Tag Archive | NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo novelists!

Congratulations to all our students who took part in the November writing challenge – NaNoWriMo. It was great to see so many students keen to take part and embark on writing a novel! Well done to everyone who reached their word count goal. Even though it’s now December, you can still keep writing!

NaNoWriMo begins!

NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month has officially begun in the OC! Students have started the month of November brainstorming lots of interesting ideas to create a novel or collection of short stories. They can log in to the NaNoWriMo YWP website at anytime to add to their novel and can also use this for homework points. Can’t wait to share their masterpieces at the end of the month!

Nifty Novelists

Congratulations to all our students who took part in the November writing challenge – NaNoWriMo. It was great to see so many students keen to take part and embark on writing a novel! Well done to everyone who reached their word count goal. Even though it’s now December, you can still keep writing!

November = NaNoWriMo

This November the OC will be taking part—with classmates and over 300,000 writers around the world—in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It’s a fun, innovative creative writing event where the challenge is to complete an entire novel in just 30 days.logo

Novelists begin writing November 1 and must finish by midnight, November 30. The goal for NaNoWriMo’s adult program is 50,000 words, but our students will be participating through the Young Writers Program—which allows students 17-and-under to set reasonable, yet challenging, individual word-count goals.

NaNoWriMo will require students to write as frequently as possible. Especially with your reinforcement, this hard work deepens student investment in the process (and their finished products). At the end of November, educators and participants also report improved self-confidence, creative writing skills, overall writing skills, and time management.

Our class will be using the online components of the Young Writers Program, you can review the step-by-step guide via the website. Participants have individual profile spaces, plus access to forums and a private messaging system. These site features are not public, and can be viewed only by other young writers. In addition, all are monitored by NaNoWriMo staff for inappropriate content. Students who wish to write at home as well can use this to earn homework points.

Happy writing!

Visit the NaNoWriMo website by clicking on the link http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/

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NaNoWriMo – half way there!

We have now passed the halfway point of our epic month of writing for NaNoWriMo! Collectively this year over 204,994,865 words have been written so far by young writers from around the world.

In the OC students have been spending time each morning at school plugging away on their novels and I know many have also been working on them at home which is fantastic! I’ve added some ideas below from the NaNoWriMo Dare Machine and a Pep Talk from writer Jeff VanderMeer to help keep the creative juices flowing as we enter the final weeks of the project. Good luck and keep writing!

Ideas from the Dare Machine:

  • Make a character cry!
  • Give your main character doubts about his or her mission.
  • Add a scene where a character stumbles into a secret room.
  • Write a theme song for your main character.
  • Make something blow up.
  • Introduce a character who only uses big words.
  • Write a scene that helps your reader sympathize with the villain.
  • Write a scene in which your villain comes up with a new name.
  • Your hero finds a mysterious bag on his or her porch…
  • Introduce a blackmail or bribery subplot.
  • Include something hidden under a rock.
  • Have one of your characters go missing for a chapter.
  • Have a non-important character say the most memorable quote you can think of.

More ideas from the Dare Machine can be found on the NaNoWriMo Young Writers website.

Click here for a pep talk from writer Jeff VanderMeer.

 

NaNoWriMo Begins!

This November the OC will be taking part—with classmates and over 300,000 writers around the world—in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It’s a fun, innovative creative writing event where the challenge is to complete an entire novel in just 30 days.logo

Novelists begin writing November 1 and must finish by midnight, November 30. The goal for NaNoWriMo’s adult program is 50,000 words, but our students will be participating through the Young Writers Program—which allows students 17-and-under to set reasonable, yet challenging, individual word-count goals.

NaNoWriMo will require students to write as frequently as possible. Especially with your reinforcement, this hard work deepens student investment in the process (and their finished products). At the end of November, educators and participants also report improved self-confidence, creative writing skills, overall writing skills, and time management.

Our class will be using the online components of the Young Writers Program, you may want to review this step-by-step guide. Participants have individual profile spaces, plus access to forums and a private messaging system. These site features are not public, and can be viewed only by other young writers. In addition, all are monitored by NaNoWriMo staff for inappropriate content.

Happy writing!

Visit the NaNoWriMo website at http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/
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Welcome back for Term 4!

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Welcome back to what is shaping up to be another busy and exciting term for the OC!

Next week (Tuesday) our Stage 3 students will enjoy a trip to the movies and lunch at the Foreshore as their reward for running last term’s Year 6 Fair. Notes were handed out first day back and need to be returned to the office by tomorrow. The cost is $5 and they may bring spending money for the movies on the day if they wish.

Coming up in Week 3 is our Very Short Film Festival screening night at Hamilton Public school. Our students worked really hard making these films last term so fingers crossed we have made it into the top ten. Students and families are invited to attend this screening night and I will send home more information closer to the date.

In our Literature Circles this term students will be studying the novel Mao’s Last Dancer as part of our HSIE topic on China. Students have already begun their preparations for NaNoWriMo – National November Writing month. To get us ready for novel writing, students will be publishing some of their writing each week on their blogs so make sure to have a look!

Our excursions this term will include a visit to the CSIRO where our class scientist Dr Graeme works. Later in the term we will be taking part in a regional OC program called Thinkfest which will involve an excursion to Jewells Public school to present our work.

The other big events taking place this term are of course Presentation Day and the Year 6 Farewell in Week 10. Be sure to check the OC Event page as I will be updating this regularly to keep you up to date.