Recap: PJ Our Way Kids’ Webinar Series!
PJ Our Way kids participated in a three-part webinar series, building new skills and connecting with other their peers around the U.S. and Canada. Check out what they were up to!
Three weeks. Three topics. Tons of fun! In March, PJ Our Way kids from all over the U.S. and Canada participated in a three-part webinar series, which included a video editing skill-builder, tips for author communication, and a creative writing workshop. Check out what they got up to below!
Slime with MiaSarenna:
Paper Dolls with Hadar:
Kids Interview Ruth Behar:
“Instructions” by Zoe
You walk along a path. It leads to nowhere. But if you walk long enough, it leads you to somewhere. You walk silently along, but your intuition is telling you something is wrong. After a while, you reach a meadow and you lie down on the soft grass and feel the sun on your skin. You close your eyes. How wonderful it is to feel the sun on your skin, but suddenly you don’t feel the sun anymore. Your eyes fling open and you see vivid colors of red, yellow, and orange. However, the colors are not blinding the way the sun is. “That’s strange,” you think. “Hey!” you call out, finding your voice. “Go away. You’re blocking my light!” Then you wonder how close the colors are. You wonder but you don’t know. After a minute of feeling puzzled, you remember the story your grandmother told you when you were little. “Be careful. You mustn’t bother a ziz,” you remember your grandmother warning you.
“But why?” you remember asking.
“My dear,” Grandma had replied. “I don’t know. Your ancestors, my ancestors warned us about a creature called a ziz that can block the sun with its wings. I don’t know anything more. All I know is that we must be aware and ready to face what the ziz might do.”
Now you’re thinking: “Oh dear, this is the ziz Grandma warned me about. What should I do?”
You walk slowly on the path. Suddenly there is a clearing and you see the ocean. The next wave sends a plastic bottle rolling toward you. You open it up and look inside. “I bet it’s instructions for what to do about a ziz,” you think.
Inside, there is a piece of parchment with instructions on it. But not the instructions that you thought. It says, “You walk along a path. It leads to nowhere. But if you walk long enough…”
“My Best Friend” by Kayla
Hi guys! My name is Daisy. I am a Mini Lop Rabbit; I have a white body and brown ears. I’ve been living alone most of my life, and I’ll tell you how. When I was just a newborn, only a couple weeks old, my parents hid me in a small canoe nearby. I didn’t realize what was happening; I just thought I should go with the flow. Two days later, the canoe stopped at a dock in Paris, France. I looked around, and I thought to myself, “Wow! How beautiful is this place?” I went to go find my parents, but they were gone. I couldn’t find them.
I sat in the corner of the blue canoe I had stayed in and started to cry. As my tears were rolling down my face, a dybbuk came into my sight and said, “What’s wrong, dear child?”
I told him, and since now I need to go on a bowling trip with my best buddy, dybbuk, I’ll just tell you that he became my adopted relative.
The End
“Channa” by Frieda
“Butterfly” by Delilah
During the creative writing workshop, kids wrote stories inspired by mythical creatures.
Video Editing
During this webinar, kids discussed favorite editing programs, how to add special effects (including using green screens!), and what to do to make your video pop. The results were impressive!Slime with MiaSarenna:
Paper Dolls with Hadar:
Author Communication
Kids learned how to initially make contact, brainstormed sample questions, and were invited to write letters to their favorite PJ Our Way authors. Later, several kids got the opportunity to speak with Ruth Behar, author of PJ Our Way selection Lucky Broken Girl!Kids Interview Ruth Behar:
Creative Writing
Our creative writing workshop included prompts in a variety of genres! Kids tried their hand at fantasy, realistic fiction, memoir, and more. Some illustrated their creations too!“Instructions” by Zoe
You walk along a path. It leads to nowhere. But if you walk long enough, it leads you to somewhere. You walk silently along, but your intuition is telling you something is wrong. After a while, you reach a meadow and you lie down on the soft grass and feel the sun on your skin. You close your eyes. How wonderful it is to feel the sun on your skin, but suddenly you don’t feel the sun anymore. Your eyes fling open and you see vivid colors of red, yellow, and orange. However, the colors are not blinding the way the sun is. “That’s strange,” you think. “Hey!” you call out, finding your voice. “Go away. You’re blocking my light!” Then you wonder how close the colors are. You wonder but you don’t know. After a minute of feeling puzzled, you remember the story your grandmother told you when you were little. “Be careful. You mustn’t bother a ziz,” you remember your grandmother warning you.
“But why?” you remember asking.
“My dear,” Grandma had replied. “I don’t know. Your ancestors, my ancestors warned us about a creature called a ziz that can block the sun with its wings. I don’t know anything more. All I know is that we must be aware and ready to face what the ziz might do.”
Now you’re thinking: “Oh dear, this is the ziz Grandma warned me about. What should I do?”
You walk slowly on the path. Suddenly there is a clearing and you see the ocean. The next wave sends a plastic bottle rolling toward you. You open it up and look inside. “I bet it’s instructions for what to do about a ziz,” you think.
Inside, there is a piece of parchment with instructions on it. But not the instructions that you thought. It says, “You walk along a path. It leads to nowhere. But if you walk long enough…”
“My Best Friend” by Kayla
Hi guys! My name is Daisy. I am a Mini Lop Rabbit; I have a white body and brown ears. I’ve been living alone most of my life, and I’ll tell you how. When I was just a newborn, only a couple weeks old, my parents hid me in a small canoe nearby. I didn’t realize what was happening; I just thought I should go with the flow. Two days later, the canoe stopped at a dock in Paris, France. I looked around, and I thought to myself, “Wow! How beautiful is this place?” I went to go find my parents, but they were gone. I couldn’t find them.
I sat in the corner of the blue canoe I had stayed in and started to cry. As my tears were rolling down my face, a dybbuk came into my sight and said, “What’s wrong, dear child?”
I told him, and since now I need to go on a bowling trip with my best buddy, dybbuk, I’ll just tell you that he became my adopted relative.
The End
“Channa” by Frieda
1
Channa needed meds for her family. Her younger sister, Rachel, was very ill. At that time, if you were not Jewish, it was very hard to get medicine. Channa’s parents were very worried about her going out alone, so they went to the Rabbi. After they finished telling the story, the Rabbi decided Channa would need protection. The Rabbi told Channa about a golem and then, when it was time to write the letters, Channa made one. The golem was huge with plants weaving around him. He was made of clay, and his mouth was straight. His large eyes practically looked through you. The Rabbi explained how he worked, and then it was left to Channa to go get the medicine.“Butterfly” by Delilah
DrDee
OOO... Pretty Butterfly Drawing, Delilah Me Likey Thanks ,DrDee
JMN
love that sound effect!
Alibkhen
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
zoegrace
:)