Tip #5

Writing is a gift.

I’ve been teaching the art of writing for over 30 years. I DO NOT insist my students wrangle a lasso to subdue their grammar. Remember, Form follows Function. I DO insist they value their ideas, and engage in the art of communicating authentically. I tell them:

Wrap your idea like a gift you would like to receive.

Would a beautiful gift be wrapped in sloppy handwriting? Would it contain run-on sentences with no end marks e-v-e-r?  Would it be tedious to read with holes in the flow that confused the reader?

I don’t think so!

I tell my students: Your writing is a gift!

When it comes to learning language arts much of the exceptional work that your students will accomplish is subjective in nature tied to their ideas. As we moms and teachers value these ideas and challenge them to catalog and craft these ideas over time, literacy skills soar.

Ideas spring from a wealth of knowledge tied to curiosity. During the elementary years students from grade 3 through grade 8 will read 36 (yes, THIRTY SIX!) novels!  Their discoveries from reading tied to their observations and inspired by imagination and curiosity will enable them to engage in the weekly writing exercise—a simple paragraph communicating an idea unique to the writer. Students will compose 144 paragraphs. What is unique about our approach is that the paragraphs being composed will be meaningful to the writer. Unique. Authentic.

Each of our Literature & Writing Discovery Guides is designed to guide students into the art of reading and writing and thinking.  But there is an added bonus, Section 5. Please don’t skip Section 5!

Section 5 sets aside a week to think about, absorb, and apply the story as a whole. The goal of Section 5 of is to create a project to remind readers that stories are gifts that  keep giving.

This project is tied to the story City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. This student used singular words related to the story, themes, and quotes to decorate the outside of a little box. Inside they found an object—a lightbulb vase—and filled it with glow-in-the-dark paint to visually represent the conflict of the story:

What will happen when the generator finally fails?

I love this little project. I love the story City of Ember. The takeaway for this teacher: If we were to reduce writing to mere mechanics, darkness would fall on ideas and we would be sorry readers!

Let then write ideas!

~Kimberly

It thrills us this time of year to know that many students have completed (or are close to completing) the first of their six CORE Blackbird & Company ELA units and are brainstorming ideas for the Section 5 culminating project.

To celebrate this season, click through here to download a FREEbie Section 5 Planning Worksheet.

Section 5 is the week when students get to step outside of the rhythm of reading, contemplating, and journaling and create a project to celebrate the story’s wonder! This project is a throwback to a Blackbird and Company limited edition “Section 5 Kit” tied to City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. We provided the box, a lightbulb shaped jar, black paint, glow-in-the-dark paint, paintbrush, Sharpie, and left the rest to the student’s imagination.

Earth is, of course, being ravaged by a series of apocalyptic events known as the Disaster. Light is one of Ember’s most important resources. Without light, the city will cower in complete darkness. Around the clock darkness. Not good. It is this terror of darkness that drives the story. So when the great lamps that light the city begin to flicker, Lina and Doon have a quest set before them. With blackouts and shortages someone needs to take action! Why not our twelve-year-old protagonists?

For this Section 5 project, the student decorated the outside of the box with juicy words and quotes from the story, painted the inside of the box black represent the problem facing the people of Ember, and poured the glow-in-the-dark paint into the light bulb. Ultimately the little project is an amazing advert!

Now its your turn.

Download the FREE Section 5 Planning Worksheet and get started on your build week.

It’s Section 5 Season!

Our live online sessions meet once a week for five weeks to dive deep into great stories. Each week our exceptional instructors will lead discussion of the reading and offer insight to inspire students to think deeply about the story’s action. Conversing and thinking about books is a terrific spark for original ideas, and original ideas motivate students to write! After the video gathering, your student will submit weekly writing and receive individualized written feedback from the teacher.

Space is limited to 10 students per group. Price includes curriculum.

Enrollment is OPEN click through here!

Welcome to Blackbird & Company! If you’re looking for a fun and inspirational language arts program, we have everything you need. Whether you are in a classroom, a homeschool, or an independent study program, we want to empower you, encourage you, and give you confidence to Take Flight and begin the adventurous journey of literacy with one of our Grade Level Collections.

Kindergarten through 2nd Grade

3rd through 5th Grade

6th through 8th Grade

9th through 12th Grade

Many thanks to our resident artist, Sara!

Would you believe me if I told you that I wrote my first poem when I was six years old? Even when I was in elementary school, I wrote little illustrated verses almost every week. I’d be too embarrassed to share those verses here, but even before I turned seven, writing was my natural outlet for my emotions.

Writing has been to me what reading is to Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird: natural, unconscious, without translation. Breathing. Even when I don’t have the time or inclination—or even when I feel discouraged with my writing—I’ll sense the urge to write poetry as if it were an urge to find air while underwater.

Flash forward from the six-year-old Constance to high school sophomore Constance.

I met Kim sometime after finishing my freshman year of high school—she was Mrs. B. to me then. She was the first writing teacher of mine whom I actually admired. I still remember meeting her for the first time, showing her a couple of my poems, and being stunned by how her suggestion to change one word revolutionized the tone of an entire stanza.

