Day 4 Blog

March 19, 2020

Welcome to Day 4—has it hit you yet?? Despite the rainy weather (ooh, there is a lesson there somewhere), I feel sunny! The Lynn Public School principals, teachers, and administration spent the day emailing resources, ideas, and web links back and forth to one another. What an amazing learning community! Thank you to all my colleagues for sharing their insights and knowledge. Aborn peeps, please check the website daily. I am constantly updating, tweaking, and adding content. You can also email me photos and videos of your family's journey! Today I’d like to focus on writing. Think about it... What are REAL reasons YOU write? I can think of a few:

• Lists (Grocery, To-Do, etc.)

• A note to a family member

• Letters (business, thank-you, condolence, etc.)

• Agenda / Diary entry

• Paying bills by check or online

• Research paper or homework assignment (If you are in school)

• Poetry (Well, some of us may)

• Blog (New for me!)

• Emails

• Texts, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

• Advertisement (Anybody out there in the ad business?)

• Cards (Birthday, Christmas, Easter, etc.)

• Books (If you are an author)

• Other??
  

Here is one of my favorite writing quotes:

But not all writing is glamorous and breathy. Sometimes it’s simply necessary. Encourage your child to write often and for different purposes. Try to support creativity and inventiveness, rather than getting bogged down in grammar and correct spelling. Teach basic structures and formats (like bullets and paragraphs). If a child is a reluctant writer, try dictation or recording – he speaks, you write...or she speaks and you record so she can listen back and write it down. Model writing for your child. Practice co-writing (lists are great for this purpose). Here are some more suggestions for Writing Projects you can do with your child:

1. Welcome Letters for new Aborn students - I would like to be able to give a new Aborn student several hand-written letters from REAL students when they arrive on their first day. Letters should include things like – what you are learning in your grade, your favorite thing about school, what makes Aborn a great place, etc. Hang on to these until we see each other again!

2. Email your teacher: Children could email teachers with questions and thoughts. Email addresses are now on the Aborn Teachers Tab. How about writing a letter to your teacher? You can mail it to Aborn School, 409 Eastern Ave, Lynn MA 01902. While mail is not currently being delivered, it will end up at the administration building. I will make sure teachers get their letters! Thank you, Mrs. Gallant, for this wonderful idea!

3. Write a Collaborative Story: Someone starts a story and passes the paper on to the next family member, who adds a sentence or paragraph. The paper gets passed around until you feel the story has somewhat of an ending. Then, have fun taking turns reading it out loud!

4. Write an Alternate Ending to a favorite book: What if the story ended differently? What might the characters say and do? Would there be any new characters? Would it be a happy ending or a sad ending?

5. Turn a Story into a Play, a Rap Song, or a Poem: Google these! That's what I did for Shared Story and Alternate Ending.

All you need is paper and pencil. Let the journey begin and see where it takes you. Write on!

Be well, my Aborn friends!

Mrs. Spiess