Kids Write with Crystal

Exciting news!!!! ‌I have a couple of Contributor openings for the Spring 2022 Issue of my student magazine, The Clothed Mole Rat. Check out all the details below and email me at [email protected] if your child would like to snag a spot.

Our 6th issue (Winter 2021) launched at the end of November! If you've never read any of our previous issues - do it! It's an incredibly fun time. These issues are a massive undertaking, and all the student contributors involved do a fantastic job! The final products are filled with remarkable stories, art, and more.

You can visit https://theclothedmolerat.com/ to see our past work!

The Clothed Mole Rat Magazine

Your kids are invited to join our magazine staff for the Spring 2022 Issue! Possible content creation might include: short stories, comics, photography and other artwork, poetry, reviews, recipes, and articles on various topics (community, current events, special interest topics, how-to, etc.)

Things to know:

• We have weekly Zoom work sessions on Mondays from 2-3:30 Eastern over 15 weeks.

• Each week, we have a short "staff" meeting to go over updates and make decisions on current projects before beginning our work sessions.

• Contributors will experience the process of editing on all written magazine submissions BEFORE they go to "print." **All written submissions must be in a Google Document.

• We create one issue per session. Our Spring 2022 Issue will be published when we finish in May. Our 15th session is always a launch party to publish the magazine and celebrate our hard work!

• Students have complete freedom over the content they create.

Cost: Tuition is $220 for the entire session, broken into monthly payments ($44) from January through May, due on the 10th of each month. (The last invoice will go out the day AFTER the issue launches.)

Dates:
Jan. 10th, 17th, 24th & 31st
Feb. 7th, 21st, 28th
No meeting on Feb. 14th
March 7th, 14th, 21st & 28th
No meeting on April 4th
April 11th, 18th, 25th
No meeting on May 2nd
Launch Party on May 9th!

Time: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Eastern

Where: Online using Zoom

Ages: Ages 10+

Coming Up Soon- AMANDA GORMAN & THE HILL WE CLIMB WORKSHOP!

In this workshop, students will learn about Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, who read her poem The Hill We Climb at President Joe Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021. We will consider her work as part of a tradition of occasional poetry, including her poem The Miracle of Morning, which explores our losses from COVID-19 while crafting praise for human endurance. Both poems, The Hill We Climb & The Miracle of Morning, will serve as inspiration for students to write their own poems during this workshop. Students are invited to share their work before we finish for the day.

Cost: $30 per student
Date: Thursday, October 28th
Time: 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm Eastern
Where: Online using Zoom
Ages: 11+ (Appropriate for roughly 6th grade and up.)

Register at https://kidswrite.art/upcoming-classes/

Local Letters for Global Change Workshop

Organized by the Pulitzer Center, this student writing contest invites students to make their voices heard by writing a letter to an elected representative that summarizes a global issue, explains how it connects to their local community, and proposes a solution. Through this contest, students can practice persuasive writing, civic action, and global citizenship, all while exploring the underreported issues that matter to them!

This workshop is for students in 6th grade and up interested in participating in the contest. Students will search through Pulitzer Center news articles about global issues and select an issue they are interested in addressing before beginning notetaking to use when writing their letter. It is not expected for children to finish their letters in this workshop. However, students should send their completed letters to me for editing and revision suggestions before submitting them to the Pulitzer Center.

Other Important Contest Info:

Eligibility: Any current K-12 student in the United States or globally may enter. Letters may be written in English and/or Spanish. High school, middle school, and elementary entries will be judged separately.

Prizes: First place winners will receive $100 to support global community engagement in the classroom (prize distributed to the class teacher). Winners and finalists will have their letters, photos, and bios featured on the Pulitzer Center website. **This money would be donated to a non-profit organization of the winner's choice to combat the global issue they selected for their letter.

Deadline: Saturday, November 13, 2021 at 11:59pm EST

Ages: Though the contest is open to K-12, for this workshop, the content covered is most appropriate for middle school and up. Children need to be able to write and research independently.

Cost: $40

Date: Thursday, October 4th

Time: 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm Eastern

Where: Online using Zoom

Register here: https://kidswrite.art/upcoming-classes/

This class needs one more student to hold!!! Check it out. 😘

ADVENTURES IN POETRY CLASS SERIES

What even IS poetry, and how do we create it? In this class series, we will explore the fantabulous world of words, the ways we can play with them, and so much more! We will learn fancy poetic terms (like verse, stanza, lines), and literary devices (like alliteration, simile, metaphor, personification), and how to use them. We'll explore poetry types like free verse, found poetry, ekphrasis, acrostics, and more. Most importantly, we will Share, Enjoy, and Create together!

Please Note: This is a class offering through LEAD Homeschool. Families will need to become a member of LEAD in order to register. Also, students will have poetry reading and/or writing homework most weeks.

Prerequisite: Students must be comfortable with the process of writing for this class.

Cost: $120 to the teacher, plus a $30 registration fee

Date: Thursdays starting on August 26th (8 classes total)

Time: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Eastern

Where: Online using Zoom

Ages: 9+

https://kidswrite.art/upcoming-classes/

Working with kids on story writing is one of my all-time favorite things!! Don’t miss out on the chance to sign your child up for my 8-week class on the Elements of Story Writing, starting later this month. I’ll give your child the tools they need to bring their ideas to life on the page!

