"Morning and Evening Skies"

The picture collage of morning and evening skies above is a sample collection of Alyssa Jamela Dadayan's acryllic paintings. She's a competitive swimmer who trains for hours and hours, then relaxes by painting. Sometimes, she also writes poems. She was a former student of mine; and I am delighted that she's given me the permission to post this picture in this blog.

When I Was Seven

by Paolo Kalalo

(With permission to republish from the author; originally published on FB, April 22, 2015. He's a former student of Ms. Anna Cajator Asuncion. 

This is an excellent example of a narrative, autobiographical poem.)

When I was 7
I went to a new school
they made fun of my shirt
I thought myself a fool

My happy self was gone
You couldn’t deny it.
Starting that day,
I became a little quiet.

When I was 13,
My family moved to a new country,
So much I wasn’t used to,
Everything new around me.

Still that quiet kid on the surface,
Peachy isn’t a word I would use.
School was shitty, homesickness too
I hated life’s abuse.

One day, to my expense
A bully had a good time
That was the day
I tried to end my life.

As you can tell,
That plan didn’t quite work,
So instead I found a hobby,
An escape for a recluse.

Little did I know,
What I did to escape,
Would one day become
My little red cape.

Slowly I found out
I wasn’t all that weak,
And in time I rediscovered
The power to speak.

Slowly but surely,
I was getting out of my shell,
All the more having the courage,
to love myself.

The more I lived
The more that was said
The more I started to think
“Hey, I’m not half bad.”

Time goes on,
I make my fair share of friends,
High school is over,
But this is hardly the end

That little red cape,
Which stayed with me throughout
Made me a survivor,
and full of love, Inside and out.

In a short amount of time
I found my rhythm and rhyme,
I found quality people,
And can now call them mine.

I love the life I live
And the person I have become
Every day is a gift
And I’m glad to have this one.

Now the point of this piece
Isn’t to recap the past,
It’s about saying something
That’ll hopefully last

Obstacles are made to be overcome
Barriers are meant to be broken.
You decide your own potential
With every action done, every word spoken.

From someone that thought 
he was a failure to a fighter,
Broken to alive
Know that you're priceless,
Don’t fall for doubt’s lies.

So are you worth life, love
and all the endless stars?
To keep it short, simple, and sweet
The answer is yes, you are.

Stellaluna? Stellaluna! Who are you?

3rd Session
Creative Writing Class for Kids
April 25, 2015
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StellaLuna is a BAT?

http://www.storylineonline.net/stellaluna/


Good morning! Rise and shine!

We'll begin our third session by watching a read-aloud of Stellaluna. Then we'll do a dramatic reading ourselves. 


The biggest task of the day is making a dummy of a picture storybook. 

First, we'll talk about lines, shapes, colors, and other visual elements. Then we'll look at several picture storybooks to understand that big concept called, "lay-out."

And then, we'll do a class dummy of a picture book.

Finally, each of us will make our own picture storybooks.

Who knows? One of us is the next Eric Carle!

Kids Deconstruct Anthony Browne's "Voices in the Park"

2nd Session
Creative Writing Class for Kids
Saturday, April 18, 2015

We read. We wrote. We chatted. We listened. We laughed. We fought. We cried. We made peace.

Lucas was very firm about making peace. No matter what the problem was, his Ninja warriors and generals must make peace in the end. 

Our second session last Saturday, April 18, 2015 was more than just a creative writing class. It was a lesson on empathy with the different voices in Anthony Browne's park and most of all, with the different voices of the children in the class.

We began our session with a 10-minute sustained silent reading. It was Kat who chose to read Voices in the Park. Afterwards, she chose the last frame as her favorite picture and WOW sentence.

"When I got home I put the flower in some water, and made Dad a nice cup of cocoa."  

(Note: If you haven't read Voices in the Park, do find a copy.)

Kat definitely doesn't know about last frames. She made an instinctive choice. I asked her why she liked the last frame. She told me, "Well, it was really nice of Charles to give Smudge a flower. And it was nice of Smudge to put the flower in some water and to make cocoa for her Dad."

I  asked again, "What does the flower symbolize?" I was afraid that symbolize was too big a word. 

But Kat repeated the word and said, "I think the flower symbolizes that there will be another flower." 

I stopped asking questions by saying, "So there's hope."

And Kat said nonchalantly, "Ah-huh."

Charles, the third voice in the story, is a lonely boy gorilla. He's the son of the first voice, a domineering Mrs. Gorilla. Smudge is a happy girl gorilla. The fourth voice, she's the daughter of Mr. Gorilla, the second voice.

To check on whether the kids were getting the hang of the story, I asked why the title of the book is Voices in the Park. 

"Whose is the first voice?" I prompted. Lucas promptly said, "Mrs. Gorilla!" And Kat said, "The second voice is Mr. Gorilla."

"So why is the title Voices in the Park?"

Sam said, "It shows the different sides of the story."

I'll tell you about our crying episode next time. 

Speaking to Learn: Kat and Lucas Chats, Laughs, Problem-Solves, Negotiates, etc.!

The children had been assigned to write and illustrate a comic strip. Individually. 

It was the first session of our Creative Writing Class for Kids last April 11, 2015. But Kat and Lucas wanted to work together. And they got the go-signal to do so.

Are they disobedient? Disruptive? Of course not. They're creative!

But they were "noisy."  The other kids who were working individually and quietly were irritated. Solution? I told Kat and Lucas to work in another corner of the room. Not a solution; they were still "noisy."

Better solution? I asked someone to lift the kiddy table and take it just outside our classroom which has a glass door. 

So we all worked in peace. 

Kat and Lucas actually had a blast while working together. They chatted away, laughed, solved their little clashes and their characters' problems, negotiated, divided the work between them, and completed four frames with dialogue and color illustration!

Lesson Learned? Some young children's learning style is cooperative and interactive. They speak to learn.

Ever Heard of the School for Good and Evil?

When Sam told me that her favorite book is School for Good and Evil, I knew there's something new for me to learn. I asked Sam to tell me about her favorite book.

It seems that in that school, witches go to the School for Evil and princesses go to the School for Good. But one witch and one princess went to the wrong school.

Quite an intriguing proposition, isn't it?

Sam will bring her favorite book on our second session, Saturday, April 18, 2015. 

Our Creative Writing Class will have a really interesting session this Saturday. See you all! 

What If Cinderella Met the Holy Family?

As the children writers were imagining a plot, Bella blurted out that her favorite character is Cinderella and she wants to make her "fall" into her book of Bible stories, just like Herb fell into the Goldilocks book with the three bears.

One child said, "That's impossible! There are no princes and queens and kings in the Bible."

Another child said, "Oh, yes, there are. Queen Esther, for example."

I said, "That's going to be really interesting! Cinderella "falling" into the Bible."

By the way, Herb is the main character in the book, "Who's afraid of the big bad book?" Herb "fell" into Goldilock's book and Goldilocks chased him away!

Would the Holy Family chase away Cinderella?