SuperScribes Saturday

 

 

I hadn't planned to post in this series over the summer, but we had an exciting writing update this week that I had to share!   We finally published Cati's NaNoWriMo novel!!

If you are interested in reading her work, here is a PDF version of her book.  I'm so impressed by the kids' work on their NaNoWriMo novels.  They have really enjoyed it, and it's been so rewarding for them to see their work published into a real book!  They are already talking about their next novels.

In related news...Maria finally finished the first draft of her novel that she started last November.  It is more than 34,000 words long!  Now we begin editing.

SuperScribe Saturday

 

 

I haven't posted in this series regularly lately.  Our school schedule has been a bit irregular as we focused on different things to finish up for the year.  This week our focus has been finishing some writing projects, so I have several to share with you today!

 

Maria, age 12, finished up this report on Alexander the Great's Conquest of Persia.

 

Maria also edited this creative letter that she wrote from Bilbo the hobbit to Gandalf the wizard from our study of The Hobbit earlier this year.

 

Maria rewrote this short essay from her study of the novel, Kon-Tiki.  The first page has her original writing and then second page has her final essay.  I was impressed by her improvement between the two drafts!

 

Cati, age 10, wrote this report about Benjamin Franklin.  I think Cati naturally has such a good writer's voice.  I loved her opening paragraph of her essay.

 

Matteo, age 8, wrote this short essay about spinner dolphins.  He worked really hard to use good descriptive words and some similes. 

 

Since we have finished our regular school year I will not regularly post to this series again until we start back again in August.  I may post occasionally if they write anything during the summer, as I imagine they will. 

 

I hope you have enjoyed this series this spring.  I know I have!  I love seeing the progress that the kids have made in writing this year.  Most importantly, I love seeing the joy they have found in writing this year! 

 

 

 

 

SuperScribes Saturday

 

The kids are working to finish up a few bigger writing projects to complete our school year.  I'll wait until they are complete to share them.  Today I will share their Friday Freewrites.  Lest you think that Friday Freewrites are somehow my own idea or invention, they are part of the Bravewriter plan (I'll get more into my thoughts on the Bravewriter program when I review our school year.)  You can see Julie Bogart's Freewrite posts on her blog here. 

 

Remember that Freewrite are unrevised, unedited pieces - a first draft.  They should encourage the writer to get their thoughts down and explore interesting descriptions.

 

*******************************************************************************

 

Maria, age 12, recently finished the book Kon-Tiki and followed Bravewriter's Boomerang guide for this book.  She answered this question from the guide for her freewrite today: 

 

 Just when you believe that the voyage has been a success, the Kon-Tiki raft is suddenly endangered and threatens to be lost.  

What makes it difficult to land on a Polynesian island when on a raft? 

          How did the six manage to save both the raft and the belongings in it?

 

Here is her reponse.

 

******************************************************************************

Cati, age 10, chose to write about her first memory, which she says is her 3rd birthday.  Read her description of her cake here.

 

******************************************************************************

Matteo, age 8, chose to describe his mom.  Yes, I was a little nervous to read this, but it turned out pretty well :) 

 

SuperScribes Saturday

 

 

This week I'm happy to share with you an email submission from a friend whose 4-year-old daughter wrote this  nursery rhyme.  Thanks for sharing!!

 

Matteo, age 8, designed his own penguin game during project time this week.  You may have read about it in the Project Peek Day post on Wednesday.  Here are the rules that he wrote to go with the game.  All writing counts!  It's all an effort to put down on paper one's thoughts.

 

Cati, age 10, wrote this paragraph describing her face for her Friday Freewrite.  Remember, a Freewrite is an unedited piece of writing during which they are focusing on creativity and use of interesting writing elements.  You will notice in this paragraph that Cati used a lot of similes. 

 

Maria, age 12, is working on a writing project about Alexander the Great.  You can see her notes and beginning writing here.

 

 

 

 

SuperScribes Saturday

 

 

Chiara, age 6, dictated this story to her sister.  She used horse stickers that she received for her birthday as inspiration.

Elena, age 3, dictated this story to her sister in imitation of Chiara.

On Fridays, the older kids do a "free write" - 10 minutes of writing on a chosen prompt to work on their writing skills.  They are only supposed to focus on getting their ideas down, not on organization, or grammar, etc.  Revising and editing is something that comes later.  This is just an exercise in letting writing flow and in using words to relate interesting images that come mind. 

