Our theme for the week of August 19 - 23 was "Magical Realism". We started off on Monday by defining Magical Realism - stories where things appear ordinary, except for one strange and wonderful magical element - one that's often hidden and only known to some of the characters. We talked with the girls about books that they had probably read or heard of - Coraline, Charlotte's Web, Alice in Wonderland - and asked them to think about why these stories would be included in the category of Magical Realism.
Their assignment: to ponder what kind of magical element they would want to feature in a story sketch and to think about it during their travels. We furnished them with some suggestions such as: What if hidden messages were written on the underside of leaves? What if mysterious music emanated from man hole covers? What if you had the ability to read people's minds whenever you boarded a bus or BART train?
On Wednesday we introduced the concepts of character and conflict, antagonist and protagonist and encouraged them to consider how their element of magic would fold into their story.
By Friday, most of the girls had a detailed idea of their story's structure and had developed a main character and an antagonist. We finished Friday's session by letting them draw detailed maps of the worlds they came up with. Some of them completed a prologue to their story as well. Oh, and we also fit in some word games and a round of "Exquisite Corpse"!
There were some really unique and creative ideas including a world where a young girl can travel back to the time of the president appearing on any bill in her wallet, and a world where cats, when they walked through their cat doors, entered another dimension!
Thanks for signing up your daughters for Girls on the Go! Please ask them to tell you about the fantastic worlds they created.
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Our theme for the week of July 15 - 19 was "Found Treasures and Scavenger Hunts"!
Here are a few of the pieces from TMWFI and Girls on the Go camp this week!
In this writing activity we asked the campers to write about things they've lost:
Julia's "What have I lost?"
My mom's mom to cancer
My 4th uncle to a heart attack
My dad's dad to a sudden death
A friend I knew since 1st grade because
she's moving to Singapore
My fear of death
My fear of heights
My (now dead) goldfish
2 pair of ice skates
My 1st cello
My 1st piano
8 of my baby teeth
A lot of lead pencils
My BF
My 1st - 10th birthday cake
My long hair
Olivia R's "Lost Things"
1. Words I have been hurt
by
2. A friend
3. My sadness
4. Some earrings
5. My fav. shorts
6. My fishes
7. My fav. dress
Elizabeth's "Things I've Lost"
Aunt Esther
Childhood innocence (due to middle school)
Friends and enemies
Wheat tolerance
About 8 earring backings
My willingness to believe
My nail biting habit
My dad's camera case
2 soggy, muddy, disgusting blackened (though originally white)
Socks lost to gilli's grove
A pair of white chords- accidentally
Washed with blue underwear
Clothes that I've grown out of
A 4 year old light blue fleece
All of my baby teeth
A whole lot of hair bands
My love for the Beatles (when I saw
What Paul McCartney showed up, botoxed
At the Oscars