Get your poem into a bus!

Feel inspired to write a poem? If so, you can enter it in the Poetry on Buses competition sponsored by King County Metro and 4Culture. Some of our students' artwork will appear on local bus shelters - let's see if we can get some of our writing inside the buses as well!

Poems must be 50 words or less on the topic of "home." There is a special category for poets under 18. The deadline is June 30th!

5th graders publish their writing online!

A few years ago I saw noted educator Yong Zhao speak at a PNAIS conference and was struck by something he said: what if you went to work every day and just "practiced" your job, but never produced anything real that actually had an impact on the world? You'd soon feel very discouraged.
 
He pointed out that sometimes in school that is what students feel like they are doing year after year; he stressed the importance of offering them work that will touch others' lives, work they can feel proud of and invested in because it matters.
 
I thought about this - and about how our students are drawn to collaborative, dynamic, Web 2.0 sites such as Wikipedia. (While we warn students about the potential pitfalls of Wikipedia and do not allow them to cite it for their school-related research, I do explain that it can play a valuable role in leisure-time information seeking and can be a great jumping off point for getting an overview of a subject and collecting data that you verify in more reliable sources.)
 
Recently our 5th graders learned about Simple English Wikipedia, a version of the site intended for English language learners and younger readers. The articles it contains are shorter and written in easier English. We compared and contrasted articles on the same topics in regular and Simple Wikipedia.

Then each student came up with a topic of interest that either did not already have a Simple English Wikipedia article, or that had only a very short one that needed additions.
 
They spent time researching their topic using credible sources, such as our school and the public library's databases. They wrote their articles, had them reviewed and edited by their peers, and created properly formatted MLA citations. Finally I uploaded them to the web!

Since anyone can change Wikipedia, some of their articles no longer exist in their original form, of course! This in itself is a valuable lesson in the strengths and weaknesses of using Wikipedia as a source.

Interested in reading what they wrote? Check out the links below! Isn't it fun what a wide range of subjects they covered? I hope they all feel proud of the fact that they are helping to contribute information that will be of use to many readers around the world!

First, here are the articles that were brand new and did not exist before one of our 5th graders wrote it:
 
1920s Fashion
Aquarius (constellation)
Bioterrorism
Campbell's Dwarf Hamster
Flag Football
Northern Pygmy Owl
Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko
Steven Moffat
 
Next, the articles that students contributed much-needed additions to:

Artery
Black Mamba
Fashion Design
Fishing Lure
Gabrielle Douglas
Handball
Hecate
Iridium
Jeremy Lin
Labradoodle
Lacrosse
Macaroni Penguin
Maggot
Major League Soccer
Mountain Goat
Pegasus
Phoenix (mythology)
Poison Dart Frog
Pol Pot
Poseidon
Pug
Rhythmic Gymnastics 
Sapphire
Swimming
Unicorn
White Hole

Writing contest for poets in grades 3-8!

Are you interested in seeing your work in print? If so, check out the Dare to Dream...Change the World! contest and consider writing a "biographical poem and non-fiction paragraph about someone who not only dreamed, but who took action and made the world better." The deadline is April 30, 2013. Check out the website for more information!

A poem for the season

The latest issue of Stone Soup magazine features a lovely, evocative poem by former OWS student, Aliya Schenck!

Winter

Winter

Carrying
the crimson
toboggan up the
mountain of snow and
ice. An extreme amount of
work only for the thriller one
second slide of joy, spraying snow up
in the air behind you, screaming with delight
or terror, you don’t know which and you unexpectedly
are slowing down. Your ride runs out, and it is soon over.

Bravo, Aliya!

Would you like to publish your writing too? Stone Soup takes contributions from writers ages 13 and below. See their submission guidelines for more details!

Harry Potter & the world of publishing

I couldn't help being intrigued by this sentence: "Every new Harry Potter book changed the rules of American publishing."

You too? Read the original or this summary. Doesn't it make you wonder what might come next?

Be-A-Famous-Writer Contest!

Our very own fourth grader, Sarah Smale, was this year's grand prize winner of Mrs. P's writing contest for young authors aged 4-13, with her story "The Treasure Decision."

Not only was Sarah's story illustrated and published - and now available to borrow from our school library! - you can also listen to Mrs. P read it online. It's an exciting tale with adventure, mystery and a moral dilemma to solve!

Congratulations, Sarah!

Why not blog?

Yesterday I was sitting by the window with a stack of books, a steaming mug of tea by my side, enjoying the wintry landscape, when a message popped up from a friend informing me of her new blog about books, The Book Dowser.

Blogging has been a wonderful way for librarians, authors and book lovers to come together in cyberspace and share a common love for literature. In fact, as I read her second post about her passion for historical fiction and the Little House series in particular, I was tickled by the remarkable parallels to an earlier post of mine entitled "Characters coming to life" which referenced several of the same titles.

Only later did I realize that even more than a fun new book-related blog to read, The Book Dowser is another answer to a question I commonly receive from students and parents who are curious about avenues for publishing young people's writing!

The reader and writer behind the The Book Dowser is in high school and this blog is a wonderful outlet for her talents. In the past I've written a few posts on magazines which publish writing by young people, National Novel Writing Month (did you hear that University Book Store is going to publish a novel written by a local author during NaNoWriMo?) and websites with additional information on getting young people's writing into print.

But somehow the idea of the blog as a way of self-publishing one's writing did not occur to me until yesterday. However, I am now throwing the idea out there in case it catches anyone's fancy! Blogs are easy to set up, sites such as Blogspot will host your blog for free, and they can be a fantastic way to keep in touch with far-flung friends and family, exercise your creative writing skills, comment on issues that matter to you, and much more. Of course, you should remember to follow basic Internet safety rules and check with your parents before setting anything up online. If you do start blogging about books, please let me know! I'd love to read what you have to say.

Out of print no longer!

Unfortunately in today's publishing market many wonderful books go out of print all too quickly. Publisher Marshall Cavendish is working to bring many beloved classics back in print. Check back on their website as they add more great titles to their Classics list - and remember, the public library is always a great source of out-of-print material!

I often recommend classic children's books to young gifted readers because they can be complex and challenging, without some of the inappropriate content that young people can be exposed to if they simply read contemporary books aimed at older kids.

Publishing young people's writing

Many students are thrilled at the possibility of seeing their work in print! Here are a couple of links that offer suggestions:

• Children Writing and Publishing


• Getting Kids' Writing Published: Tips for Getting Children's Creative Written Work in Print or Online

For more ideas, check out past blog posts tagged with the label "publishing"!

Always wanted to write a book?

Here's your chance! Join thousands of other young writers for NaNoWriMo (there's also an adult version for those 18 and older)! It's a fun challenge: see if you can write a whole book in one month. The month the organizers set aside each year for this project is November, but they have resources and suggested activities for the entire year, so check out the website now and get those creative juices flowing!

Publishing children's writing

Over the years many students and their parents have asked about options for publishing children's writing. I wanted to bring your attention to two magazines that publish work by young people:

Stone Soup
Stone Soup is unique among children’s magazines — it’s the only magazine made up entirely of the creative work of children. Young people ages 8 to 13 contribute their stories, poems, book reviews, and artwork to Stone Soup. Since 1973, Stone Soup has provided inspiration to young writers and artists all over the world.

New Moon Girls
Our bi-monthly magazine is forty-nine pages of 100% advertising-free, highest-quality content for girls ages 8-12! You won't find diet advice or popularity contests here.New Moon Girls magazine is about helping girls discover and honor their true selves, engage in meaningful pursuits and dialogue, and express their voices in ways that matter.