writing celebration
I believe celebration is the core of a writer. It’s what keeps us going. It’s not just about celebrating big things like products and publication, but about celebrating the ordinary day-in-and-day-out living as a writer.
This week I’ve been working on a digital celebration for a kindergarten classroom. The teacher opened her doors to me and let me dabble a little with opinion writing. “Whatever you want to do, go for it,” she said. I accepted the invitation and was amazed at the work our youngest writers did with putting their opinions on the page in pictures and in words.
Today I completed the digital celebration. (Another little thing I wanted to give a whirl.) If you want to join us in celebrating our most recent writing projects, then check out the video below. It takes a little less than five minutes to celebrate with an entire kindergarten class.
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What a beautiful way to celebrate. What tools did you utilize to create your video celebration?
This is AWESOME!!! What great writers they are! So proud! You rock, Mrs. Ayres!
Wow! I can just imagine how excited the authors must have been, not to mention proud teachers and parents!
Kindergarteners and The Persuasive Essay–powerful stuff. Wonderful, colorful, and so well written and read! Congratulations on mission accomplished!
Really neat, Ruth! It was so much fun to hear the proud writers reading their own writing! I liked how some of them had some really specific reasons for their opinions!
This is a nice teaser post for your upcoming book 🙂 I loved seeing your ideas here and can't wait to learn more about all the possibilities with celebrations – an area that I will want to consciously focus on next year. The video is such a great idea – a nice way for kids to be able to share with families.
Love it!!!
The thing I love about digital celebrations is that they can then be shared with a wider audience – a chance to draw in parents, grandparents, etc. How empowering for kindergartners.
Kristi (above) is right that this can be shared with so many different groups, including teachers who can then see the possibilities. Loved that you took the time to do this with the class. I bet they loved their celebration television! Tell the students that I liked their detailed pictures, hearing their opinions about different topics, and appreciated that they spoke so clearly. Thanks Ruth!
What a great model of celebration. Thank you for keeping reminding of the importance of celebration in the life of writers. I was impressed by the young writers and their work. I also think they are risk-takers for speaking up and allowing you to share it with a bigger community.
What a wonderful celebration! I love how the students are learning another way their voice matters.
I love this! I have taught all grades in primary and I think my favorite is in kindergarten, because they are so excited about the learning process. In 17 years of teaching, I had my favorite writer's workshop lesson a couple weeks ago on partner revision- it was truly amazing to hear their dialogue and see their revisions added after revising. You got me thinking about doing some opinion pieces… thanks for posting!
I kept this one to the tools I have free on my computer — Windows Movie Maker. (I often use Adobe Photoshop Premiere, but I haven't installed it on my new computer yet.
I scanned the work (except for the last one and that's a pic from my phone). I used a $5 microphone from Radio Shack and the sound recorder that comes on computers for the voices.
It would take 2-4 days if I were running workshop alone to collect, scan, and record. Then it took another 2-3 hours to put it together in the Movie Maker. (Although I don't think it would take this long the next time because now I' (a little) used to the program.)