Rainbow editing

Saw this on FB today - thought it was quite a good idea.

Notable books in the Storylines Festival of NZ Children's Writers and Illustrators

Link to 2015 list

Children and Young Adult Book Awards - NZ Herald Review

NZ Herald Review

Sacha's poem

Over the hills and far away

Above the rainbow, she beautifully lays 

Too far to reach, 

she escapes our touch 

How is it fair? 

Her soul was loved 

But surely a fool would be made out of me 

To think she was gone

taken from thee 

For now I know

it's not the end 

Over that rainbow 

I'll see her again

By Sacha

Some more amazing videos from The Kid Should See This

Videos

Scott's Poem

Why, Oh why can’t I?

Smell the sweet smell of freshly cut grass

Feel the tension of the first morning

With the hairs standing at attention on the back of my neck

Walking down the tunnel to the cheer of the home crowd

Can I do this?

Amber's writing about the space video

What if your food came to life? Twisting and turning before your eyes, like a ballerina at a concert. Imagine the chore of cooking. While your tortilla tumbles away, the avocado follows suit. “OI!” I yell “stop doing cartwheels”. Mischief meats join in the ruckus making it impossible to assemble them in a line. How did I ever get into this mess?

By Amber

Madi's writing about the space video

Spicy Space Adventures

"Holy Guacamole!!!" shouted Hernandez as he took a bite of his chili chicken tortilla , each bite igniting sparks in his mouth. He began to feel an immense heat rush over his cheeks as he swallowed a chunk of the tantilising tortilla. Pasqual had eaten earlier and had finished all of the tinned tuna so he was left with a tin of chicken that resembled cat food...and kinda smelt like it too. As the fire in his stomach began to grow he believed Pasqual set him up for pranking her last week with the curry episode. 

Hernandez's stomach started to rumble, it felt like people were dancing the samba within his intestines, he couldnt take it anymore!!!! He had to get to a toilet....QUICKLY! Hernandez tried to run but the strap holding him in his seat was stuck, he called for help but no one was around.....he forgot that he was in a spacecraft 380,000 kilometres from earth...who was going to help. He pulled and yanked and squirmed as he tried to open the belt. "SNAP" it broke and Hernandez floated out of his chair, he ran like a bull towards a red cape, he REALLY needed to get to the toilet now. As he went to open the lever to the space loo it was locked...." uno momento, I think the chilli chicken is off, best you dont eat it" called Pasqual from the toilet. Hernandez froze..... "ai yai yai! WHAT DO I DO NOW?".

- Madi Ferris 

An example of vocab building activity

What other ideas do you have for developing and building rich vocab with your learners?

Writing Notebook

Please follow the link to find out more about Lucy Calkins idea of the Writer's Notebook.

Sara's writing from Wednesday

This piece of writing was written in response to watching the video from www.thekidsshouldseethis.com about the astronaut making a meal in space.

Have you ever seen a tortilla with a mind of its own? 
Hey! Come back here you floating flapjack!

Every time I turn around the damn thing is back over my head! I'm so hungry. All I want to do is prepare a delightful, nutritious and delicious smoked sardine sandwich. I've lost it! There's pieces of fish on the roof, guacamole on my forehead and quinoa up my nose.
"Go to space", they said.
"It'll be fun", they said.
"Sooo much fun", I mutter as I pick the quinoa out of my nose.
By Sara

Please write a critique of what you have read in the comments box. Prompts for evaluating writing could include:

• Discuss the strong and weak aspects of what was read
• This was good because ....
• This could have been more interesting if ...
• One thing I would have liked to have seen included in this writing was ...

Kapiti teenager's Te Reo video going viral!