Hearing Haiku

IMG_0140, originally uploaded by littlegreenpig.

As you can see from this picture, the Saddlebacks had a go at making some haiku with fridge magnet letters this week. If you’ve got some at home, see what poems or lines you can make on your fridge!

This is Leah’s haiku which I think creates quite a mournful tone and uses the senses well. Let’s hope autumn isn’t all bleak and black though!

Post us your haiku!

See you soon,

Lucy

Sizzling sounds

Sizzle, originally uploaded by j00zt1n.

Hi everyone

Hope you’re all having a good half term. As promised, here is your half term challenge, thought up by our lovely new volunteer Kate who has been helping out with the Piglets group:

Have you ever heard a word that, when said out loud, sounds just like the noise it describes? Like a cat’s ‘meow’, the ‘tick-tock’ of a clock or the ’sizzle’ of bacon on a hot grill. The sounds literally make the meaning in words, like ‘hiss’, ‘boom’ or ‘crunch’.

The use of these sound effect words is called ‘onomatopoeia’ and writers use them to bring out the full flavour of words.

Have a go at writing some sentences using the examples above or other ‘sound effect’ words you may already know.

Next, I challenge you to make up some ‘sound effects’ of your own.

Listen to the sounds around you, perhaps in the kitchen where the washing machine, kettle or pots and pans are making noise. Go outside where you might hear birds, cars, waves from the sea or voices.

Try to think up words to describe what you hear.

Post your answers here and one of you will win a mini-prize next week!

Little Green Pigs Go Walking!

North Laines in Brighton. , originally uploaded by Katie’s small world.

Well it’s an exciting start to the year for the Saddlebacks! In collaboration with Brighton and Hove City Coucil, we are out and about this Tuesday recording the sights and sounds of the North Laines in Brighton. Little Green Pig have been asked to be the very fisrt young people’s group to create and record their own podacst walking tour guide for other young people visiting the city. The launch will be next year at the Brighton Festival.

We have two recording and radio experts from production company Yada Yada with us this week, so if you’re wandering through town tomorrow, you may well see us armed with our recording equipment! We’ll keep you posted…

And the Tuesday challenge winners are…

DSC01252, originally uploaded by littlegreenpig.

Stani for the Piglets and Leah for the Saddlebacks! Well done you two. We will give you your prizes next Tuesday 15th at our first workshops back.

Thanks to everyone who left comments and took part in our weekly challenges, we enjoyed reading all of them and hope you enjoyed taking part. More challenges planned for the future!

By the way, this picture is the front of Stani’s writing folder. Isn’t it brilliant?

See you all next week when our workshops start again – looking forward to catching up.

Ella

Summer Tuesday challenge – the final week!

noveaux crayons, originally uploaded by orphanjones.

Happy September everyone! As much as I love summer, I love autumn too, and 1st September seems to mark the beginning of the new season. When I was at school I used to love getting new pencils, pens, stationery and new bag for the start of term – was I just a geek or does anyone else agree? Nowadays I love the autumn sunshine, changing leaves, chill in the air, new clothes in the shops, the feeling of new beginnings, catching up with friends again after holidays, leaves turning golden and the new energy that autumn brings. For the last week of our challenge, leave a comment saying how you feel about autumn and what you like or don’t like about it.

We’ll be announcing the winners of the Summer Tuesday challenges next week so remember to check back! 

 

Ella

Summer Tuesday challenge 09 – week 6

Hello everyone! I am back from two lovely relaxing and scorching weeks in Croatia. I did lots of swimming in the sea, eating truffles and reading – including the first three books of the ‘Twilight’ series. (By the way, I have to say I am definitely team Jacob rather than team Edward).

