Late at night in the wacky storm there was a child and a beautiful bird. The child’s name was bella and she was the queen’s daughter. One night the girl and the bird were playing in the room and the carpet started moving. The window was open and the carpet flew out and up with Bella and the bird. They flew straight through to Disneyland. The queen went to the room and just as she opened the door Bella and the bird flew back in.
Gordon (aged 9)
Filed under creative writing, Posts, Short Story
At 5.30 on a Monday morning, in a village, three college boys were climbing a tall tree because they were trying to reach a red Queen apple. Oscar, Finlay and Patrick had just paid three hundred dollars to go to school at Marist Brothers private collage at Ashgrove and they were feeling excited and proud of themselves which is why they decided to stretch Oscar’s arm to reach the high apple on the tree. They tried all day until they achieved their goal at 5 pm and then they took the lovely apple to Oscar’s mother and she cut it into sixes, which is two sweet pieces for each of them. The apple filled them up so they didn’t have to eat their corn and cabbage quiche for dinner that night, which all three agreed they didn’t like. At 5.30 on Tuesday morning they were starving again.
Oscar, aged 7 years.
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Early one day on an old dairy farm lived a shaggy worn out pig. This old worn out pig had lived a horrible life on a small dose of food and water. The pig was tired of living on the farm so he thought to himself, “I have to escape”. Every day he chewed and chewed at the barbed wire fence until it snapped apart. The pig was so happy! Later that day the pig escaped. In the morning the dairy farmer realised the shaggy worn out pig had escaped.
Jacko (aged 10)
At times the writing tutor will challenge the student to write on a topic, in this case a pig. The student and the tutor have fifteen minutes to come up with a story. Creative writing can sometimes be creative anxiety, and an anxiety which may leave a child immobilised (and not just children). You cannot remove anxiety by avoiding the stimulant (the test situation) so we encourage the children to have fun with the pressure of competition. Once fun is realised pressure dissipates and creativity flows. This time I have included the tutor’s work, just for fun…
When the rain came at the old tractor factory the pig knew it was going to be a good day. Slender by pig standards she was a pale skinned pig with a gentle nature. It was her normal job to sweep the floors and feed the dogs, but not on wet days. When it rained her task changed to singing for the assembly workers to keep their spirits up. At morning tea when she had sung her way through Justin Beiber’s songs and was gargling in the bathroom for her next bracket, the sun came out.
The Tutor
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In the windy sky late in the afternoon, a red scary dragon was looking down on the desert. This dragon was calmly flying for food and enjoying the view. Just then he saw a mouse and he swooped down for the mouse with his claws that were sharp. A huge wind broke his control but then the wind stopped. The dragon had lost his confidence. The dragon late at night went away.
Gordon (aged 9)
Filed under creative writing, Learning, Short Story
The golden lady beetle woke up in her nest early in the morning. The lady beetle was so colourful that you won’t even see her because she blends in with beautiful flowers. She sleeps peacefully in her nest. She sucks all the nectar out of the flowers. The golden beetle enjoys her days from morning to night.
by Bethany (aged 12)
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On Tuesday afternoon Finlay’s best friend Oscar, who he met at pre-school, is coming over to have a sleep-over. In the sleep-over they are going to sleep with torches in a tent in the backyard. When Oscar and Finlay are asleep thousands of wild bats fly over them. Once Oscar asked Finlay if he has wild pigs or cats and he said, “I’ve got wild cats.” On Wednesday morning Oscar’s sleep-over will be over.
Oscar (aged 7)
Oscar has begun to work with more complex sentences. He is working on ways of combining three concepts or phrases into one sentence without using the conjunctive ‘and’. For example, in the the sentence about bats he started with these sentences:
and combined them together into a sentence which used adjectives.
In the first sentence, however, he combined these sentences:
This time he created a complex sentence with a main clause and a subordinate clause in the middle. The subordinate clause, which could be left out of the sentence, is marked by commas on both sides.
Filed under creative writing, Posts, Short Story
Early in the morning when it was still dark, an American battleship came whooshing through the stormy waves. It was really dark. It was coming for World War Two. Many people died in the battleships but many survived. Three years later, when it was early in the morning, the war stopped.
Gordon (aged 9)
This is Gordon’s first writing exercise with us and I think he has done very well. Like all boys his age he was anxious about putting words to paper but discovered he enjoyed telling a story others would read.
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At midnight we met a dragon fly in a gum tree. He could turn people into ants. He was a mean dragon fly who took over their kingdoms. He moved in an lived there. That is the story of the dragon fly in the gum tree.
Dardo, aged 7
It would appear our seven year old students are battling it out for who can write the most stories. It was only the beginning of the year these young lads showed a complete terror of putting their thoughts on paper, or even bringing them out into the real world. They were afraid people would not enjoy them; would find them silly; would laugh at their efforts; say they couldn’t spell; etc. All this going on in the head of a seven year old, is it any wonder boys do not like to write?
Yes, some of these stories are silly, peculiar or may not make sense but writers call upon their experience when they put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboards). We are asking our young students to use their imagination to replace their experience just as long as they over come their fear and begin to write. Can you imagine what a writer will be like in years to come when he can build his imagination upon his experience.
Filed under creative writing, Learning, Short Story
One upon a time there was a prince and princess but one day, in the green land, the king and queen said “You have to go on a journey.” They were a little scared because they had never gone on an adventure before. After six hours walking they arrived at a dark forest where a magic gorilla held fire flames in his hands to light the way. Beyond the trees there was a field of flowering fly traps with a strong smell which scared them so they ran and ran. They found a cave where a wizard told them “you have ended the journey.”
By Oscar (aged 7)
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Each day the shark looks for shelter from a big twister. In the blue water this makes a whirlpool so the shark has to swim away quickly. His favourite place to hide is amongst the rock caves. There he swims around having fun and otherwise he stayed in the one spot. It is fun to be a shark because the blue water is very deep.
By Dardo (aged 7)
Filed under creative writing, Posts, Short Story
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