Writing

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Dear Year 4,

How sad a time it was when families had to hide in shelters and hope they and their homes would survive. I've prepared some sound effects from my collection. Let's go on a journey back in time using a little fiction writing. Click on the clips below to hear the sounds (there aren't any moving pictures) then read the words underneath as I tell you a short story.

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Mum came running into our rooms at the sound of the air raid siren. She woke Molly and me and told us we had to go to our shelter. Molly insisted on taking her doll.

We stumbled outside. We could hear the sounds of planes approaching in the night sky. Lights from searchlights were already scanning the sky hoping to lock onto one of the planes. We had no time to watch. We had to get to shelter dad had built when he was on leave. He'd made us practise what to do.

Molly was scared, "Are bombs coming again?"

Okay, I was scared too but I didn't want to worry mum. We had our routine. We would try singing some songs and telling stories, anything to try and help us think about good things.

 

The sounds of bombs started, at first distant but one seemed to hit close. We felt the ground shake and I screamed in surprise. Mum said it was okay, the big one was a long way off. I wasn't so sure.

As we huddled together, the sound of bombs started to fade. We waited for the "all clear" to come. We had no idea how long we had been in the shelter. We didn't even know what time we came in.

With the long sound of the "all clear", we knew it was safe to come out. The sky was already growing light so we knew morning had come. Above we saw some planes but we knew they were ours. They were probably Spitfires or Hurricanes chasing the bombers away.

We went back into our house. Everything was safe, except one of mum's vases. It must have fallen when we felt the ground shake.

We walked out onto the street. Most of our neighbours had done the same. Our street was safe.

In the distance, we could hear the sound of bells from a fire engine. Someone hadn't been so lucky.

 

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For the original Year 4 class post....
Year 4's post

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Original Post...

Biographical Bonanza

Dear sirs, madams and colonials,

I see a number of American colonials have already written to you, all from my future. What strange world there must be when we can speak from your long past.

It is the year of our Lord, 1771. I have just returned from a successful journey around the world although there were times all might have been lost. I share with you some of my experiences.

The Royal Society requested service from the Admiralty. Their scientists wanted to observe the transit of the planet Venus across the face of the sun. They had determined the viewing would be most clear from the Tahitian isles on 3 June, 1769. They called on me, Lieutenant James Cook, to take command of His Majesty’s Ship, Endeavour. She is a fine ship. She had started her days as a coaler along the coast of England but had been refitted for our journey. It was in the admiralty’s wisdom to grant me freedom of movement once we were done in Tahiti.

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We departed England in 26 August, 1768 with 94 souls on board and provisions for 18 months. I had chosen a course around Cape Horn, the shortest route to Tahiti, arriving on 13 April, 1769. We awaited the transit. I will share from the ship’s log…

“Saturday 3 rd This day prov'd as favourable to our purpose as we could wish, not a Clowd was to be seen the Whole day and the Air was perfectly clear, so that we had every advantage we could desire in Observing the whole of the passage of the Planet Venus over the Suns disk: we very distinctly saw an Atmosphere or dusky shade round the body of the Planet which very much disturbed the times of the contacts particularly the two internal ones. D r Solander observed as well as M r Green and my self, and we differ'd from one another in observeing the times of the Contacts much more than could be expected.”

Once our observations were complete, I opened sealed orders given by the Admiralty. I had been tasked to find the land to the south known as Terra Australis, hitherto of unknown quantity. Thoughts of riches from the new land had been on mind.

We set sail from Tahiti along an approximate course south-west. A Tahitian had with knowledge of these waters provided us with information of lands once seen by Abel Tasman in 1642. On 6 October, 1769 we reached the islands of New Zealand whereupon I set to task mapping the islands’ coastlines.

From these waters, I was determined to prove once and for all there was no great southern continent. I headed westward hoping to find Van Diemen’s Land (I think you more modern folk call it Tasmania) but bad weather hit on 19 April, 1770. It was the next morning Lieutenant Zachary Hicks sighted land. I named the point of land after the Lieutenant.

