The write start - Jennifer Hallissy 2010

Say What? Writing Tablet
Guidelines for the Activities

HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED at your kids and thought to yourself, “What on earth are they thinking?” or “What will they say next?” Well, ponder no more. Simply help them make a couple of these whimsical tablets, and all your questions will be answered. In writing.

Writing tablets, often used in schools, are a wonderful way for young children to practice writing and to express themselves. At home, we crafted more playful versions of this old-school tool, making one in the shape of a thought bubble and another in the shape of a speech bubble. We borrowed the idea from cartoons and modified it for our own (writing) purposes. And let me assure you, the result is nothing less than some very animated “discussions.” Hmmm. What will we think of next?

MATERIALS

∗ poster board

∗ scissors

∗ clear contact paper

∗ dry-erase markers

∗ paper towel or piece of cloth

HOW-TO

1. Cut a piece of poster board into a thought bubble or a speech bubble shape. (You can easily design your own shapes, or enlarge one of the “Say What? Word and Thought Bubbles” templates to the desired size with a copy machine, cut it out, and trace it onto poster board.)

2. Cut a piece of clear contact paper to a size slightly larger than your bubble shape. Slowly peel off the paper backing, and then lay the contact paper, sticky side up, on a table. Carefully place the bubble shape face down onto the contact paper.

3. Trim off excess contact paper by cutting around the edge of the bubble shape.

4. Turn the shape over and smooth out any creases or bubbles.

5. Now show your kids how to write on their bubbles with a dryerase marker and then erase their musings with a cloth or paper towel.

Variations

For Scribblers: Do you remember Woodstock from the Peanuts cartoons? His speech bubble featured a series of dash-like lines that spoke volumes as to his state of mind. Pre-writers’ scribbles have the potential to express at least as much.

For Spellers: I can just imagine the words that Spellers will come up with to crystallize their thought processes. To start with, they might use their thought bubble to respond to questions with a silently scrawled “Yes,” “ No,” or “Maybe.”

For Storytellers: Bubbling over with ideas already, Storytellers will, most likely, be in a frenzy of writing, erasing, and more writing in order to get it all out.

For Scholars: Scholars will realize that in addition to expressing themselves, they can also express the viewpoints of others (from their own perspective, of course). So watch out, they might try to put some words in your mouth!