We Got It!

Lehua Writing Project is now officially its own site and we are offering our first SI this summer!
When: June 15 - July 2, 2009
Where: North Hawaii Educational Research Center (NHERC) in Honoka'a
Application deadline: March 2, 2009

Check this site for our flyers and and please pass them along to your colleagues.

Happy New Year and Mālama Pono,
Jeannine Hirtle and Cathy Ikeda

Children's Books for the Presidential Race

From the article "Campaign Trail - David's List: And the Winner Is. . ." by David Richardson in Reading Today, (vol. 26, #1, p.14), Here's a list of some children's books for the presidential race.

• Vote! by Eileen Christelow (Clarion, 2008) ages 6 and up
• KidChat American Adventure: 201 Questions to Make you Think, Talk and Giggle About our Nation's History by Bret Nicholaus and Paul Lowrie (Roaring Brook, 2008) ages 10 and up
• Duck for President by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin (Atheneum, 2008) ages 6 and up
• See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election Schemes, and the Race to the White House by Susan Goodman, illustrated by Elwood Smith (Bloombury, 2008) ages 9 and up
• LeRue for Mayor: Letters from the Campaign Trail by Mark Teague (Blue Sky, 2008) ages 5 and up
• Vote by Philip Steele (DK Eyewitness Books, 2008) ages 11 and up
• So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George, illustrated by David Small (Philomel, 2004) ages 8 and up
• Independent Dames: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution by Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrated by Matt Faulkner (Simon and Schuster, 2008) ages 8 and up
  

Lois Ann Yamanaka to read in Hilo

Lois Ann Yamanaka, Hilo girl and author of Saturday Night at Pahala Theatre, Name Me Nobody, Heads by Harry, and Wildmeat and Bully Burgers as well as other novels and a children's book will give a reading and talk at the Kinoole Farmer's Market on Saturday July 26 at 10:00. The "market" is open from 7:00 a.m.-12 noon. If you've never heard Lois Ann read, she is a wonderful story teller. A former middle school teacher, she is a co-director of Na'au, her writing school based in Honolulu.

Getting Ready for ED 694: Advanced Writing Institute

Aloha! Welcome to ED 694: Advanced Writing Institute

I'm so looking forward to working with you June 9-20th, 9-4, in UCB 314, at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. I'd like to help you get ready for this experience!

Please bring on the 1st day, Monday, June 9th:

1. Your Text
2. A journal (optional)
3. A laptop (optional)-Let me know right away if you do not have one so I can check one out for you to use at school.
4. A flash drive
5. A lunch
6. A basket or bag of small objects ( 5 or 6) which represent you.
7. A collection of pictures from throughout your life that are meaningful to you. They can be of anything, place, or person--just meaningful to you.
8. A digital camera or cell phone with camera capabilities.
9. A UH User Name and Password. Go to http://myuhinfo.hawaii.edu/page/getstarted to get that information.
10. A plastic box or bag filled with desk/craft items: markers, pens, scissors, glue, post it notes (LOTS of post it notes), etc.

On Thursday, June 12th (depending on the weather)

We are going to take a field trip to Akaka Falls to photograph, sketch, and write. You will need to bring a lawn chair, a journal or laptop, some hiking shoes, appropriate clothes, and a snack.

There will be a field trip Wednesday, June 18th class as well. Right now, tentatively, we are going to Mauna Kea, not to the summit, but just in the park to write on the mountain. Again, this is weather dependent.


Please RSVP that you got this message. I will be sending you an invitation to join a NING and a blog. Please accept both invitations, because we will be using both and that is how I will be communicating with you.

Mahalo!
Jeannine Hirtle

Text Mapping: Literacy Strateby

Aloha, I was reading an article in the Teacher Gazette today by Cheryl Sigmon. The article overviews the process of text mapping to help students understand text structure. The way it work is the teacher picks a portion of text to analyze. She/he copies the pages of the text and tapes them so they are vertical like a scroll. Then she passes out scrolls to groups of students. The students then mark up the scrolls using highlighters or felt pens. Read this article to see how they do it and how it helps!

Technology Helps Boost Writing Skills

Students' writing skills were in the spotlight in early April, as a new report suggested that an increasing number of U.S. students understand the basics of writing. And one of several possible reasons for this trend could be the growing use of writing software tools among educators.

Read about it in this E-News article.

NWP SITE Bulletin and Announcements

Hi! I wanted to share this NWP Site Bulletin with you all. I also have a question. Have you each read the NWP book, Because Writing Matters? I want to order copies for our site, if not, or if some of us have. I think each new institute that comes through should read that, but not necessarily buy it.

Please comment and follow up on anything you think we should address here!

You can comment by e-mail, of course, and/but, you might like to try commenting on our Lehua Writing Project blog. It might be a nice place to share our messages and ideas with each other. When you join this blog, you can check to have an e-mail notification sent to you when someone posts a message. The address is http://lehuawritingproject.blogspot.com.

It might also be a nice place to share our writing as well as our messages and ideas. Just a thought.
We have had over twenty inquiries about the Advanced Summer Institute and we have 10 people signed up. Yeah!!!! I'll share the spread sheet with you all so you can see who signed up!!!

Do each of you want to help in writing our grant to become a formal site this summer? Shel has set money aside for us to go on a 2 day retreat to do do. Merle, is going to let us know about her vacation plans. Do the rest of you have vacation plans for the week after the summer institute? Could you do a two day writer's retreat? If so, know of any good B&B's we could go to? Would you rather write somewhere else and not do an overnight? Just let me know in the next week so I can let Shel know and make reservations!

I'm so looking forward to our work this summer.

Thanks!
Jeannine

Twitter.com

Remember those long, leisurely summer days in summer institute when you actually had the freedom to write? Don't you miss the cameraderie that came from shared writing and response? When reality hits, do you find yourself having to do everything BUT write for your own pleasure?

Join Twitter.com and keep up with old friends, meet new friends, network and WRITE again.
Twitter is a forum for free speech in 140 character chunks, so everyone has time. You can twitter on your computer, or you can even twitter on your phone.

Follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/cathy_ikeda

Spring Writer's Workshop

The Hawaii State Writing Project on the Big Island is pleased to announce that
Newberry Award Winning Author, Cynthia Kadohata, will lead a Writer's Workshop on the Big Island at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, April 15, 2008 at the University Campus Center from 5-8 PM. All Hawaii Writing Project alumni and teachers interested in learning more about the craft of writing are invited. The registration deadline is March 21, 2008.

Please send registration information via e-mail to hirtle@hawaii.edu.

Registration:

Name
E-Mail
School
Phone Contact Number

Lehua Writing Project

This is the home project for the Lehua Writing Project at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.