Here are the kids' freewrites from yesterday:

Matteo, age 8, wrote about his favorite restaurant.

Cati, age 10, wrote about cats.

Maria, age 12, wrote about Easter.  She asked if she could continue this next week, so perhaps I'll remember to update this next Saturday.

SuperScribes Saturday

 

 

During our Easter break I have finally found the time to format Cati's (age 10) NaNoWriMo story for publication.  Today I'm giving you a little tease by posting the first chapter of her story, The Dragon Dream.

 

Maria wrote this short description of her younger sister earlier this year.

 

 

SuperScribes Saturday

 

 



 

Here are a few writings that we're sharing this week.  What will you share?

Matteo, age 8, wrote this science fair report entitled How Do Glaciers Creep?

Cati, age 10, wrote this science fair report entitled How Much Sugar Does a Cookie Contain?

Maria, age 12, recently wrote her own version of Cinderella as a play that she and her siblings then put on for us and for some friends.

SuperScribes Saturday

SuperScribes Saturday again!  What have you written this week?  Any musings on the coming of Spring, exciting science discoveries, or inspiring literature?  Help create a writing community to inspire each other as growing writers and writing mentors (that would be you, mom :))  Email your child(ren)'s writing, fiction or non-fiction, to creatingsomethingbeautifulhs@gmail.com to be posted in the next SuperScribes Saturday and then let them come back and see their published work and read the writing of their peers.

Cati, age 10, wrote an imagined letter from Bilbo Baggins to the wizard Gandalf after we finished reading it earlier this year.

Matteo, age 8, wrote about his dragon.

The  Science Fair Report of Maria, age 12.

SuperScribes Saturday

 

 

It's time for SuperScribes Saturday! 

 

Remember, I invite you to share your children's writing here so the kids can see their writing published, so they can be encouraged by reading the writing of their peers, and so we moms can get experience reading the writing of other children.  Email me your child(ren)'s work at creatingsomethingbeautifulhs@gmail.com by Thursday at noon to be included in next Saturday's Superscribe Saturday post!

 

Here is  Chiara's horse story (age 5)  that she dictated to me after drawing pictures.

 

Matteo, age 8, shares his observations of Pope Benedict's departure from the Vatican

 

Cati's Initial Notes on the Day of Pope Benedict's Departure These have a voice all their own, so I wanted to include them.  It also shows where she started before revising and writing her final draft here:  Cati, age 10, shares her observations of Pope Benedict's departure from the Vatican

 

Maria, age 12, shares her observations of Pope Benedict's departure from the Vatican

 

 

 

SuperScribes Saturday

It's time for my first SuperScribes Saturday post.  In this series I will share some of the writing of my kids.  I also invite YOU to send me samples your kids' writing to share here.  I'm doing this for a few  reasons:
 #1 - Kids like to see their writing published.  It gives them a sense of accomplishment and shows them that we think their writing it important.  If you do send me some of your kids' writing, please let them visit this blog and see it published on the internet!
 #2 -  Kids can learn from each other by reading each other's writings.  As homeschoolers, our kids rarely get a chance to read what their peers write.  Hopefully, this will be encouraging for them as they grow as authors.  So, again, if your kids are interested, please let them read the writings of other children that will be posted here.
 #3 - As homeschooling moms, we rarely get an opportunity to see what other kids are writing and what is "normal."  Hopefully, we can share our experiences here and use them in our homes to help each other become better writers!

So, please feel free to send me any fiction, non-fiction, journal entries, etc. that you and your kids would like to share with other homeschoolers and would like to see published online.  Send them to this email address:  creatingsomethingbeautifulhs@gmail.com   Let me know in your email how you would like the author's (your child's) info listed for his/her writing.  I would suggest at least the age of the author, if not also the gender or first name of the child.

******************

I mentioned in a previous post that my kids participated in NaNoWriMo this past November.  Today, to kick off this series I am posting my then-7-year-old son's "novel" that he wrote.  Enjoy!

 Half from Antarctica

 

by Matteo, age 7

         Once upon a time there was a penguin named Half.  He lived in Antarctica, but something happened to him one day I would like to tell you about.  

