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11 January 2025

Posted by Claire

Junior & Young Writers: Week 1 - Wintering & Hibernation

Hi Writers,


Welcome to 2025! In this week’s workshop, the first of the year, we focused on the idea of 'Wintering' and Hibernation.

In our check-in, we described our week as a type of blanket.

  • Hamish: a death blanket
  • Anna: a purple blanket with holes
  • Indy: a heated blanket
  • Evan: 1cm x 1cm blanket
  • Henry R: sad emoji print blanket
  • Eddie: soft but on fire blanket
  • Henry J: a bouncing blanket
  • Noah: a football blanket
  • Harriet: a grey blanket
  • Eva: a warm and fluffy blanket
  • Elsie: a spiky blanket
  • Juno: a snowflake print blanket


It seems like our class have been reading a lot over the holidays, and got plenty of books for Christmas.


Today's warm up games included a few rounds of Hibernating Hedgehogs [buzzy bees Alliteration game],

and a new game called The Band


Noah & Anna were the first 'Band', the rest of the group decided they were called the Crazy Crabs, their album was called 'lovely linguini pasta, and their single was called 'shake your booty crabs'. The duo had to make up the lyrics on the spot and perform their hit new song!

Henry R and Indy formed 'Iron Bob', and performed 'my big fat boots'

Eddie & Evan became 'Lip Chapper', launching their album 'detonation of a creeper', with single 'rock till you die'


Incredible performances all round!


We discussed how long winter actually is: This Winter officially lasts from the 21st December 2024 [winter solstice] to the 20th March 2025 [spring equinox], the 3 coldest months & shortest days of the year.


And what Hibernation is: “Hibernation is when an animal slows its heart rate to save energy and survive the winter without eating much. Some animals just slow down and move less frequently during hibernation, but others  go into a deep sleep and don’t wake up till spring.”

[betterplaneteducation.org.uk/factsheets/hibernation]


We read then an excerpt from Wintering by Katherine May

“Our knowledge of winter is a fragment of childhood, almost innate: we learn about it in the surprising cluster of novels and fairy tales that are set in the snow. All the careful preparations that animals make to endure the cold, foodless months; hibernation and migration, deciduous trees dropping their leaves. This is no accident. The changes that take place in winter are a kind of alchemy, an enchantment performed by ordinary creatures to survive: dormice laying on fat to hibernate; swallows navigating to South Africa; trees blazing out the final weeks of Autumn. It is all very well to survive the abundant months of the spring and summer, but in winter, we witness the full glory of nature flourishing in lean times.

Plants and animals don't fight the winter: they don't pretend it's not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives that they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt.” 


Then we tried a writing exercise: Imagine that you could hibernate for the winter. 


Describe your perfect place/den/nest in detail: 

Where would you be hibernating?

What would you need there?

What would you do there?


Or


Imagine you are a hibernating animal, describe that experience from their point of view.


This produced some really varied and interesting pieces of writing. From a king size bed to a cave underground with an x-box.


x


The Young Writers group also checked in - describing the week just passed as a blanket


Daisy: a fluffy blanket

Catherine: a weighted, bright colour, cheap blanket

Sonny: a plain, dull, uncomfortable, scratchy blanket

Leo: a grey, fluffy blanket

Georgie: a lovely but too small blanket

Ava: a noisy blanket full of ice packs

Toby: a rough, ropey blanket

Poppy: a patchwork, threadbare blanket

Berry: a sandpaper blanket with holes in


We discussed our favourite genres of literature to read: 

  • low fantasy
  • dystopian
  • sci-fi
  • dark fantasy
  • crime and mystery
  • romance [but good]

This is what everyone is currently reading:

  • king of scars
  • oliver twist
  • the girl with the lost smile
  • midnight sun
  • let down your hair
  • silkers journey

We played Hibernating Hedgehogs, and The Band

Ava & Leo: Your Classic Boyband with 'constipated chicken' from the Egg Of Doom album.

Daisy & Catherine: second direction with 'twas my mother' from 'cor blimey it stinks'


We also discussed Wintering & Hibernation and read the extract. Then created our perfect Hibernation set up.

Taboo was the final writing exercise. describing the main word without using the forbidden words

WINTER [snow, cold, ice, christmas]
HIBERNATION [cosy, sleep, hide]
DARK [black, light, night]

again, some great first drafts appeared. well done everyone.

We’re looking forward to having Frankie back next week, and seeing everyone for another writing workshop.


Keep reading, keep writing.


C 

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