Dear 5^th Grade Students,

Lucky us!  You, for getting Mrs. N. as your teacher this year and me, for being invited back for a 3^rd year to speak to her class about being a writer.   Our mission together was to write a 30 Second Story which would be featured on my blog Jotter Girl.  We discussed the photo prompt briefly and then each of you contributed a line to the story while I took notes as fast as I could.  With all the creativity that flowed, the 30 seconds wound up being about 78 seconds.  To the best of my recollection, here is the story we put together.

buy ivermectin australia It was a sunny day at Yellowstone Park when Abby Lee Miller, who was eating her lunch, saw a bear outside her car window.  Suddenly, he stood up and shouted that he wanted her taco.  Abby screamed so hard that her eyes popped out of her head.  Luckily the bear saw a squirrel and was distracted so Abby could quickly lock the door.  The bear called out, “I am Sir Grand Poobah” and began to chase the squirrel.  He yelled back over his shoulder, “Lady, I don’t want your taco anymore, I’ve got something better to eat!”

where can i buy Lyrica tablets  The bear and squirrel ran around and around until they ended up on the roof of the car, where they began to dance the Tango.  Bear said, “Come to me Honey Boo Boo!”, which made the squirrel scream and run for her life.  Poor squirrel wasn’t watching where she was going and ran right into a fire pole.  Honey Boo Boo was knocked out immediately.

 Meanwhile, hoping to get away, Abby put the car in reverse and it began to roll down the hill.  The bear followed the car because he was interested in the clothes hanging in the back seat.  He jumped through the window and grabbed the neatly wrapped dry cleaning.  Not knowing what to do, Abby took off her socks and put them in the bear’s mouth.  Bear removed the socks and said, “I have a wedding to go to, all I want are clothes, dude.”  Abby fainted momentarily and when she awoke, she saw the bear dressed in a tuxedo doing a dance called the Dougie.  Bear had learned to do the Dougie by watching YouTube and was ready to teach his new friend Abby.

 In the end, Abby fell madly in love with the bear and they drove off together to have a fun evening at the wedding where they did the Dougie and the Tango all night.

The end.

My goal today was to get you excited about writing.  Based on all the giggles and raised hands, I think everyone had fun participating.   Keep up the good work, let your imaginations run wild, but most of all, write it down!  I must go now, my dog Ivy wants me to teach her the Dougie.  If you want to learn how to Dougie, click the link and cast members from Glee will teach you.  Go on Mrs. N., click the link.

Do the Dougie

Dear 5th grade students,

It was an absolute pleasure spending time with you this week discussing what it is like to be a writer.  Your enthusiasm and creativity blew me away.  As I mentioned, I have a running feature here at Jotter Girl called 30 Second Stories where I take an old photograph that I find at the black flea market and write a humorous story that can be read in about 30 seconds.  It was so much fun to have all of  you take turns coming up with the next line in the story for my latest photo.  In your case, my 30 Second Story, turned into a 60 Second Story. To the best of my recollection here is the story we put together.

 Mary stood on the boat, holding tight to her purse.  There was a bread stick that had come alive in the dining hall and was coming after her.   She was a bit frightened and she jumped off the ship….wait, no she didn’t.  It was all very creepy when the  Zombies came after her but thankfully she was wearing her heat resistant coat.  There was also a grave yard on the top of the boat where ghosts were hanging out.  Then someone yelled out “Dance Party!” and they all went to dance.  A meatball fits into the story somewhere, but Mary cannot remember because there were too many 5th children circling her and shouting out ideas.  She was lucky enough to have a video recorder tucked inside her hat so she could look at the movie later when she was safe in her cabin.  Actually, she couldn’t wait to take off her hat because her bald head was very itchy.  What the children didn’t realize was that Mary had her writers notebook underneath her arm and she would write this whole big episode into a science fiction, horror, fantasy, action story for her next cook book titled,

Meatballs and Bread sticks.

__________________

I was quite surprised after school today when one of you young writers appeared at my door with an envelope full of thank you notes, each one neatly written.

I am so glad that you all enjoyed our meeting and I truly hope I have helped inspire you to write.  Don’t forget, be free with your ideas and use your writer’s eye to tell a more interesting tale.  I am certain that your heads are filled with many stories just waiting to jump out onto paper.  Happy writing!

Dear parents of the class of 2018,

It was my very great pleasure to come to your children’s 5th grade class this morning to discuss what it is like to be a writer.  The room became electrified with excitement as I sat amongst your kids who were eager to share their writing experiences.  I was impressed by the questions, questions and more questions!   You should have seen their enthusiasm as we formulated our own story, each taking turns to come up with the next line about the “time bomb” in my handbag.  Never fear, our story ended on a positive note due to some very clever contributions from the class.  I am still smiling about it now 3 hours later.

Your children want to write and they are excited about it.

They want to be free to write without criticism or correction.  I heard words today that I didn’t quite expect from 5th graders.

feelings, emotion, poetry, comedy, fantasy…oh yes and time bomb (about 10 times)

Your children want to express themselves through writing.  Invest in them.  Buy them a jotter, a notebook that is theirs and theirs alone where they can dream, create, and experience the wonder of writing.

Something to note…. I read this week that Rutgers University recently paid Snooki $35,000.00 for a speaking engagement. Its doubtful that she was there to discuss the importance of writing, but more likely looking to inspire the tanning bed users of tomorrow with her orange glow.  In my opinion, this is a sad reflection on our society that we put such value on reality TV stars.

While Mumbldyhumf Elementary School did not pay me $35K for my speaking engagement….

I had an experience which was priceless.