Scribbler's Stew

Today my class published it's first edition of Scribbler's Stew. It's a writing "magazine" of sorts, introduced to the reader with the following:

Welcome Reader! A good-tasting stew becomes a fabulous stew with the addition of a little bit of this and that. The grade seven class would like you to enjoy this collection of stories, which, like a fabulous stew, is a contribution of many good things.

One thing the class has learned about writing is that good writers practice writing everyday (!), and not only that, have their writing published so that others can read it. While it's necessary for students to do their work in class, have the teacher read it and post it on the Writing Wall in the classroom, it's another thing entirely when others outside of the classroom read their stories. When I came into the classroom this morning with copies of the classroom magazine, the students were giddy with excitement. "Have you given this out to the other classes, yet?" was a constant refrain.

The positive feedback from other teachers and fellow students was tremendous and a HUGE encouragement for my students to keep writing their ideas down on paper. They are already anticipating the next publication...

The smile of the day award goes to our secretary, who, upon receiving her copy of Scribbler's Stew, said "Yummy!".