Kim introduced me to the world of submissions, and helped me get published and recognized by various literary journals and contests such as the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards. More importantly, she taught me to value the workshop environment, and constantly championed my decision to become an English major in college.

So that’s where I find myself today—a sophomore English major at USC. My writing-related dreams include studying poetry in Paris, interning at Poets and Writers, Inc., and using my love for words as a human rights lawyer… but that’s all still in the air.

The only thing I can tell you right now that is substantially relevant is that writing, to me, is like breathing.

———————

Constance Chan has interned for Kim since 2011 and has helped develop curriculum with Blackbird & Company Educational Press. Her writing has been recognized by domestic and international journals and contests such as the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards and USC’s Undergraduate Writers’ Conference. She is an English major, human rights minor, and Thematic Option Honors student at the University of Southern California. She is passionate about imagist poetry, breakdancing, and leftover Chinese takeout on those days when you don’t have time to cook dinner.

I LOVE bread. A tradition of making it from scratch is easy to establish. The aroma of this yeasty wonder baking is pure gratitude and a warm slice with butter is a one-of-a-kind head-nodding smile. But home baked bread is more than yummy, it's science! Of course yeast is the agent that makes bread rise and yeast is an interesting thing to study.

Yeast has several crucial roles in bread baking. Yeast is a single celled fungus. How can such a little fungus be so important? Well, yeast is the driving force behind fermentation that allows a big lump of dough to become well risen. Yeast is a living organism that works by consuming sugar and excreting carbon dioxide and alcohol. Fermentation helps to strengthen and develop gluten in dough and also contributes to incredible flavors in bread.

There are three essentials to any bread dough: flour, water, and yeast. As soon as these are stirred together, enzymes in the yeast and the flour cause large starch molecules to break down into simple sugars. The yeast then eats the sugars and exudes a liquid that releases carbon dioxide and alcohol into air bubbles in the dough. It’s just like blowing up bubblegum! The longer fermentation goes on the more it breaks down big molecules in proteins, starches, and fats into their building blocks, so the more flavorful the dough becomes.

There are two basic yeasts that we buy today: active dry yeast and quick rise, or instant yeast. You can use either in a recipe. You just need to mix the active dry yeast with warm, (not hot) water with a pinch of sugar to activate it. Instant yeast can be added directly to the flour with all the other ingredients. This recipe calls for instant yeast and I don’t happen to keep that on hand so I used my active dry, I just added it to the warm water and let it sit for a few minutes until bubbles formed on top which lets me know the yeast is alive. If bubbles don’t form it means your yeast is expired or you killed it with hot water! About 105 degrees is perfect for dissolving yeast.

Flour is an important ingredient in bread making. The higher the quality the better your bread will taste. It’s better to use bread flour rather that all-purpose. Here’s why. Bread flour is milled from hard red spring wheat. It has a higher protein content so it has more gluten and will rise higher. All- purpose flour is great for soft breads like muffins and banana bread. It will give a more tender crumb.

Water is the last basic ingredient so it should be pure as well. If it has too many chemicals in it, that can be hard on the yeast and doesn’t taste good either.

Today I went to my favorite site for bread recipes, King Arthur Flour and found just what I was looking for. It is quite easy…a yummy and satisfying, not to mention educational, Thanksgiving activity for the whole family!

Soft Rolls
4 1/2 plus 2/3 cup bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 large egg whites
¼ cup vegetable oil   
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
3 to 4 tablespoons sesame seeds
 
1. Mix and kneed the dough ingredients-by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle—to make a smooth dough.
 
2. Cover the dough and let rise until it’s noticeably puffy, about 60 to 90 minutes.
 
3. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, deflate it, and divide it into 12 pieces (about 3 1/4 ounces each). Shape into balls.
 
4. Dip the top half of each roll into water, then into the seeds. Place rolls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Press gently to flatten.
 
5. Cover the rolls, and let them rise until puffy, 45 to 60 mins. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 400F.
 
6. Bake the rolls until they’re deep golden brown, 22 to 26 mins. Remove and cool on a rack.

– Sara

After making several recipes with grated lemon rind I was left with a pile of lemons I needed to juice so they wouldn’t spoil. So that led me to a summertime favorite, lemonade!

My children used to make this by the gallon and sell it on our street with homemade brownies.

One year they donated all the proceeds to Samaritan's Purse, getting all the neighborhood kids involved. There were kids running all over the place on bikes taking orders while I banged out batches of brownies to keep up. As soon as our neighbors found out the kids were donating the money, the orders really shot up. What a great opportunity to connect with the community!

The kids brought in almost $150.00! The cutest thing was, the kids all sat in a circle and decided among themselves what to purchase from the catalog, "Should we get goats or soccer balls? Chicks or water treatment?"

It was a soul satisfying experience for them AND no squabbles about how to divide up the proceeds! Yes!

Fresh Lemonade
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup water
1 ½ cups fresh lemon juice
5 cups cold water

Combine the half cup water and sugar in a sauce pan and heat until the sugar just dissolves. Remove from heat and pour in the cold water. Stir in the lemon juice and pour over ice in tall glasses. Add some fresh mint or slices strawberries for color. Enjoy.

Note: This freezes well… yummy popsicles!

– Sara