—-

ELEMENTS OF STORY WRITING CLASS SERIES

In this creative writing class, we will focus our efforts on exploring the elements of story writing. Students will work through different creative writing exercises to help them find their writing style and voice as storytellers. In this class, we will:

- Determine what makes a story “good”
- Bring characters to life
- Learn to set a scene
- Examine elements of plot
- Use opening hooks
- Make dialogue more dynamic
- Work on revisions & editing
- Share stories

Prerequisite: Students should be comfortable with the process of writing for this class.

Note: This is a class offering through LEAD Homeschool. Families will need to become a member of LEAD in order to register. Also, this class will include homework writing assignments most weeks.

Cost: $120 to the teacher, plus a $30 registration fee

Date: Mondays starting August 23rd (8 classes total)

Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Eastern

Where: Online using Zoom

Ages: 9+

Register: https://kidswrite.art/upcoming-classes/

Exciting news!!!! ‌I have a couple of Contributor openings for the Winter 2021 Issue of my student magazine, The Clothed Mole Rat. Check out all the details below and email me at [email protected] if your child would like to snag a spot. !!! --> Just note, it'll be first come on these spots. I'm limited in the number of kids I can take on for this project.

Our 5th issue (Spring 2021) launched back in May! If you've never read any of our previous issues - do it! It's an incredibly fun time. These issues are a massive undertaking, and all the student contributors involved do a fantastic job! The final products are filled with remarkable stories, art, and more.

You can visit https://theclothedmolerat.com/ to see our past work!

The Clothed Mole Rat Magazine

Your kids are invited to join our magazine staff for the Winter 2021 Issue! Possible content creation might include: short stories, comics, photography and other artwork, poetry, reviews, recipes, and articles on various topics (community, current events, special interest topics, how-to, etc.)

Things to know:

• We have weekly Zoom work sessions on Mondays from 2-3:30 Eastern over 15 weeks.

• Each week we have a short "staff" meeting to go over updates and make decisions on current projects before beginning our work sessions.

• Contributors will experience the process of editing and revision on all written magazine submissions BEFORE they go to "print."

• We create one issue per session. Our Winter 2021 Issue will be published when we finish at the end of November. Our 15th session is always a launch party to publish the magazine and celebrate our hard work!

• Students have complete freedom over the content they create.

Cost: Tuition is $220 for the entire session, broken into monthly payments ($55) from August - November, due on the 10th of each month.

Date: Mondays, Aug. 16th, 23rd, 30th, Sept. 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th, Oct. 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th, Nov. 1st, 8th, 15th, Thanksgiving break on Nov. 22nd, Launch Party on Nov. 29th

Time: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Eastern

Where: Online using Zoom

Ages: Ages 9+

I have two 8-week class series beginning in late August through LEAD Homeschool! And guess what??!! Registration JUST opened! Head over to https://www.leadhomeschool.org! You’ll find all the information on these classes, plus many more. 😍😍😍

Cause why not see if we can balance oranges on our heads??!! 🍊🍊🍊

Today is the last day of my summer programming. It’s been a blast! Up next… vacation!!! Then, back home to start prepping for Fall. I’ll get my class calendar updated on the website soon, but know this! ⬇️

I *may* have space on my student magazine for new contributors on the Fall/Winter issue.

I’ll have two 8-week class options available through LEAD Homeschool - Elements of Story Writing and Adventures in Poetry! You can see more about those on LEAD’s website, https://www.leadhomeschool.org.

I *may* have some availability this Fall for one-on-one weekly coaching/tutoring.

I’m working on firming things up over the next couple of weeks, but if you are interested in any of the options I mentioned and want to chat, just reach out!

😂🤣😂 I mean… who doesn’t love a good revenge story?!!

Having children share their favorite books with me is one of my favorite activities. It's always a fascinating experience to learn what makes them love the stories they choose. We don't often consider WHY we like the things we like, so this prompting consistently churns up an interesting diversity of qualities that make writing "good" and enjoyable to us as readers. This is an excellent first step because then we can consider those ideas and think about how to apply them to our writing. I LOVE the list we generated in a recent class! P.S. Ignore my typos in the screenshot. 😅

Last week our collaborative storytelling game lead us to an fantastical tale of a clown named Herbert fighting to save the world against his nemesis, Trunk. The teams of good versus evil became so extensive we had to start tracking them on our white board. 😂 Spoiler alert: Mermaids shut the fighting down (they are not here for that nonsense.) Celebration peace tacos were eaten. But then the Death Star swept in and blew everything up anyway. 💥😱🤣

This Wednesday, July 7th, is our next Creative Writing Session! It is the second to last one I'll hold this summer before I squeeze in a vacation and come home to begin prepping for the start of a new school year. I hope your child can join us in some creative fun!
—-

Creative Writing Sessions are an opportunity for students to get experimental in their writing and try something new! Each session, we will work on a writing prompt and share the work and ideas the prompt inspired.

Cost: $15 per student (per day)
Date: Wednesday July 7th
Time: 12:30 pm- 1:30 pm Eastern
Where: My home in Snellville (Outdoors) or Online using Zoom
Ages: For anyone who wants to write!

Register:
https://kidswrite.art/upcoming-classes/