kids digging deeper because they want their words to connect to their audience. They want to be understood.

All young poets are capable of digging past the surface (as Mr. Carty knew) with the right shovel.

GUEST BLOGGER Christine Pakkala was born and raised in Idaho. She earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop (Poetry) and was a Fulbright scholar. She's the author of Last But Not Least Lola: Going Green, which earned a starred review from School Library Journal. Jasmine and Maddie earned a spot on School Library Journal's "What Hot In YA" for Summer, 2014. Last But Not Least Lola and the Wild Chicken is forthcoming September, 2014, and Last But Not Least Lola and The Haunted Mansion is scheduled for September, 2015. All titles are from Boyds Mills Press, an imprint of Highlight. Christine, a former English teacher with a passion for punctuation and poetry, now teaches creative writing at the Westport Writers' Workshop. She lives in Westport, CT with her husband, two children and two dogs.

www.christinepakkala.com

HOW TO GROW A NATURALIST

by guest blogger Nancy Viau

A naturalist is someone who loves and appreciates nature and who studies plants and animals as they live in nature. Naturalists often write about their observations in journals, magazines, and non-fiction books. I chose to pen my observations in the form of a picture book, Look What I Can Do!. My goal was to have children see a variety of animals in their natural habitat, accomplishing tasks and overcoming challenges that are part of growing up. Illustrator Anna Vojtech has done a wonderful job bringing my words to life and creating lush spreads filled with color and depth.

What follows is a very basic science activity with writing tie-ins (for grades K-2). Its purpose is to increase awareness and respect for the animals in our immediate surroundings.  

Introduction
Train your young students in the art of observation by practicing with common objects. For this activity, they should use only two senses: seeing and hearing. Allowing children to use only sight and sound as reference points helps them to stay on task. Plus, later on, when observing animals, students may be too far to smell them, and of course, they shouldn’t be encouraged to touch them!

Put a pencil on every desk.

Using the questions below, have students create a list (oral or written) based on what they see and hear.

           What color is the object?

What shape is it?

            How big is the object?

(Big as a______; Long as a _______; Fat as a _______, etc.)

                          What is the object’s placement in the environment?

                          Does the object make a sound of its own?                           

Repeat with three other objects: a watch, a cup of water, a crumpled paper.

Research

Students research three animals that may be found in the immediate area of the school. They note color, size, what they eat, their homes, families, and habits.

Activity

The easy part:

Students choose two to three favorite animals.

Each student receives a notebook (Naturalist’s Journal) and pencil. A towel or rug square to sit on comes in handy, too.

Time to head outside! Students find a place where they are likely to spot one or more of the animals they have picked.

The hard part:

Students sit and wait, very quietly. Students should not coax any animal out with snacks or noises.

The writing:

When an animal is spotted, students observe and make notes based on sight and sound only.  

They are not to make up stories (yet).

A sketch is also appropriate.

Back in the Classroom

Share and compare findings.

Make a classroom collage using sketches or cut-out pictures of animals observed.

Create a map of the observation area. Students add in their animals.

Discuss non-fiction and fiction, and how facts and research are used in both.

Children use their detailed observations of animals to write each type of story. Encourage use of descriptive language with sight and sound elements.

Corresponding Lessons

             Five Senses

             Habitats

Onomatopoeia

Communities/Neighborhoods

Introduction to Scientific Method 
              

Nancy Viau is the author of three nature-inspired books: Look What I Can Do! (Nominated for the Keystone to Reading Book Award), Storm Song, and Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head. Her Fall 2014 title, City Street Beat, invites readers on a toe-tappin’ musical journey from the country to the city. When not writing, Nancy can be found hiking, biking, or visiting schools across the country and around the world (via Skype). Visit her at www.NancyViau.com

WHAT LIES IN OUR MEMORIES?

by Jane Harrington

Just returned from a writing extravaganza in Ireland—part retreat in the remote reaches of the island, part bustling residency at Dublin’s Trinity College. In the conversations with the myriad writers I got to know over the weeks, there was a recurring theme that has followed me back across the Atlantic and sits with me now at my writing desk. Many of these Irish writers (all well established in Europe and some highly acclaimed here in the States, as well) told stories of being afraid to write as children. Insecurity, guilt, shame—all of these feelings seemed to be seated in a childhood belief that if they wrote creatively or fantastically about their lives, families, friends, they were somehow telling lies. Mostly fiction writers, these talented wordsmiths were adults before they came to realize that good writing naturally springs from the everyday, and they wish they’d allowed the young versions of themselves more freedom to explore the boundaries between life and art.

It was with pangs of understanding that I listened to their regrets, because I, too, quashed my urge to write when I was a child, and for the same reasons. What utterly wasted time, I think now, my most successful fiction having been forged from the “real” stuff that filled the days of my own children’s lives. My first novel for kids, Lucy’s Completely Cool and Totally True E-Journal, was strongly based on our family’s experience having my mother-in-law with Alzheimer’s disease come live with us, and that book sold 150,000 copies in Scholastic Book Fairs and generated a great fan buzz when it came out in 2001. (Now out of print, you can get it for pennies at Amazon or BN, if interested.)

So, I’d like to share a few memory exercises that might help some young writers gain confidence in using their own real-life stories as ore for imagining the deeper truths that, well, lie in fiction. (Aren’t words fun?!)

1.     Describe in detail a room in your family’s home. Include every bit of furniture, every picture on the walls. Then have a visitor arrive from another planet.

2.     Write a memory of your favorite relative, only imagine her/him in the form of your favorite animal.

3.     Step into a scene where a friend or sibling is in your kitchen, laughing. What has happened? What is going to happen?

4.     Quickly list all the people you can think of who like to wear hats, and describe the hats.

5.     Among your friends, who has hands or feet you really like? Explain what it is you like about those hands or feet.

6.     Open your refrigerator and study what is in there for a minute. Then close the door and try to describe every item you remember, including details about the shapes and colors of the packaging. (Don’t peek! If you can’t recall something, make it up!) Now have the foods interact behind the closed door.

www.janeharrington.com

SCRIBING FROM SUMMER'S SCRAPS

by Jane Harrington

It’s that time of year again: kids are sitting at desks, doing jumping jacks in the gym, and standing in lunch lines. The student body has returned! But what about the student mind? Is it still lingering on summer memories? Is it still off at soccer camp or traipsing the trails of Yellowstone National Park? Most likely. But don’t let the daydreaming drive you crazy. On that path creativity lies.

Scrapbooking about summer can be a great weekend assignment, or something students do together in class after bringing in personal collections of memorabilia. Ticket stubs from plays or museum visits, photographs from camp or a sleepover, feathers or cicada shells from a nature hike—these sorts of tidbits, glued onto pages of a journal, can inspire students to do some meaningful writing about those summer days that they’re not quite ready to leave behind. The length/genre of writing can be easily tailored to any grade level or standards.

Of course, this idea needn’t be limited to the classroom. It’s perfect for homeschooled writers, or for any families who want to savor the adventures and closeness that seem to too quickly get left at fall’s doorstep every year. The artistic side can be expanded, as well, by creating collages for the covers and decorating pages.

Tips: To make this a low-budget activity, find those super-cheap spiral notebooks that are always available in the fall. But don’t scrimp on the glue—you need a good quality craft glue to make journals that can become keepsakes.

www.janeharrington.com