To the south, the sea looked empty. I thought this was strange because Abel Tasman’s logs suggested I should see Van Dieman’s Land. The coast we found was not on any charts. With the weather clear, we had a good view of the coast as we headed north. It was 22 April when we sighted people on the land through our telescopes. They appeared dark of skin.

As we continued our voyage north, we had times of bad weather. On 29 April we took our ship into a large bay. Seeing natives on the beach, we tried to make contact but they didn’t speak a language we understood and had tried throwing spears at us with no success. We tried leaving beads and trinkets for them but they avoided us as we explored the area. Perhaps we had broken one of their laws so they wouldn’t meet with us. We did have clashes with them at times but no one had been hurt.

We found two streams and, although the soil was sandy, we saw some fine meadows that might be good for farming. Joseph Banks, our botanist, and Dr Solander, our naturalist, collected many specimens in their explorations. One species unknown to us seemed to be of the honeysuckle family. It was named after Banks and was called banksia.

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One of our crew had been ailing and had died while we were at anchor. Forby Sutherland was buried on May 1 on the shores of the bay we named Botany Bay. May God rest his soul.

Again sailing north, we saw a bay which might be a good anchorage. I named it Port Jackson although I think you modern folk now call it Sydney Harbour. Day after day we continued our journey north. Many nights I spent in my cabin working on charts of the coastline.

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We eventually reached tropical waters. There were plenty of waterfowl to hunt, mussels and large pearl oysters on rocks and fish to be caught. As we continued north, we saw islands to our east. I knew we would have to watch our depth lest we end up on a reef.

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On June 10, the depth under our ship was 15 fathoms as I retired for the night but by the morning, the depth suddenly fell from 14 to 8 fathoms. I ordered all hands to their stations. Our next cast found a depth of 21 fathoms. At 11pm the man at the lead called 17 fathoms but, before we could take another depth, our ship struck a reef. I ordered crew to boats. We needed to haul off the reef before the tide fell. We needed to lighten our ship so we cast overboard unneeded items, including six ship’s guns.

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At 10:20 pm on 12 June, we finally freed Endeavour from the reef. Our battle was not over as water poured in through the holed hull. Sail and packing was used to stem the flow. So far from home, if our ship was lost so were we.

We searched for a safe anchorage to effect repairs. On 18 June we found a safe place to effect repairs at a river near a town you modern folk now call Cooktown. It took six weeks to make repairs. Timber needed to be cut and nails made. It was during this time hunting parties were sent out. We saw strange animals hopping across the land.

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It was 6 August when we were finally able to set sail. We kept watch for further reefs and would send out a boat ahead to take depths. Huge seas threatened to throw us on the reefs on 16 August. I decided to keep the ship close to shore. If we were to be holed again, we could make land.

Our journey had now taken us into seas seen by the Spaniard Torres. If his records were true, we would come to a strait as indeed we did. We landed on a beach after passing through this strait. It was here I raised the flag and claimed the eastern half of New Holland in the name of His Majesty, King George III. I named this land New South Wales although I have heard you modern folk have divided it into smaller states with only a central portion keeping my naming.

I considered this land suitable for settlement.

Our journeyed continued west with a stop over in Batavia (you call it Indonesia now). From Batavia we headed a course WSW, rounding Cape of Good Hope before heading into the Atlantic and north to fair England on 13 July, 1771 where I was promoted to the rank of Commander.

I must leave you now as I have a meeting with the Admiralty to discuss a new voyage back to the southern seas.

Commander James Cook

Royal Navy

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I hope James Cook didn't mind me including some photos of a replica of his Endeavour. It is in Eden Harbour, about 20km fom here,  till Monday, May 14th. He didn't have access to cameras.

References used....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook

Discovery series by Marcia McEwan

@RossMannell

Teacher, NSW, Australia

Original post for the School of puns...

