Creative Writing UIL

Emerald has been in UIL practice--University Interscholastic League--as part of her Advanced Academics program for the last several weeks.

She wanted to do Chess Puzzle, but you have to be a member of the chess team before they let you participate in that category. The only other two available to her age group were Storytelling and Creative Writing. Storytelling is where the children are read a story and have to retell it in their own words. A useful skill to be sure, but it didn't seem like the best fit for Emerald, so I convinced her that Creative Writing would be more fun.

In Creative Writing, the child is given five images and thirty minutes to create a story using any combination of the five pictures. At home, I gave her a journal and encouraged her to write for thirty minutes about anything--it can be a diary entry, a poem, story, prayer, lesson...it doesn't matter what she writes, as long as she is writing every day.

Today, she heard that she got a spot on the team that will actually compete at UIL in January.

She is beyond excited. She kept saying, "I hoped the judges would like my story, but I never believed I would be chosen!" I didn't even know they were deciding yet, but I am so proud of her.

This is the story she wrote; forgive spelling and punctuation. I transcribed it exactly (minus the pictures) so that I could remember how she wrote it :)



Original: The Little Rainbow

There was a little rainbow who wanted to explore the world. She wanted to ride the waves. She wanted to hide in the trees. And she woud get the reward to be the first rainbow who travled the world. Her friends called her Janice. Well, they woud,  if Janice had any friends. Heres her problem. She wants to travle the world, right? but she can't. All she can do one thing: make kids happy after a rainy day. She just watchs the kids jump rope in the puddles.but wait. theirs more! When she peeks in a window she see's little girls laghing and criating funny puzzles. then thair was this girl named Josifina, it's pronounced like this ho-si-fee-na. She has a spanish name. One day she went out to cut some leaves. then she met Janice. So Josifina cut her off the grass, and helped her travle the world. It was wonderful! She rode the waves. She hid in the trees. And last but not least, she won a medle and a trophy for being the first rainbow to travle the world but she wasn't satisfide. So she gave her trophy to Josifina.
"The only thing I like doing more then travleing," she said, "is Giving!"
"Your my best friend, Janice." said Josifina. And she gave Janice a big hug. Janice was finaly the happyest rainbow in the entire land. that was because she was the first rainbow to have a best friend.

Eprolage

Janice and Josifina made other freinds and went to girl scouts. When they grew up, they married and had babies. Josifina had twins and a girl, Aurora, Prinie, and Angle. Janice had give babies, Lovly, Goodly, Sam, Jumbo, and Jumbo two. It was no doubt that they were the happyest ladies in the land. Or maybe even the galexy. They were happyer then a elf.