NaNoWriMo Coming Up!

A few shots from our preview performance on Thursday!

Now that our amazing performance is behind us, it's time to focus on two exciting October events -- The Haunted House and NaNoWriMo. We will discuss both of these events in class, but I will summarize the highlights here for you. 

The Haunted House project is an opportunity for the 5th grade to really work together as a team to complete a project. Though they receive adult support to carry out their ideas, it is our goal that students really take ownership of this project. Therefore, if your child shares with you ideas that seem somewhat unrealistic, try asking questions that encourage them to figure out more reasonable goals. Try to avoid telling them what won't work.

NaNoWriMo is approaching! Unlike last year, we will not spend time working page-by-page through the workbook (though self-paced workbook time will be provided in class). 5th graders are expected to prepare in the way that best works for them, which may include the workbook, or may include storyboarding or other techniques. It is most important that excitement builds for the big event, so I will try to keep the planning process from feeling like a chore. Please let me know if your child is feeling stressed, and we can work together to lessen any anxiety. 

Write-Ins are a successful way for many students to meet their word count goals (or catch up on a few days' worth of words). We unfortunately do not have staff to run write-ins on parent-conference days (Monday and Tuesday, November 3rd and 4th), so I encourage parents to set up their own write-ins. I have included instructions from Kira Del Mar about running your own write-ins. Let me know if you need any additional support!

Tips for running a NaNo write-in:

• Provide space and time for writing, but also allow for breaks, chatting, and wanderings-of-attention. Storytelling is hard work, and it's rare that students will write uninterrupted for more than 30-40 minutes at a time.
• Remind writers to stop and count their words about every page or two (we use the counting and labeling by 10s method: count 10 words and write a small '10' above that word, count another 10 and write '20,' etc. until the bottom of a page, where you write the whole-page total).
• Run occasional word sprints. These should be 5-10 minutes each (I usually go for 6, 7, or 8). Here's the procedure we usually follow:
• Who'd like to word sprint? If you're participating (which you don't have to), put a star after the last word you just wrote, so you know where to count from when you finish the sprint.
• This will be a ____ minute word sprint.
• Shake out your hands, make sure your pencil is sharpened, and ready, set, write!
• Give a warning at the half-way point and the one minute mark, then count down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, pencils down, hands up!
• Pause to give writers time to count their words, then collect word counts.
• Encourage students to beat their own best time, comparing their previous work to their current work. 
• We usually do word sprints about every 15-20 minutes, or when there are at least 4 or 5 people ready to participate.
• Remember that NaNo is about creativity and storytelling, not about proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc., so resist the urge to correct any errors you may observe over writers' shoulders.
• Entirely optional: we sometimes provide small reward treats that students can collect when they reach milestones like 50% or 100% of their daily goal. These can be snacks like marshmallows or strawberries, or things like stickers or erasers. I'd be happy to provide some for you if you end up hosting.