Memoirs

In Language Arts this week, we studied memoirs.

In Reading:

We read three different memoirs:
1. Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh by Robert Burleigh
2. My brother Martin: A Sister Remembers--Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Christine King Farris
3. Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story by Cynthia Rylant

We took notes on the books and the author's writing style. Then, we took notes on "What We Noticed About Memoirs."

In Writing:

We read the first chapter of Ralph Fletcher's book, A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You. We discussed "Unforgettable Stories" and how those stories can be the memories that spark our own memoir. The kids brainstormed a list of some of their favorite memories, and one of those will develop into their own memoir.

Elliot already started drafting his. He crafted his title much the way the authors of the memoirs we read crafted theirs. His title is "My Friend: A Pilot Story." It begins like this: "It was a dark morning when my dad woke my sister and I up at three o'clock. . . "

YaYa decided upon a memory, but realized that she might not have enough detail to create an effective memoir, so she's revisiting her list.

They are "being real writers"--making decisions, experimenting, conferring with each other. . .

They have a "Travel WNB (Writer's Notebook)" with them on their trip to Maine (there for a week with their dad--his whole family is there). They know to jot down anything that might lead to a piece of writing later--airport, airplane, time with grandparents and 9 cousins, fishing, hiking, clamming. . . there are a lot of stories "brewing" in Maine!