We believe that the teaching of writing is significantly strengthened if teachers write for themselves and with others. In writing for ourselves we make discoveries about what we can and cannot do, how writing works for us, how we get ourselves out of scrapes and into things that matter to us. And we find ways … Continue reading
A pair of educators, passionate about writing and reading. We are forever plotting projects designed to celebrate English, the language and the literature. We want children and teachers to discover for themselves how reading and writing, talk and drama have an important place in their lives. We would like everyone to be able to take … Continue reading Who are we?
It won't surprise you to know that we both love to read as well as write. In fact, in each of our houses we are subject to the same problem - there are little (or sometimes very large) piles of books teetering on tables, lurking underneath things and balancing on armrests. One of the best … Continue reading Character theft
Things, everyday things, bring us into a place, a time, even a feeling. Ordinary everyday things can bring a piece of writing alive. That is one reason we often ask you to think of list of objects, names of people and places. What we’d like you to do today is to think of materials -things like … Continue reading Stuff
Where would we be without our hands? When I have lots of things to think about, I always find that I suddenly need to keep my hands busy to somehow help my mind work through all my thoughts. I often knit or crochet or just stroke my dog's fluffy tummy. Throughout the day, we turn … Continue reading These are my hands
Last week we heard the Loch Ness monster’s song. This week I thought we could try our hand at translation. I came across these lines in a book of poems by one of my favourite poets, Naomi Shihab Nye: ‘I used to translate what a hen said. Little kids believed me. I looked deep into … Continue reading Translations
Here is my knitted watering can, unsuccessfully watering the first geranium to flower in my garden. I love my knitted watering can because I love all things which are knitted and I have owned this watering can for a long time. But earlier I suddenly looked at it in a different way and realised how … Continue reading Peculiar inventions
It is another day for playing with words, for making them up, for creating new sounds. Here’s a link to a poem by Edwin Morgan called ‘The Loch Ness Monster’s Song’. You can find it at the Scottish Poetry Library website. https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/loch-ness-monsters-song/ Edwin Morgan imagined the song of the Loch Ness monster. He made up … Continue reading If we could hear things sing.
Find a photograph from somewhere around your house. You might have a physical photograph or it might be on a computer or phone, it doesn’t matter. Now, think really carefully because I want you to write in as much detail as possible about everything that happened up until the moment that the photograph was taken. … Continue reading One moment please
Take Away the A is an alphabet book with a difference. It really is a game to play with words. How does a word change if you take away one letter? “Without the A the beast is best.” Michael Escoffier and the illustrator Kris Di Giacomo have had fun changing words and drawing a picture of … Continue reading Take Away the A
Writing Box 