Snowflake poems

When Joe had finely defrosted from the sledging (his feet where nearly frost bitten) we worked on some snow poems. He had a go at writing a description of the cold and a snowflake and couldn't resist doing another Acrostic. Inspired by the snow itself, we used wax resist for writing/drawing. The wax resist was a great hit,  like writing hidden secrete spy messages...

Joe's snowflake, concrete poem

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN WAX RELIEF SNOWFLAKE POEM

You will need a white wax crayon, paper, pen or pencil,  paint or ink. 

1. Think about being out in the snow; what's it like to touch,  how does it taste, what size are snowflakes, what sounds can you hear, how does it make you feel, what can you see when you look very closely?
2. Write down (or ask someone else to write for you) your list of descriptive words
3. Have a look at pictures of snowflakes patterns in a book, or on the internet
4. With a pencil, draw a faint outline of a snowflake on your paper
5. With a wax white wax crayon, write your favorite snowy words onto the outline of the snowflake, change the direction of the paper, you can hold the paper up to the light to see where you have written if you get lost
6. With some watery paint or ink, brush over your wax and like magic the writing should appear!  

snow flake

Joe wrote a lovely short descriptive poem 'snow flake' using the wax resist technique:

freezing

soft

light as a feather

wet

now its gone

(I liked his spelling mistake, on his wax version he wrote father instead of feather!)

Reception teaching

Like many schools Joe's is closed today due to the snow. I'm planning to do some writing with him later, using paintbrushes and food colouring writing directly into the snow (the cold should focus the mind and body) poor thing, I'm sure he's just imagining making snow men and sledging... In the meantime, below is an interview I did with a wonderful Reception Teacher, Mrs Horne. 

The problems can arise for boys when they realise (when sounding out the words using phonics) that there’s certain ways to spell, the rules. This can put them off writing, they don’t want to get it wrong or take risks. It hinders them when they can’t spell; it’s the perfectionist in them.

It’s not a new problem, for example my husband hates to put pen to paper- he reads difficult books, but won’t even write a Christmas card! Some boys can read, but not write, they don’t want to risk it and get it wrong.

In Reception we say if you want to write lying on the floor that’s ok. We have a collection of clipboards for them. One little boy who didn’t write, I invited him to climb a tree and write up there. He did and when he came down he wrote in the classroom as well! Last week when he climbed the tree, he asked if he could write up there! It’s about capturing their imagination.

Children at our school, have very good vocabulary, people are surprised when they still have problems with their writing. We try to find their own way of learning buts that’s very hard. Getting parents involved is great, as the children can’t have that one-to-one at school- not with class sizes as they are.

What helps? Writing wherever they want, lying on their tummy, sitting on the floor or kneeling down with clipboards. From very early on children are very aware of grown ups watching them and other children looking and comparing. They can easily loose their confidence. I encourage parents not to compare their children’s reading book stage with others, not to compete with other parents, not to get caught in that trap. It’s about building up the children’s self esteem, what THEY CAN DO, not what another child can do.

Writing on different surfaces and sizes of paper, really large writing on white boards, (you can always photograph/photocopy it and put it in their school books). This helped one boy I worked with, as he could rub it out quickly if he made a mistake. Alternatively you could try asking them to write using really tiny writing- see how small they can make their writing so it can still be read, using a magnifying glass if necessary. Small writing will also play to their secretive sides, just like writing under a table, they can hide away, and not feel self-conscious.

Mrs B Horne, Reception Teacher, Hayfield Primary School.

play with your food (and other spelling ideas)

This year Joe's spelling homework is coming in thick and fast. We're finding the LOOK, SAY, COVER, WRITE AND CHECK method very effective, but I do like to try other methods to make things more interesting, less stressful and more pleasurable, for child and parent. Particularly the latter.

spaghetti ABOUT

We've just had a go at spelling in spaghetti shapes; they looked great, but Joe found it difficult to concentrate, as he wanted to eat his spellings. Perhaps it would work better with a less hungry child. These spelling suggestions are based on the idea of using the MATERIAL of the words as an important part of their composition. A word made out of elastoplast, for instance, will tend to stick (ha ha) in the mind more readily than one written with the usual biro - especially if the material and the subject of the word complement each other. The sticking plaster word might be 'injury'.

