News from KLRN Education

Let's Write in 2012
Yvonne Yates

Director of School Services, KLRN

William Wordsworth said, “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” Every New Year’s Eve many of us make a list of our goals, plans and resolutions for the new year. We write them down and post them somewhere around the house and if you are anything like me by March they are nowhere to be found. This process of writing down our ideas and forgetting about it is much like the dozens of stories that students begin to write and then forget about. Many times these wonderful ideas start in a draft but are not taken through the full writing process.

In the last few decades, the written word has been lost to some extending with the coming of age of text messaging and emails. Laugh out loud is LOL and back in five has been shortened to BI5. My last year in the classroom this change in our use of language became apparent when a student wrote “BION I BIOMN.” My curiosity got the best of me and I called the student over and asked her what this meant. She said in a very matter a fact voice, “Duh, Ms. Yates. It’s “Believe it or not I blow it out my nose.” This made sense as she was talking about drinking milk while her sister told her a joke. I explained to the student that we needed to write out all the words. She did not like that she would have to take an extra few seconds to write out every word. I drove home that day with a smile on my face as I thought of how unhip I was at 31.

Writing has been the word on the street here at KLRN because at the start of the year we kicked off the PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest. This contest is open to students in kindergarten to third grade. We're on the lookout for stories written and illustrated by kids in these grade levels. Everyone who enters receives a certificate with top place finishers in each grade eligible for great prizes such as laptop computers, digital cameras, and e-readers!

The contest began January 1 and ends on April 2, 2012. Look for complete rules, including entry forms and more information at klrn.org/writerscontest.

Get those students writing and start sending in your stories. Can’t wait to read them all!