SCHOOL OF PUNS

Hello Falcon Girls and the School of Puns,

When I saw a link to the latest Cartoon Caption Comp using a beautiful picture drawn by India, I wondered what pun I could write. I'm just a little outside the top of the age range (but I was 13 once back in the 1960s) so my entry doesn't really count.

Firstly I considered what a pun really was. A pun is a play on words. We use words in a way one might not normally expect. As an example...

A man poked himself in the eye with his souvenir from Paris. He had an Eiffel of tower.

Okay, it's not a great example but it's getting late at night down here in Australia but I think you get the idea. Puns can be hard to write, the short stories I write on one of my blogs are much easier but I saw India's drawing and thought I would try.

I've reproduced India's drawing here in case a reader wants to see the picture to match my pun. I hope India doesn't mind.

A girl was being abducted by aliens.

Her experience was out of this world.

Puns may be hard to write but some people seem to excel at the unusual form of joke. I have seen some of the current entries and can see there are some developing pun specialists out there.

Keep on punning.

@RossMannell     Teacher, NSW, Australia

• 4 Comments

Link to the original 4KM and 4KJ post...

Family Blogging Afternoon

Hello 4KM and 4KJ,

Your Family Blogging Afternoon looks like it was fun and informative. From the introduction, care of a Skype session with Mrs. Yollis, to the interactions of students and their special person, it looks like a very valuable session.

Congratulations to Riley and his dad, Ashley, in 4KM, and Kadyn and his mum, Tracey, in 4KJ. Being selected as winners of the challenge shows how good your teams were at blogging.

Now for your questions...

How did you like the Family Blogging Afternoon? Who did you invite?

This made me think, if I were to be part of a Family Blogging Afternoon, whom would I ask?

Perhaps my older brother, Robert, if he had time. He is a researcher and lecturer in linguistics at Macquarie University. He is working on ways of improving artificial hearing as in the Cochlea Implant.

Then there is my younger brother, Phillip. He has been a nurse but now works as a property valuer in Canberra and is writing a novel based around my Great Uncle Ernie who was killed in WWI.

Maybe I would ask my eldest niece. Kristy started as a high school English teacher this year but hopes to return to university to continue her English Literature studies.

Then there is my nephew, Reuben. He has taken a break from university and is working in an IT support role in a company.

My youngest niece, Tara, is studying costume design at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts) in Sydney. She designs and makes clothing and hopes to work for a theatre or ballet company.

Then there are all of my cousins with very different careers, many now retired, some now great grandparents. Families can be very large. 🙂

When we think about it, there are many we could ask. Each would bring their talents and contributions to such a wonderful afternoon.

 

What do you like about blogging?

I only started blogging a little less than a year ago but I now have five blogs, two very active. I had joined Twitter early last year and saw a link to a school blog in England. I was fascinated to see what a class in England was doing so I clicked the link and found myself looking at work from children almost on the other side of the world. I quickly became hooked on the idea of commenting and realised I could be supportive of students anywhere in the world through blogging.

Clicking on one link, I found I had to join a blog provider in order to comment. After joining and making a comment on the class blog, I kept on being invited to set up a blog.

As I had designed some websites before I learnt of blogging, I knew some html coding and how to set out pages. I found it very easy to set to set up a blog and modify it. I also found I could register it as a website for a low annual fee and so http://rossmannell.com was born. It has become my story writing blog and now has had over 5000 visitors. That’s something I find hard to believe.

Blogging, for me, is a way of sharing with a world of schools and classes. It’s a way I can be part of classes and support students often very far away. Now I no longer teach full time or have a class of my own, it’s a way I can still support the education of others. Blogging and commenting has become a passion.

What tips would you give to new bloggers?

 

The first and most important tip is to have a go. Sometimes people are held back because of a fear others mightn’t like what they post or people might think them dumb. It’s true, there are some people out there who only want to criticise others but you will find the majority of people are supportive. For younger users, there is always comment moderation. A trusted adult checks on comments before they are allowed on the blog.

