Wordplay Reflections

When we finished our writers' workshop study on wordplay, I asked the kids to reflect on the experience.  I always enjoy hearing about what they learned and enjoyed.  Here are a few of their comments...

Wordplay taught me that it can be fun to write.  It's not hard to do, but it's not easy, either.
-  Josh

You don't have to be afraid of writing.
-  KP

At first, I wasn't sure if the wordplay unit would be as fun as the others.  But at the end of the unit, I was sad it ended.
-  Annika

If you're writing something, it doesn't have to be great the first time because you can go back and change it.  My attitudes changed because now I'm not afraid of playing with words.  By afraid, I mean I'm not afraid to say or try what comes to my mind.
-  Hannah

I learned that I can make something, and my friend can build off that idea and make it better.
-  Ricky

Wordplay taught me that writing doesn't always have to be serious.  It can also be funny.
-  Millie Hallman

I enjoyed share time the most because you get to hear people's creations.  Then you can learn from other people, laugh, and make others laugh! 
-  CJ

Jokes and Hink Pinks

On another day of our wordplay study, we learned how to write jokes.  We actually came up with 6 different strategies for joke writing!  We simply studied a variety of jokes, and then we hypothesized how the writer would have gone about writing the joke.  We did some shared writing, and then I sent the kids off to write their own.  On yet another day of wordplay, we learned to write hink pinks.  Hink Pinks are riddles in which the answer contains 2 rhyming words (hink pinks have one syllable and hinky pinkies have two syllables).  I had a minute to capture some of their jokes and hink pinks at the end of the day.  Hope you enjoy!

Wordplay with Songs

We spent a week and a half playing with words during our writer's workshop.  Our goal was to have fun with words - to experiment and be creative.  One day we focused on writing songs.  Many kids took a familiar tune and then wrote their own words to the songs.  I was very impressed our kids' creativity - they were true risk takers!