Only 2 days of school left before the summer holidays and I’ve been doing more planning for the Summer Writing Challenge, to try and get both my kids to do a little writing everyday, structured in an ASC friendly way (with a little help from my I hate to write book), to hopefully help start to break down the blockage that my son seems to have between his brain and his hand.
I have told the kids a little about the challenge (it’s not my natural style to forewarn, but I’m getting used to not springing surprises on people) and after some rather fraught negotiations they now have a notebook each with their name on, waiting in a box with a couple of prizes that I put together (nothing like a bit of bribery to get people motivated). I don’t want to over organise things, as I need to be flexible and see what works and build upon that, after all, I thought that a written version of the word association game was the easiest thing possible and I was proved wrong. However, we are going away on the second day of the holidays, so I also want to be prepared, and with that in mind I have challenges for each day of the holidays (plus a few spare for when we get back). I thought I’d share them here, as if it helps one person with a similar problem, it’s worth it. (And I’ve already typed them up as I intend to print out two copies of each).
Day 1: First day of the holidays, when we’ll be spending a lot of time getting ready to go.
Today’s Challenge: Write a packing list for our holiday.
Before you start:
- Check your desk and chair are clear and free of distractions.
- Glue this sheet onto the first left hand page in your book
Firstly: Write a title on the right hand page and underline it.
Then:
- Write a list of the things that you need to take on holiday.
- Don’t include family things like tents and cooking things.
- Do group things together by theme, for example mum’s list might include (as she has family things are on her list)
- Cooking things: 2 saucepans, chopping board, knife
- Food: Breakfast cereal, 3 tins of baked beans, teabags, hot chocolate
- If you realise later you’ve left something out, it’s ok to go back and squeeze it in, or you might want to have a “things I nearly forgot” theme at the end
When you’ve finished: We will go to the shop and buy and icecream to eat, before reading through the lists and starting packing.
Day 2: A travel day, we’ll be setting off in our van for the first destination.
Today’s Challenge: Describe [our camper van] to someone who’s never seen her.
Before you start:
- Check your writing space is ready
- Glue this sheet onto the next free left hand page in your book
- Do 5 star jumps.
Firstly: Write a title on the right hand page and underline it.
Then:
- Describe 5 things about [our camper van].
- Write one or two sentences about each thing you choose.
- Don’t forget to to start by saying what kind of thing [our camper van] is!
When you’ve finished: You can watch an episode of Dangermouse on iplayer.
Day 3: We’ll be at a folk festival and see lots of performances, morris dancing, clog, rapper and who knows what else. This days challenge is inspired by a comment from a friend about trying immersive writing “in the field” as she reckoned it would stop him worrying about being perfect as he’d be too busy.
Today’s Challenge: Take notes on performances
Before you start:
- Glue this sheet onto the next free left hand page in your book
- Pack your book and something to write with into your bag
Then when we stop to watch some dancing:
- Write notes about what you’re seeing
- Describe the shapes, sounds, colours, movement, how it makes you feel
- As you’re taking notes you don’t have to write sentences, you can just write a short phrase or even a couple of words for each thing
- See if you can fill the right hand page
Later: We will read our notes to each other and see how they compare.
Day 4: The second day at the festival.
Today’s Challenge: Describe a folk festival to someone who’s never been to one
Before you start:
- Find somewhere comfortable to write.
- Glue this sheet onto the next free left hand page in your book
- Stretch your hands as far open as they’ll go then squeeze them shut 5 times.
Firstly: Write a title on the right hand page and underline it.
Then:
- Describe 5 things about a folk festival.
- Write one or two sentences about each thing you choose.
When you’ve finished: [I’m leaving this blank to fill in nearer the time!]
Day 5: Travelling from the festival to our second destination, camping with friends.
Today’s Challenge: Describe a mini beast
Before you start:
- Glue this sheet onto the next free left hand page in your book
- Find a minibeast on the campsite and observe what it looks like, how it moves, what it’s doing, where it is
Firstly: Write a title on the right hand page and underline it.
Then write one or two sentences about each of the following things:
- What mini beast you saw
- Where you found it
- What it looks like
- What it was doing
- How it moves
When you’ve finished:
Days 6-9 in a flexible order, one requires me to buy postcards first.
Today’s Challenge: Write a journal (diary) entry about today
Before you start:
- Find a good place to write
- Glue this sheet onto the next free left hand page in your book
- Take 5 deep slow breaths in and out
Firstly: Write today’s date.
Then write at least 5 sentences about your day. Include
- Where you went
- Who you were with
- What you did
- Something you saw
- How you felt
When you’ve finished:
Today’s Challenge: Describe the picture on a postcard
Before you start:
- Glue this sheet onto the next free left hand page in your book
- Choose a postcard
- Do 5 hand stretch and squeezes followed by 5 deep breaths
Firstly: Write a title on the right hand page and underline it.
Then describe the scene on the postcard. Start with saying where the picture is. Then write at least 4 sentances, each one should describe a different thing in the picture.
When you’ve finished:
Today’s Challenge: Write a short story
Before you start:
- Glue this sheet onto the next free left hand page in your book
- Find a good place to write
- Do 5 star jumps and 5 hand stretches
Firstly: Leave a space for your title.
Then write a short paragraph (2 or 3 sentances is fine) with a story opening introducing the characters.
Then a second short paragraph introducing a problem.
Finally a short paragraph describing the resolution.
When the story is finished, then choose a title and write it in the space you’ve left.
When you’ve finished:
Today’s Challenge: Write a silly song about camping
Before you start:
- Glue this sheet onto the next free left hand page in your book
- Find a good place to write
- Do 5 star jumps and 5 deep slow breaths
Firstly: Write your title on the right hand page and underline it.
Then write your song underneath. It needs to have a chorus (that gets repeated) and at least two verses, each having 4 lines.
When you’ve finished:
Day 10, another travel day. We’ll just have spent several days camping with other Quakers, so…
Today’s Challenge: Describe what happens in Meeting For Worship to someone who’s never been.
For each of these words, write a sentence about Meeting for Worship:
- Where
- Who
- How
- Why
- What
When you’ve finished:
Day 11, travelling the rest of the way back home after our stopover.
Today’s Challenge: Write a 6 word story
A famous example is “For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn”
When you’ve finished:
So, there we go, there’s my prep. Now it only remains to put it into action in a nice low key way that doesn’t cause tantrums.