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The second is to make posts. There is no use setting up a blog if you don’t intend making regular posts. While people may enjoy what you write, they will stop visiting your blog if nothing new appears.

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The third is to visit other blogs. It’s not only polite to visit a blog of someone who regularly visits your blog, it’s also an opportunity to add comments to another person’s blog. When you do this and possibly add a link to your blog in the comment, the other person is more likely to visit and comment on your blog.

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The fourth is to be positive in comments. I like to look for the good things in a persons post and highlight these in my comments. When I am in my role as a member of the 100 Word Challenge Team  (Team 100WC), I also make suggestions of how a student’s writing might be improved. I never say their writing is bad. They have taken the time to share their ideas and I appreciate what they do and know they’re doing their best.

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The fifth would be to reply to anyone who leaves a comment on your blog. I try to write a reply on my blog to any comments left. This can sometimes take up a reasonable part of my day. Any comment left on my story blog gets a reply thanking them for commenting. I always add a little extra in my reply to acknowledge what they have written.

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The sixth tip is one I don’t always use due to lack of time. In your comments, ask questions of the person who wrote the blog if you want to carry on a discussion with them. Questions invite the person to answer you. My longest discussion in this way was with a 17 year-old student in the USA. She was studying political science. One comment led to a reply then another comment. We had six to eight exchanges in all. Each of us had complex ideas in our comments. Writing to a 17 year-old student is very different to writing to a 7 year-old student. 🙂

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Going back to tip one, I was once asked by someone who had a choice to make in her life, “Do you think I should?”

She was making an important choice in life about her career.

I replied, “If you don’t take a chance because you’re afraid it may not work, you may end up regretting it for the rest of your life. By taking the chance, it may not work but at least you can say you tried.’

Blogging is like that. Take a chance and see how much you can gain.

@RossMannell

Teacher, NSW, Australia

• 2 Comments

Original 2/1 Class post link...

http://roydon21classes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/backwoods-billy-baxter.html#comment-form

Hello everyone,

Sometimes I enjoy a post so much I just have to comment but occasionally my comments grow too big for the comments page on the post or I want to share photos, videos or audios I think might be interesting. This happened with your post. It was so interesting.

Your ideas for Backwoods Billy Baxter are wonderful.

I have seen some scientists use heat sensitive cameras which take photos as something passes but they might be expensive. Leaving food out for animals is a great lure. Hiding cameras nearby might be a good way to record animals. As I only have one camera, I wouldn't want to risk it but it looks like Backwoods Billy Baxter has a few.

I like to film or record the sounds of animals here in Australia and know it can be hard but I think I would also need help if I were to try to film in England as I don't know the area well. Here is a little of what I have been able to record in Australia.

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I was making a DVD for a friend who has written some children's books about animals. One of her stories was about a lyrebird. I thought it would be a good idea to record the sound of a male lyrebird singing. The male lyrebirds mostly copy the calls of other birds but can copy all sorts of sounds.

Over a three month period, I made more than a dozen trips into the nature reserve to try to record the song of a lyrebird. Here is what I was finally able to record when I was able to get close to a male lyrebird without being seen...

Schools and students have permission to use this video/audio clip for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Most of the time, I might stumble upon an animal and be able to take a photo before they disappear into the trees. Here are some photos.

Blue-tongue lizard

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goanna

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Eastern grey kangaroo

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Koala  (male)

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Kookaburra

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Magpie

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Pelican

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Wombat

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A link to Charlotte's short story...

http://y4haworthprimary2011.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/the-dragon/

Hello Charlotte,

Oh, very well done! You build the suspense so well as the boys enter the cave then you add a little twist that made me laugh, the dragon ran away scared of the boys. It seems the dragon was really a softie.

