Writers in the Schools partners with Beeville ISD for intensive writing project When we think of big cities, we think of tightly packed, vertical apartments, clustered skyscrapers, and commuter-filled trains. But to the residents of Beeville, TX, the “big city” means the colossal sprawl Houston. During our wonderful visit to Beeville, we found that our [...]
MakeBeliefsComix.com is a site that invites you to make your own comics. This year they’ve created a special program to help you make scary comics for Halloween. The Halloween Digital Write-Able asks: Imagine you could create a frightening ghost story. What would your opening lines be, your key characters, and your closing lines? Go fill [...]
Here are some fun poetry games made just for kids: 1) The Funny Poem Machine is a mad-lib type of application. Fill in a short list of questions–crazy adjective, awesome verb, etc. And the machine will give pack a poem guaranteed to make you laugh. 2) The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) provides an [...]
The Extremely Gross Monster (inspired by a writing exercise in Karen Benke’s Rip the Page) In the forest there once lived a leechish, fly-infested, oozing monster with crud-like scales. He was a serious bloodsucker. The color of his skin was yellowish-greenish like mucus. He had a deadly gnaw. The inhabitants of nearby villages called him [...]
One popular WITS writing activity for elementary school students is based on Ruth Gendler’s The Book of Qualities. Gendler got the idea for her book when she was a young girl. She made up a story about a store where they sell qualities such as courage, excitement, and joy instead of products such as milk, [...]
School’s out! It’s time to celebrate. In addition to going to a summer fest, we invite you to throw a party for poetry! That’s right. Grab a pencil and go to town! You’ve got all the time in the world to play with words. No tests, no teachers. Just you and the wide world of [...]
When WITS writers teach a lesson, they don’t have to look far for inspiration. WITS writers understand that everything in the world is up for grabs when it comes to engaging subject matter. We encourage children to look at the world around them and pick objects and activities that resonate with what they like to [...]
There’s a point when all WITS teacher learn to believe in magic. It usually happens when you’re not expecting it—you’re shuffling lessons around TAKS testing, tending to paper cuts and fire drills, repeating “Five more minutes, just five more minutes of quiet writing time, and then we’ll share…”—then you happen upon a moment of stillness [...]
WITS writers often turn to Paul Fleischman when they teach choral poetry. His book Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices has delightful, double-column poems about insects. The poems, which include everything from a love affair between lice to fireflies writing in the sky, are written for two readers alternating turns. What I did not realize [...]
As I walked towards the front entrance of E.O. Smith Education Center to observe WITS Writer Deborah Wiggins, I sensed love in the air. On this Valentine’s Day, Wiggins’ writers were preparing to work when I slipped through the classroom door. An international performance poet with a commanding stature, Wiggins is a take charge teacher [...]
By jrwatson5
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Also posted in art, creativity, education, event, imagination, inspiration, Lesson plan, national poetry month, poetry, spoken word, story, student, teaching, writer, writers in the schools, writing
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Tagged Annise Parker, deborah wiggins, public poetry, valentine's day prompt
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What: GiggleIT Project competition for students ages 10-14. This is a international competition encouraging literacy and cultural education. Share your sense of humor with the world through your poems, stories, jokes, etc. and win funny prizes too. When: Free online registration starts now at the IASL website. Where: A digital publishing project hosted by the [...]
The 2010 WITS Writer Orientation featured special guests Michele Kotler and Keith Kaminski from the Community Word Project (CWP) in New York. Our friends at the CWP have given a great deal of thought to preparing writers to teach in classrooms. We at WITS Houston invited them down to see what it was all about. [...]
Grade level: Kindergarten – 1st Genre: various Objectives: To involve the students in listen to a story read aloud Primary sources: Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee by Paul Galdone Materials: a basket with small stuffed animal characters from the book Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee Contributors: Brooke Brown, Linda Draper This story basket activity ensures the active participation of [...]
By WITS Houston
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Also posted in animal, art, creativity, imagination, Lesson plan, writers in the schools
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Tagged Arts, characters, Educational stage, Kindergarten, Literature, Paul Galdone, reading, student, Stuffed toy
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Take a character, add a prop, a place, and a child’s imagination and what do you have? A cool and amazing story! The KidsCom.com “Write Me a Story” project asks young writers to compose unique stories using the elements they provide. KidsCom members (membership is free) become critics by voting on the stories they want [...]
WITS leads weekly workshops at Discovery Green every Saturday from 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM. It is a FREE drop-in program that takes place at Discovery Green in the Houston Public Library Express, located in the Lake House Building. These workshops will be offered through the summer. There’s no sign up process. Parents who are [...]
By WITS Houston
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Also posted in art, creativity, education, Houston, imagination, Lesson plan, writer, writers in the schools, writing
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Tagged creative writing workshops, discovery green park, summer
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