Read and hear the work of our young writers!
Viewing entries tagged
creative writing exercises
Inside my heart
I see
bumble bees break dancing
Inside my heart
I see worms climbing golf balls
Inside my heart
I see
future fish doing back flips
and eating french fries.
by
Sometimes, inspiration comes from far away places.
As a part of the art program, campers learned about creation, observation and revision.
On a “gallery walk”, the group looked at dioramas done by fellow campers. Instructor Angela asked the campers to point out interesting elements in other people’s work – be it paper folding, colors or layering. Afterwards, when asked if anyone wanted to work more on their own piece, all campers raised their hands.
The campers began mapmaking after discussing Amelia Earhart.
One of our favorite moments of a session is hearing young writers read their work. Click on each photo to see a larger version of each author presenting to the group.
Our afternoon group's theme was "What a Mystery". In our "What a Mystery" curriculum, kids learn how to compose a compelling whodunit story. The campers also constructed stories with secrets as the centerpiece. Here are some brief excerpts.
Arlo wrote on the prompt "Create a suspenseful scene".
“I thought I heard something, somewhere in the house. There it was again, a creak, from upstairs, directly above me. Now a note from the piano. Am I hallucinating? Abandoning my movie, I took a flashlight and headed upstairs.
“Fi,” I heard as I freeze.
“Fie…Fo…Fum,” I continue walking, I must be hallucinating.
The stench of rotting flesh stops me.”
Ben wrote on the prompt “It was missing…”.
“It was missing. On a planet, billions of years away, a ball of energy that held us together, supplied us, and kept our people alive had gone missing. Our council thinks it was stolen by a planet close to us that had almost been killed after using up all their natural resources. Our planet is dying now, without the aura. I am a soldier, I have been fighting for years now, protecting us survivors against the citizens turned into zombies that have been framed by the aliens to terrorize the survivors.”
Owen wrote on the prompt “It was missing…”.
“It was missing and I knew someone had stolen it. I knew it was gone as I entered my bedroom. I bolted out into the night to search for my Shadow Amulet. I had an idea of who would have taken it. Later in the night I arrived at the asylum, everything had gone haywire. I could hear unhuman screams coming from inside.”
Nicky wrote on the prompt “It was missing…”.
“That night it was very hard for Michael to sleep and when he did he felt as if someone was closing a door right in front of him. The next morning when Michael woke up it was eleven o’clock. He was late for work. He hurried out of bed and rapidly got dressed but he noticed something was missing. The glove was gone…”
Nick wrote on the prompt “It was missing…”.
“Bang! Bang! Were the sounds that I woke up to. I went back to bed thinking something fell in the bathroom. I woke up, turned the lights on and realized tht the diamond watch that was passed through the family for decades was gone I went downstairs and the windows were shattered. “
Miles wrote on the prompt “I cheat on almost every math test…”.
“My family is considered intellectually gifted. Me, on the other hand, I suck at math. I feel really out of place in our family. My younger brother can do more complex math than me. So I got tired of being made fun of so I started cheating on almost every math test that I take. My parents finally started to notice me. One day I got caught cheating on the last test.”
Dash wrote on the prompt “I can read minds”.
“Kate Contraire could read minds. At first, she had only been told she had an amazing ability to detect patterns. But as she grew older, she noticed an increasing ability to know what other people were thinking. It had started out as noticing an idea that wasn’t hers. But as she started paying more attention to those feelings she noticed that people were talking about these unknown thoughts. She had told no one about this ability.”
Harrison wrote on the prompt “It was missing…”.
“It was missing. The money, the safe, everything. Wait! I better tell you who I am before I tell you about the bank. I am Kurt Brown, The Magic Man as you might say. I am a wizard. I float around in a costume saving people, and tying up the bad guys, but this case was so cold I couldn’t find the bad guys. They had covered up evry scratch and fingerprint.”
Elliot wrote on the prompt “Create a suspenseful scene”.
“He thought he heard someone in the house. It was one of those light footstep noises that repeated for a couple seconds and then stopped. His dad was at work and his mom wouldn’t be back from shopping for another 45 minutes, and besides, she would have called his name if she were home. Who was it? Could a stranger have picked their door lock? Could it have been his friends knocking on the door? He felt a shiver down his spine thinking about the couple robberies in the area. Could that be happening right now? Just then he heard his cat crying.”
Every Wednesday our creative writing prompt challenges you to pick up your pen and indulge your author self! Imagine the short lifespan of a bubble. What do you see from the time you are first created until you are inevitably doomed to pop? Grab a pen and tell us!
The Art Edition:
The Writing Edition:
We started off the morning talking about kids who don't have access to books and don't have a bookshelf crammed with their own favorite books at home. Campers brought in some of the books they're ready to part with to donate to The East Bay Children's Book Project. Founded and run by retired librarians and teachers, the EBCBP get books to kids who would otherswise not have them. www.eastbaychildrensbookproject.org.
To get the creative juices flowing, our first writing activity today was a free-write prompt: "What I hate about being a kid is..." Here are some of the sentiments expressed:
"What I hate about being a kid is I can't go to the moon, I can't drive, I can't stay up all night, and I don't got dat ca$h..."
- Adrian
What I hate about being a kid is that grown-ups never understand you when you are explaining something."
-Arielle
"I hate that I have to live with my family. (Actually I don't hate living with my family, it's just that I want to live by myself!)"
- Alicia
We spent the rest of the morning finishing, editing and proofreading our children's books which are shaping up to be quite impressive.
Tyler- My character’s name is Bob, and he lives on a farm.
Adrian- My character is fat kid named Poncho and his challenge is the Super Taco Grande Mucho Gigante.
Arielle-My character’s name is Saddy, and he is a blue sphere.
Diego- My character’s name is Bob-John-Joe-Jack and he can fly.
Simone- My character is a little boy named Tommy and he gets lost from his family.
Amira- Mine is about a boy named Carmu who dreams of being a farmer.
Jiana-My character’s name is Cleo and she lives in a cave.
Dante- My character is a kid named Jimmy Bean who lives in Mexico and his parents work at Mexicano McDonalds.
Milagro- My main character is named Shirley and whoever makes her mad in the story falls into mud.
Fatima- My character is named Speedy-Deee and he is a dinosaur who can outdrive the police, in a sports car.
Sophie- My character is a pig named Scooey that goes to Piglet High School.
Alicia- My character’s name is Payson. She is a swimmer and she is an Olympic gold medalist.
Grace- My character’s name is Graffiti Can Sam, and he is a can of spray paint who goes out and paints stuff.
Emily- My character’s name is Amanda Bobbleton, who does not want her baby sister to be born.
Lucas- My character is a kid named Freddy, and he lives in a casino in Las Vegas.
LyLy- My character’s name is Emily Roberts and she has a magic teddy bear that takes her to different places in her dreams.
Aaron- My characters is Mader and I am still deciding what he’s going to do but it has to do with movies.
