The Hurricane of Danger

[Brown Rat]

What a charming story! I love that the dragon didn't like to be called Bonkers. (Does anyone around your house ever call anyone else Bonkers?)

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by Brown Rat

What a charming story! I love that the dragon didn't like to be called Bonkers. (Does anyone around your house ever call anyone else Bonkers?)

Thank you, everyone, for this recent wave of postings. I shall read them to Rachel tomorrow, which will no doubt inspire her to write something else to be posted here.

Brown Rat, I've not noticed anyone use the word bonkers around our household, so I'm not quite sure where she picked that up from - most likely from school.

Something I have planned to encourage her writing over the summer holidays is a 'writing treasure box'. This will be filled with different sized and coloured note books and writing paper, together with pens and pencils. It will also have lots of items in it from stories she hasn't written yet - jewels, unusual feathers, strange items of dressing up clothing etc. I imagine she will get quite excited by this ... especially when she discovers that every day she opens it, the box will have subtly different things inside.

[dustinzgirl]

Wow. As a parent, I can say I am certainly impressed! Very nciely written for a six year old. Especialy considering how thier minds wander, but she sticks to the plot nicely. I'd give her a hug and a gold star if I wasn't a million miles away!

PS Mark, what a great idea on the box! I think I will have to do that!

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by dustinzgirl

PS Mark, what a great idea on the box! I think I will have to do that!

Mark, I have to second that. With a great dad like that, no wonder she's showing such promise. Is the rest of your family this wonderful? Jeez.... I think I'm jealous....

Seriously, this is a wonderful thing to hear about. Gives a person a lift and a ray of hope.

[Mark Robson]

I wish I could take the credit for the idea of the box, but it was actually a suggestion from her teacher. This lady is obviously enamoured with Rachel's storytelling capabilities and is as keen to encourage her with her creativity as I am. I was at the school parents' evening a couple of weeks ago and asking if there was anything in particular that I should be looking to do with Rachel over the summer to encourage her with her school work. It seems that she is progressing well in all areas, but the teacher was very enthusiastic about tapping into the creative side of her make-up and encouraging her with the writing. The box was her idea - you should have seen how excited she was as she was describing the sort of things to put into the box! I wish I'd had teachers that enthusiastic when I was Rachel's age. Maybe I did, and just didn't appreciate how good they were at the time.

[danny]

That is a really cool story, Great Ideas in it. The dragon was funny! Bonkers! Ha! Ha! I mean that in a nice way, you know, not a nasty way.

It is great, this is my story!

Once upon a time,

A bird flew in the sky,

The End

[charles]

i faintly renember you saying that you type out the stories when she dictates it out to encourage story telling, have considered using some of the speech reconition software? (it works really well)

[Mark Robson]

That's a great idea, Charles - I did consider it, but more for myself than my daughter. I would like her to be able to write and spell correctly on her own before learning to rely on technology. She has progressed a long way in the last few months and is now writing quickly enough to enjoy writing her own stories down. Her spelling will continue to need work for some years, but she's getting better in leaps and bounds. It won't be long before I have her writing my stories for me!

[Mark Robson]

Last week my wife and I went to a corporately sponsored 'day at the races' event. The food they supplied at the event came in beautiful, wicker hampers - one for each person, which were just the right size to become a writing box for my daughter. She is currently away staying at her grandparents, but I had a fantastic time today filling the two hampers. The first I filled with lots of 'fashion stationary' that should appeal to her (lots of pink love hearts and sparkles!). The other one I filled with items to spark stories. It was this one that I had the most fun with.

I found one shop in particular that had lots of great items in. I got her: a lovely nugget of fool's gold, an angel's feather (it came with a certificate, so it must be real!), a magic ring (mood ring that changes colour when you wear it), three sets of matching necklaces in different colours (said to have once belonged to three princesses), a magician's amulet, a dragon's egg and a wishing star (a glass star with the image of an angel ghosted within it). I can't wait to give it to her now.

[Patrick Mahon]

Originally Posted by Mark Robson

I found one shop in particular that had lots of great items in.

Mark,
Where do you do your shopping? I must clearly frequent very different shops from you! Do tell - my daughter is currently only 3 years old, but in due course...