Time-to-Write Tuesdays

Tuesdays in my classroom are ALL about writing....and the Time to WRITE!

My students write Slices of Life every Tuesday... EVERY TUESDAY. (Okay, so that one Tuesday, we didn't because we had a test...) so today it was Time to WRITE!

And Tuesdays are not Monday's... The first, modeled practice and brainstorming work has laid the foundation for today, TUESDAY! and thus, Time to WRITE!

But this Tuesday is special. Today, is October 15th. It's halfway through October. If you look at a school calendar, that's only two weeks away from NOVEMBER... which means:

It's NANOWRIMO AGAIN! Time to WRITE!

What's NANOWRIMO, you ask? 
                                     
                                           It's NONSTOP writing.
                                   It's AWAKENING a dream that's been stuck inside your head. 
                                 It's a NOVEL in the works.
                         It's giving OWNERSHIP to your writing.
                              It's the WRITER breaking through.
It's about setting goals and REACHING them.
                           It's about IGNITING the young writer (and the older ones too!)
                                 It's a MANUSCRIPT at the end. 
                               100% ORIGINAL!
And it's all yours, 
created by you, 
written by you-- 
It's a Novel you've Written in a Month!
                                              by Juliann Caveny

Basically, NANOWRIMO stands for "National Novel Writing Month". This will be my fifth year participating and the fifth year with a group of students participating.

For now, I finished the "big" planning. We have a theme: "20,000 Words or More in 2013!-An Undersea Adventure!", a group totem: A SQUID! (Ink and all...) and all our after school and Saturday dates set on the calendar.

Between now and then, I need to find my own writing focus, help the students create log-ins, print the manuals and gather the necessary materials that have helped to make this after school project such a success. To say I'm excited, is an understatement!

I know my junior high and high school writers are ready to start. Keep in mind, you don't have to participate in NANOWRIMO to create something original in writing. Half the battle is starting! NANOWRIMO gives my students and I the "framework" of routine and a goal for us to work towards. So far, it's worked!

Have you set aside your Time to WRITE??? If not, consider joining us!

To learn more about NANOWRIMO and the NANOWRIMO Young Writer's Club, follow the links. I'll occasionally post about the progress my students and I make.