        Half was ninety, which was an unusual age for a penguin, and he was three feet high.  He pouted, he smiled, he laughed, and he made his yearly walk for the breeding grounds for miles and miles and miles and miles and finally got there.  Half saw his friend Shadow carrying around an egg and decided that he would just get food for Shadow’s chick.

        Half said to Shadow, “I have decided I will get food in the ocean for your chick.”   

        “Thank you very much,” said Shadow, and Half went off to get food.

        Half came back but could not find Shadow or his chick.  He searched and asked almost everyone if they had seen him and they said no, but then he saw an old penguin and asked him doubtfully, “Do you know where Shadow is?”

        The old penguin replied sadly, “Yes, I do.  A vicious monster came and took him!“

        Half asked, “Did he take anyone else?”

        “No,” replied the old penguin.

        “Do you know where the monster lives?” asked Half hopefully.

        “Yes,” said the old penguin.  “He lives in a far-off cave next to the water.”

        Half went away and thought about saving Shadow.  He wanted to, but he was scared.  He journeyed for many miles back to the water.  He turned left and saw a cave.  There were icicles hanging from it.  The cave was big and wide.  He ran over to the cave.  It was even bigger than he thought! 

        Half thought to himself, “Should I go in the cave?  I don’t know what’s in there!”  Half thought about Shadow, and finally, he made up his mind and went in the cave.

        As he journeyed farther in the cave, he heard a bang and then another and another.  Then he heard bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.  Then, he saw the monster!  He was green with orange spikes.  He was also huge - at least for a penguin. 

        The monster chased him all the way to the water.  Then a leopard seal appeared in the water.  Half knew that leopard seals never meant something good.  He was trapped!

        The monster growled, “There is no escape for you!”

        Surprisingly, Half jumped into the water where the leopard seal was swimming and darted away to another place on the ice next to the cave and jumped out of the water and started sliding toward the cave, went in the cave, and came out of the cave with Shadow and went back to the group of penguins.

        When Shadow and Half arrived back to the group of penguins, they started to have a celebration, but Half told them that they should not celebrate because the monster was not defeated.  At that very moment they heard a thump and all of them knew who it was!  They had to hide with their chicks.  If they did not, they would be captured! But they did not know where their chicks were, so Half said, “I shall be chased to save you all!” 

        So, Half ran to the thumping, but when he was there he realized that it was not just the monster - it was his whole family!  So, they all chased him to the water.  But this time some of them looked behind them for a tasty meal.  Half realized that there was no leopard seal, so he went in the water.  It was cold and he had to stay there until the monsters where gone.  He stayed for about fourteen hours, but the monsters were still there.  He stayed for about another week, but the monsters were still there.  He stayed for another month and another and another, but the monsters were still there.  He stayed another year and after two more years, finally, the monsters left and so did he.   He journeyed back to the other penguins, but when he got there he heard that the monsters had gotten there before him, but Shadow and all the others had hidden.

        Very soon the monsters appeared as if out of nowhere.  The monsters chased the penguins and separated them, but the penguins made a fight.  Many of the penguins were captured and right as they had gotten to the chicks, a storm came and the monsters had to leave right away (because they would have been frozen before they had gotten back to their cave).

        Shadow said that all the penguins should be ready for the monsters to come again.   They made traps all around them so that when the monsters came today, they would have three choices:  1) fall in, 2) go back, or 3) (they did not think of this one) jump over the traps. 

        It was a whole day until the storm stopped, but it was another day until the monsters came, but they where not alone.  There were leopard seals with them!  The penguins knew they could not win the battle, so they ran to the ocean and went in, but they forgot leopard seals can swim.  So, they swam but they were happy that there was only one predator (because the monsters were gone) but they found out that there were orcas (killer whales) in front of them!

        The orcas chased them to warmer waters.  Shadow (who was captain) told them to try to stay alive.  Shadow and Half swam to an island to explore it. They found it was beautiful, so they called the other penguins and told them that they were going to live there.  Then they went back in the water.

        They were very happy until they saw a pod (or group) of orcas.   They went on the island, leaving the orcas to bump into the shore.  The orcas were still waiting in the water ready to attack them.  The penguins went to the other side of the island and went into the water and became friends with two fur seals named Moraco and Melena.  The friends decided that they would swim together and eat together.     

        When they went in the water Half also met Chiara the dolphin and Wertha the turtle.  Half introduced Shadow and Moraco, Melena, and the seals to Chiara and Wertha and they lived happily ever after.

The End