Your story reminded me a little of a gentle, invisible dragon named Elliot and his friend Pete. They were in a 1977 movie entitled, "Pete's Dragon". I've found a link on a movie database if you are permitted to take a look. It shows images of Elliot and even includes some clips from the film...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076538/

Pete's Dragon was around when I started teaching. My first full time school was in an isolated place way out in western New South Wales (my state). A new wall had been built and I decided to paint a cartoon character on it. If you look at the photo of that school below, on the right you can see a wall with a dragon. That's Elliot.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Thank you for sharing your short story. 🙂

@RossMannell

Teacher, NSW, Australia

• 5 Comments

Ellie wrote a wonderful story about a rose who had written a scary story. I thought she might like a graphic of a rose character for story. She has three colour versions to choose from.

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Hello Maha,

I thought you might be interested in some photos and information I have about the Harry Potter films. I gathered some of the photos and information while I was in the United Kingdom in 2010.

 

This is Kings Cross Station in London. It's the railway station used in the Harry Potter films when Harry had to catch the train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the first film you see Harry and Hagrid crossing a bridge over the platforms. When I was there I couldn't cross it as they were starting to pull it down.

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Do you recognise the next photo?

The Platform 9 3/4 sign from the movie was stored in the National Railway Museum in York. It had hung on the platform at Kings Cross Station.

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While in London, I looked for signs of dragons but the next photo was the closest I could find.

Maybe Harry could cast a spell and bring the dragon to life.

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Did you know the Australian High Commission building, known as Australia House, in London was the original Gringott's Bank?

Sites all around England and Scotland were used in the film.

 

Look at the next photo. Do you know this railway station?

This is Goathland station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Whenever Harry travelled by the Hogwarts Express, he ended up at this station, said to be the closest to Hogwarts. In the films, it was known as Hogsmeade.

 

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Now look at the next photo.

This is a photo of part of Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. It wasn't used in the films but doesn't it remind you of Hogwarts? Like this castle, Hogwarts was high up on a mountain top. It's thought by some J. K. Rowling created Hogwarts using ideas from buildings around Edinburgh.

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To see all of the United Kingdom sites used in the films would take a long time but at least I was able to see some. 🙂

• 2 Comments

Dear Sasha, Mia, Sammy and Parsa,

Your post is wonderful. While I have never written a cartoon book, your guidelines would help me. I do like cartooning and often draw cartoons for children when I help our school holiday playgroup. My favourite characters to draw are animal characters. Here is one of my oldest characters if you are interested...

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Have you ever written a book? Tell us about it.

I have written some books but none have ever been published. The last story I had time to write was over 48,000 words and was entitled, "Samuel Samantha". It was about a boy called Samuel, although he prefers to be called, Sam. When his parents witness a crime, he has to pretend to be a girl in this story. He doesn't face any real danger but he finds some of his ideas about girls change. He realises a girl can also be a best friend. 🙂

What steps did I take?

Perhaps I am a little different in that I don’t write down ideas for a story first. I tend to develop the ideas in my imagination then start to write out the story. When I start typing, I can often write a few thousands words within a day. It’s as though I am seeing the story in my mind and type what I see.

“Samuel Samantha” was just like that. I wondered what would happen if a boy about eight had to pretend to be a girl. The first step was to decide why this would happen then what events would happen as he took on the role. As I like a story with some sort of message, the story had to end with Sam learning something.

No matter what I have written, the next steps take longest, even longer than the writing itself. I have to edit the story…

1. I check for spelling or punctuation errors. It’s so easy to make them when you are typing quickly.
2. I need to make sure characters are the same throughout the story. Imagine if a boy named John is a man in the next chapter even though only a day has passed.
3. I look for tense errors. If I am recalling a story from the past, it shouldn’t suddenly be the future.
4. I read and reread the story just in case there are errors in consistency of the storyline. I need to know each chapter follows on from the one before so the whole story makes sense.
5. I reread again. It’s strange but I am never completely happy with a story I’ve written.
6. Finally, I decide it’s time to stop. That can be as hard as all of the editing but a writer must stop at some time.

I’ve probably left some things out but I think you get the idea. My problem is, when I decided “Samuel Samantha” was done, I was sad because Sam and his friends had become important to me and I knew my adventure with them was over.

@RossMannell