Other ideas you could try: 

*  Write the words on a black or white board.
*  Write each word (or even the different parts of each) in a different colour and/or decorate the letters.
*  Use chalk to write the words outside on the pavement, how big can you write your words?
*  Use bath crayons or foam letters and decorate the bath with your spell list.
*  Use Scrabble letter tiles to spell the words.
*  Type your words on a computer, using your nose.
*  Find sticks, pebbles, rock, leaves and create the words on the ground out of your found objects.
*  Use your finger to spell out the word on a friend or family member's back, then take your turn to feel the words on your back.
*  Use letter magnets, on the fridge or other metal surfaces.
*  Write the words in sand, or in mud, or a steamy window, or snow.

If you have any other creative ways to help with spelling practice that you could share, it would be great to hear about them. Spelling is never my favourite, so any tips will be welcomed as honoured guests. Phil is fine with spelling, but can't add numbers up - however that's a matter for a different blog.

a lantern poem

We're all a bit sleepy today, so struggled a bit with this, but we wanted to get it finished in time for Bonfire Night. We've used the idea of sending a wish into the sky and mingled it with the names of star constellations. You can find the names, origin, pronunciation and star charts at  http://www.iau.org/public/constellations/

materials:
a paper sky lantern
pen and paper


instructions:
1. Think about a wish for yourself and a wish for a friend, family member or the whole world. If you struggle with this, you could use the names of the star constellations for inspiration as Joe did on his example. Write a couple of ideas down (or get someone to write them down for you)

2. Have a look through the list of star constellations, write down the names of any you like.
3. Cut up the lines of wishes and the names of constellations and swirl them up.
4. Write your ideas onto your lantern.
5. Wait till its dark, then light your lantern and send it up to your chosen constellation.

Joe wrote:


I wish for the phoenix spirit
the wings of pegasus
the teeth of canis major the great dog
the horn of the unicorn
the arms of cancer the crab
and the mane of leo the lion

Other ideas: 

a four line wish including the names of four constellations and one astronomical instrument.

Journals

With all the homework and day-to-day distractions during term time, it's hard to find time for Joe to write his journal. We now aim for at least once at the weekend, and with holiday coming up, I hope to encourage a daily journal entry.

The secret seems to be to keep things as fun as possible, and trying things that there wouldn't be time for in school. The example below, is a type of concrete poem. After a walk, he drew and wrote down some of his experiences.

Joe's journal page

This idea could be taken further by:

1. Go for a walk in a local park, into the country, a garden, or anywhere affected by the seasons.
2. Close your eyes and listen hard to the sounds around you, try and remember them, or write them down.
3. Collect leaves, sticks, pebbles.
4. Bring them home to draw or for collage material, these can be stuck down, written on, crushed, drawn around.
5. Write a list of the things that you saw, smelt, or heard, following the shape of the picture. Or perhaps the words could follow the shape of your walk?
5. PS. Experiment with colours too, using the colours of the season.

a walk

Yesterday I introduced Joe to the art of Richard Long with our own homage to his textworks. We shocked ourselves by actually getting out of the house early, and took the opportunity to do something creative on the walk to school. Long makes artworks out of words, that suggest the landscape he walks through rather than showing it.

1. Make up the rules together. You need to create a plan for regular stops on your walk to write what you notice. These could be on a count (maybe 50?) or throwing a stick and seeing where it lands, or whenever you hear a birdcall, or, or , or...

2. When you stop, look around and write the first thing that catches your eye, or ear. Or even nose. On this occasion I wrote the words down for Joe, this sped us up, got us to school on time, and allowed me to check my spelling when I got home! But it would be great to do the writing on the spot if you have time.  
3. At home, copy the list and make changes if you like.

It was an intriguing exercise, encouraging him to really look and describe the world around him. It also helped motivate the walk itself. I will definitely try it again, but next time not on the way to school, so he has time to write the words down himself directly. It could be adapted to any walk; inside a supermarket, to the local shop/postbox, in the town or countryside.