This one is courtesy of Jonathon Lloyd Artistic Director of Polka Theatre. Start your sessions by asking the class what The Word of the Day should be - if all suggestions are already known by the majority of the class you could get a child...
The students of a school I've just finished a project at have written a tonne of fantastic food poems based on my piece "A little bit of food" A little bit of rice A little bit of pea On my plate for my tea Rice, pea Rice, pea Rice, pea Rice, pea A...
This is a great exercise to trick young people into writing (cue evil laugh) I used this exercise for the first time the other day and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the kids took to it. 1) Start the session by giving everyone a clipboard...
Tuesdays are terrific With their "not monday-ness" Wednesdays are woeful With their "only halfway-ness" Thursdays are frilly With their "on the edge of Fridayness" Fridays are fantastic (what else?) With their "It's Friday!!!! -ness" Saturdays are too short With their "woke late-ness" Sundays are somber With their "too close to Monday-ness" Mondays! Mondays? Mondays are Moany Moody and mad Mondays are...
I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to be presented with a wall of poems inspired by an outdoor session I led with a year two class. I asked the class teacher how she managed to get such well strucutered poems out of the class. She said...
If you like the game 20 questions - where one must guess smothers identity by asking a series of yes/no questions, you'll love this. This can work for any age as the students Ask the students to look around them for something to pretend to...
A great way to get kids thinking of themselves as writers is to ask them to draw themselves as writers. I had some great pictures drawn today featuring lap tops, laps with no tops (type writers to you and me) healthy snacks, a writers satchel...
I first came across this exercise in Sri Lanka where it proved to be a great way of interacting with a group where there was no common language – all you need to run this exercise are the words “copy me” or as they...
This week I have been working in two schools in Essex for Creative Partnerships consulting on ways of improving literacy skills using outdoor apparatus. I've worked on several projects like this over the years and it always amazes how much of a benefit can be...
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