Junior & Young Writers: Week 12 [Wild Words] - Stuff & Things

Hi Writers,

To check in with the groups this week, we kept it festive by choosing types of wrapping

paper. Some wrapping paper represented good weeks, like minty green sparkly paper and

gold advent paper. Some weeks could have been better and were summed up as old

newspaper and mummy bandages as wrapping paper. One week was a 20 km-long roll of

wrapping paper—I'm sure you can work out why.

After a Christmas spin on Buzzy Bees (Relaxed Reindeers), Claire read Pablo Neruda's 'Ode to Things'.

The group then wrote down a list of their favourite things using their senses

and described how they made them feel. Claire then read Barry Turrel's poem 'Lauren'. Our first

writing exercise took inspiration from the poem and involved writing poems about things or

people we loved.

Anna wrote two sweet poems, one for her cat, Kafka, and one for her mum. Tabitha wrote a

poem for her dad, celebrating what he means to her. Henry. R wrote a formulaic poem about

his imaginary friend. Hamish wrote an acrostic poem about cobras. Juno wrote a poem

about Enid, their cat, and Elsie wrote a poem about books.

Claire and I brought in some random items from home and concealed them in a mystery

bag, which was passed around for everyone to take an item from. Using the items, the group

wrote descriptive poems titled 'Ode to a ____ '.

We had an Ode to Ducky, a very magical Christmas poem; an Ode to the Chinese Waving

Cat; an Ode to the Wooden Elephant, which had political anti-poaching undertones; an Ode

to a Monster, a harrowing poem about a plant with eyes; and an Ode to the Golden Seal,

which entailed a golden seal venturing to the North Pole. Finally, we had an Ode to a Crab,

about a crab who is stuck in gel.

In the young writers group, several weeks were described as starting off good but ending

bad, or being good but quiet, and the wrapping paper to show this was plain but shiny, half

neatly wrapped and half messily wrapped, with a simple brown pattern and really nice paper

with rips. Another week was described as annoying, like a gift that's been wrapped with an

excessive amount of tape and layers.

We tried to liven up some less-than-enjoyable weeks

with a couple of games. We played. I went to the store and Relaxed Reindeer.

After reading the two poems and creating a list of favourite things, the group created poems

for people or things.

Next, the mystery bag returned, and the group found some random objects to describe and

write about...

Berry took a different approach to the ducky and wrote about a demonic duck leaving a trail

of glitter. Sonny used a magnifying glass on the toy boat and wrote a deeply descriptive

poem. Poppy wrote about the lucky cat, and Catherine wrote about the spooky monstrous

wool plant. Changing perspectives, Daisy wrote from the point of view of the amethyst being

written about.

To end the session, we created our own 25-day advent calendar and went around the room,

saying what was behind each door. Some of my favourites included a coffin with your name

on it, a demonic entity, a hornet, a dinosaur egg, and a sentient black hole.

For the big 25, we opened the door to the end of the world. It's not particularly festive or pleasant, but

perhaps an advent calendar to gift to someone you dislike...

see you next week

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Junior & Young Writers: Week 12 [Wild Words] - Stuff & Things