Slice of Life: Happiness is Found with Other Writers 3 of 31

Here we go!  It's time for the March Slice of Life Challenge hosted at Two Writing Teachers.  It will be a busy month of writing, commenting, and learning with this community.  This year I've decided to try to focus my writing around happiness.  Stop by today's link up to join the conversation or find some great reading.   

You can find student writing here.

I love Tuesdays.  Tuesday is the day I meet with an after school Slice of Life writing club.  Before the challenge I set up dates for writers participating in the challenge to meet to talk together about writing.  I opened 25 slots, and they filled up quickly.

Today after school the 25 students, grades 1-5, came racing into the room.  We began with a snack and lots of conversation.  I went around the room to check in with students and see how the challenge was going so far.  

Students buzzed with excitement as they talked to one another.  We finally headed to the carpet to chat for a bit about the challenge.  It wasn't long until someone said, "I noticed someone put a picture in their post.  You can do that?"  

"Yes," I said as I pulled up the post where the image was located.

The student who had inserted the image spoke up to tell about what she did.  "If you want to know how to put images in, see R.  She's an expert on that."

Another voice asked, "How do you change colors and the size of your writing?"

"Who can do that?  Do we have any experts?"  I inquire.

A few hands shoot up into the air.  I direct everyone's attention to the experts on font.  "Look at these students.  They can help you if you want to change the size or color of your writing." 

"How do some kids have avatars?" one of the first graders in the group asked.

I placed our blog roll on the screen so students could see which friends had an avatar.  "See these students with an avatar.  I'm guessing they can help you if you want to do that."

Kids smiled at one another, and continued to talk about their "expertise."  We finally headed back out into the room to write.  Grabbing iPads or laptops students settled into comfortable spaces with friends.  

There's something about the energy of a group in which everyone has chosen to be there.  There's something about listening as children ask each other for help and give each other new ideas.  This group came out strong on the first day of the challenge, and continue to make me smile.  Happiness is found in time with other writers.