It was a day in early October when Mrs. Katherine Owen first introduced the concept of writing a whole novel in one month to her advanced language arts sixth-grade students.
Sixth-Graders Write a Novel
By Chagrin Falls Intermediate School Sixth-Grade Students Sofia DeLaCruz and Marie Cain
It was a day in early October when Mrs. Katherine Owen first introduced the concept of writing a whole novel in one month to her advanced language arts sixth-grade students. The students were surprised.
“Considering that most novels take months and even years to write, it seemed like a huge feat that I was not going to be able to accomplish,” said student Eveleen Malley.
The students were going to work with the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Program. With each step of planning, the goal of writing a novel got closer. In October, students created settings, fascinating characters, interesting conflicts and meaningful themes for their stories. Each student set a personal overall goal for how many words they wanted to write in the month of November. The word count goals ranged from 15,000 to 30,000 words. The NaNoWriMo website counted words and tracked students’ progress each day. It also let them know what their daily average needed to be in order to reach their goal by the end of the month and finish their novel.
For many of the students in Mrs. Owen’s classes, this was one of the most challenging academic assignments they had ever done.
“Mrs. Owen encouraged us through the whole thing. She reminded us that the most important element for this project is grit,” said student Marie Cain.
Student Sofia DeLaCruz agreed, “Mrs. Owen often talks about how grit is key for anything you do. She describes it as persevering and working hard, even when it gets tough,” said DeLaCruz.
The students had many tools for overcoming writer’s block. One example was the tool on the NaNoWriMo website called the dare machine. When you press the button, it gives you an element to add to your novel, similar to a writing prompt. Another tool was the deck of cards at every table. They all had suggestions about things students could add to their novels. All the students had to apply grit to write their novels and meet their word count goals.
Once the students completed their novels at the end of November, there was a party to celebrate their hard work. Every one of the participants received certificates for their novels. The students sent in their first sentences for the “first sentence contest” and author Mara Purhagen helped judge. Mrs. Owen explained that the first sentence of a novel is very important because it is the first impression the reader has on the book. It can grab their attention and give them an idea of how the story will be written.
The young novelists also competed in a “last sentence contest,” judged by Mara Purhagen. Mrs. Owen explained that the last sentence is also very important because it is what the reader remembers from the story. This helped the novelists to begin and finish strong.
Mrs. Owen hung a poster on her wall with the names of all her students on it. Students got to put a sticker on the poster every time they reached another ten percent to their word count goal.
“What I will always remember about NaNoWriMo is writing a real novel even though at the beginning it seemed really hard but with every single new percent you got, it seemed a little less hard,” said student Ellis Kruchko.
Documenting their progress was encouraging for the students.
“The best part was the relief and joy you got when you hit a milestone or wrote 1,500 words,” said student Ari Zimmerman.
Currently, students are turning their novels into video games. This is an activity Mrs. Owen thought her novelists could do for Hour of Code, a program that encourages students to code.
Mrs. Owen’s students all agreed that NaNoWriMo was a great opportunity because it gave students the experience of planning a novel, writing towards a deadline, and perfecting their revising and editing skills. They were able to use their creativity and imagination while practicing perseverance and grit.
Fifth-Graders Challenged to Make Largest Tetrahedron
Students in Chagrin Falls Intermediate School Teacher Polly Mitchell’s STRETCH/PLT (Personalized Learning Time) class is reading a novel, “All of the Above” by Shelly Pearsall. The story begins by weaving together a bunch of misfit middle school students who have a teacher with little hope and a challenge to build the world’s largest tetrahedron. Mitchell’s students were confronted with the task to build the first level of a nine-level tetrahedron.
“Students loved discussing higher-level geometry shapes and the human spirit that rises from these unlikely friends in the book,” said Mitchell.
