Category Archives: creative writing

Cows in Winter by Dionara (aged 6)

CowThe cows in the North Pole in winter feel cold.  They like the snowing days.  The blue sky high above was cloudy.  All day and night the poor cows shiver.

 Dionara aged 6.

 

Some of you may be wondering how it is that our students produce the stories that are published on this site.  Well, here is our process.  We hand the children a foolscap page, a pencil and some motivation.  Presently they are looking at the paintings on our walls and choosing that as their subject matter.  In this case Dionara chose a cow (actually the photograph is just the ears and horns of a cow) in a hot stock yard.  I guess in her mind she would prefer the cow to be cooler than it was.  Then we encourage them to expand on that thought.  There is nothing elaborate and at times it requires some coaxing to bring the story out.

The goal is to practise using their imagination, word sounding skills and hands and fingers to form the letters with a pencil (keyboards do not help with fine motor skills at this stage).  We fix up the spelling for the publication but encourage them to have a go at sounding the words and writing the letters for those sounds.  Most of all it has to be fun!

Leave a comment

Filed under creative writing, Learning, Posts, Short Story

The Day Rosie Ran Into The Bush by Oscar (aged 7)

CatOn Oscar’s birthday your cat ran into a bush where there were spiders and paddy melons.  The cat was a Chinese cat who was brown and furry under the belly.  Rosie the cat saw a paddy melon and so she ran into a home.  In the house lived a family named The Clays and Mr Clay got a wet mop and swept the cat outside.  Next time Oscar has a birthday the cat won’t run into the bush.

By Oscar – aged 7

Year two in school and what a year of change is expected in our children.  One year ago they were flat out possessing the manual dexterity to control a pencil to write the alphabet.  One year on and they have to learn to formulate letters into words while constructing sentences into a story they are hearing in their head.  How difficult is this?

As adults we, thankfully, have no memory of these difficult years but if you want to put this process into perspective learning to write a short story is about as difficult as learning to approach an intersection in a manually driven car.  Think about this process for a minute – approach the intersection; foot off the accelerator and onto the brake to slow down; revs falling in the motor and now I have to change gear; still slowing and have to do it again; check the intersection as you approach ….. well you get the idea.

We all learn how to drive and eventually we all learn how to write, it just takes time and confidence with a few mistakes along the way.  Time we have, the confidence we gain from those around us.

Leave a comment

Filed under creative writing, Learning, Posts, Short Story

Spider Monkey by Dardo (aged 7)

MonkeyAt night in the big Amazon forest the spider monkey hunted.  He went looking for a praying mantis to eat for lunch.  He found one but it was too big to catch for his lunch.  It was scary to catch so he went on looking with his tummy rumbling.

The  end.

Dardo – Aged 7

 “It’s alright, I don’t need you to watch me,” said young Dardo the day he sat down to write his story.   Dardo used to have a lot of trouble writing and it was very frustrating for him.  Now he loves it as he is choosing quite complex words and getting very close to the correct spelling as he sounds out the words he has chosen and writes them at the same time.  Off and running with his new creative skills Dardo is progressing in leaps and bounds writing great little stories that no longer need a translator to understand.  Well Done Mister Dardo.

Leave a comment

Filed under creative writing, Learning, Posts, Short Story

The Dugong’s Trip – by Oliver (aged 9)

DugongOn a cold winter’s night in Somalia on the eastern coast of Africa the dugong became completely lost.  He was a grey dugong with big brown eyes and whiskers.  He set out on a long swim to India but the dugong ran into a big black sea snake.  The dugong did not know where he was going and so he swam slowly to Western Australia where the Indian Ocean was rough and wavy.  It was summer and day time there and the dugong was home at last.

by Oliver (aged 9)

One of the problems new young writers experience is commencing each sentence with the subject.  In this example Oliver was encouraged to steer away from beginning each sentence with “The dugong”.  You may also notice that the telling of the story is a little more complex to the examples of younger writers.  A format we teach young writers is:

  • First sentence – When and where to set the time and place
  • Second sentence – Who: describe the subject of the story
  • Third & Fourth sentence – what happened & what happened
  • Fifth sentence – Close the circle by echoing something that happened in the first sentence

I think you will agree that young Oliver is grasping the concept of the format.

Leave a comment

Filed under creative writing, Learning, Short Story