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)
Tag Archives: Learning
The Dark Dragon – by Gordon (aged 9)
Filed under creative writing, Learning, Short Story
Golden Lady Beetle – by Bethany (aged 12)
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)
Filed under creative writing, Posts, Short Story
The Battleship – by Gordon (aged 9)
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.
Filed under creative writing, Posts, Short Story
I Can’t Tie My Laces Because I Can’t Write
It caused me considerable concern when I read that the American Government had dropped teaching cursive writing from the core curriculum in 2010. They have left it up to the states to decide if it should be taught in elementary schools. Some have decided not to teach the writing and reading of cursive script. Their students are not being taught to read or write past the printed letter.
Does not teaching how to write have repercussions other than affecting the way we develop and record our thoughts? Is it even a concern that we become solely dependant upon smart phones, tablets and computers for recording our words?
People may have asked the same question as the motor car replaced the bicycle or television replaced evening family interaction. Change produces change and each alteration to our lifestyle needs to be considered for its own new path. If we haven’t looked far enough down the path before we have taken the first few steps we may arrive at a destination we did not desire. I do not think an obese society and world environmental problem was what Henry Ford envisioned with his Model T; nor did Steve Jobs foresee family members retreating to separate rooms when he wanted to bring the world together.
What damage can possibly be caused by not teaching cursive writing to young students? I have already encountered a young postman who has difficulty delivering hand written letters because they used “running writing”. So we don’t receive our mail, is that a problem these days? The fact the young man could not decipher or decode the letters on the envelope is of greater problem to me.
Cursive writing as with all writing requires the development of fine motor skills; skills that come with practice. The fine dexterity of finger and hand movement learned by a seven or eight year old is the same skill required to tie shoe laces, do up buttons, place a nut on a bolt or to produce a painting. I have already begun to see within my tuition experience young students unable to control letter and number formation between 8 millimetre lines or contain them within 7 millimetre squares of a quad page. Is this a problem?
When I was in primary school the pencil and then the pen was an important tool to my learning. Our teacher came in early to prepare the black board with the day’s lessons. These lessons were copied into our notebooks. Maths problems were copied from the board or the text book before being solved. Our scholastic days were filled with scribing and learning. Our weekends required us to compose an essay just so we could practise our scribbles and improve our imagination. Even now I produced drafts for this post with pencil and paper before committing them to digital creation.
Reading, writing and arithmetic formed the foundation of independence for an individual. With all three mastered a person was armed to contribute to society, create wealth from nothing and control their destiny. I am afraid the removal of just one may have an impact on creating an independent individual.
The Dragon Fly – by Dardo (aged 7)
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
The Journey – by Oscar (aged 7)
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)
Filed under creative writing, Short Story
Are Your Expectations Aligned With The Curriculum?
There has been some talk of late about the school curriculum and the changes it is going through. These changes, like any change, cause ripple effects of anxiety on students, teachers and parents. But what are the learning expectations of our young students?
I have been looking at www.australiancurriculum.edu.au for some guidance just so I, as a tutor, am aware and aligned with expectations. I would advise popping onto the website and having a look. Meanwhile I will give a brief summary focusing on maths as this is the area parent seek the most guidance from tutors.
By the end of Year One a school student is expected to know the numbers to one hundred; skip count by 2, 5 and 10; and be able to locate numbers on a number line. Simple addition is accomplished by counting on, re-arranging or performing partitioning. Fractions are introduced as they learn to recognise “1/2” and be able to tell the time to the half hour.
I mentioned only a small area of the curriculum as these are the areas I see most when a student is presented for tuition. At this stage of learning any short-coming in these areas may be made up by parents sitting down with their little one and turn learning into some form of game. There are a number of aids available from various websites and suggestions on the Australian Curriculum site.
A Shark Escapes by Dardo (aged 7)
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
Cows in Winter by Dionara (aged 6)
The 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!
Filed under creative writing, Learning, Posts, Short Story
The Day Rosie Ran Into The Bush by Oscar (aged 7)
On 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.
Filed under creative writing, Learning, Posts, Short Story
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