This photo is of a scorpion that crawled very near our heads one night in a Croatian bar! It was not quite as scary as it looks here as it was only a few centimetres long, but it was a bit of a shock nevertheless! But one of the things I love about visiting a different country is all the different things you see, smell, taste and hear – from delicious new food to scary scorpions. It’s so interesting being surrounded by different things from your everyday life back in Britain. Here are some of the things that I will remember about Croatia:

1. The almost deafening whirr of the crickets at night

2. The feel of the slimy, shaggy seaweed under my feet walking on the rocky shores

3. Eating delicious homemade bread at a restaurant, still warm from the oven

4. The feel of sticky flipflops slapping against my feet walking over cobblestoned roads

5. The sound of a choir singing in the moonlight

Your challenge this week is to tell us about a different place or country you’ve visited. What are the sounds, smells and sights that stay with you?

Ella

Tuesday Challenge Number 5: let’s get cooking!

George’s Marvelous Medicine display, detail of George himself with Granmda’s medicine, originally uploaded by tiramisucake22.

Welcome to challenge number 5! I’ve really enjoyed reading your previous entries, so well done. It seems to have been a baking week this week. I made some banana bread, my sister baked some lovely carrot cake, and a friend of mine made a fantastic fruit cake. All the mixing of ingredients reminded me of Roald Dahl’s ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’, a story I’m sure many of you know. George doesn’t really like his Grandma, so decides to make his very own medicine, in order to give her ‘a pretty fiery mouthful’. Some of the things he puts in his recipe are: shampoo, toothpaste, shaving soap, deodorant spray, perfume, washing powder, floor polish, flea powder, shoe-polish, gin, curry powder, chilli sauce… and the list goes on!

Your task for this week is to add another ingredient to make George’s medicine really marvellous! My addition is some healthy squirts of bike oil, which I used the other day when I came back from my bike ride. Let’s see what we can come up with together!

Have a good week,

Lucy

Guess Who?

my photo of j k rowling, originally uploaded by nicola suzzanne franklin.

Welcome to Tuesday Challenge number 4! Any of you know who this is? I think some of you will have read her books or seen the films … that’s right, it’s J.K Rowling. Did you know that she was advised by her publisher to use her initials rather than her full name so that young boys who would see her book wouldn’t think it was only meant for girls just because it was written by a woman. Lots of authors still write under a name that isn’t their own. These names are called pen names or pseudonyms. So, your task for this week is to post us your pen name! If you were to write a book, what name would you choose? I’m still thinking of mine!

Have a good week,

Lucy

Summer Tuesday challenge 09 – week 3

Cup of tea, originally uploaded by ondravojta.

I don’t know what you think but in my opinion, there’s nothing quite like sharing a cup of tea and having a good old chat with someone. As I’m on holidays from school, like some of you are, I’ve had the chance to catch up with lots of friends, and drink lots of tea! This week’s Tuesday challenge is to tell us the name of a writer who you would most like to meet and share a cup of tea with (or squash if you don’t like tea…). I’ve been reading a book called The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, and I’d really like to ask him about his experiences growing up in India, and whether the stories in his book are based on true experiences. My sister is travelling in India at the moment, and it sounds like an incredible place to go. So – who would you choose? It can be a novelist, a playwright, a poet… but you can only choose one!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts,
Lucy

Summer Tuesday challenge 09 – week 2

 

Time Travellers, originally uploaded by larukucafe.

Thanks for all your comments on last Tuesday’s summer challenge, you all seem to have busy summers planned! I have a made a note of all your book recommendations and will let you know when I read them. This week’s challenge is written by Caroline, one of our volunteers: 

 My name is Caroline and I recently visited the Little Green Pig Writing Project and watched you all put the finishing touches to your stories inspired by the novel ‘The Book Thief’. I was very impressed by just how different everyone’s stories were, how much work had gone into them and more importantly, how imaginative you all are!

 One of the things I love the most about reading is visiting places. These places may not necessarily be beautiful cities or impressive landscapes. Far more exciting are the imaginary worlds created in some of my favourite books. I love Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ Trilogy in which the author creates a world which overlaps with our own in a lot of ways; it’s recognisable, but completely unique at the same time. For me, it’s exciting to be transported into the unknown, especially when it’s captured in so much detail, creating a vivid sense of atmosphere – you can really imagine yourself being there.

 Recently I’ve also found myself watching a lot of old episodes of Doctor Who. I love the fact the Doctor can travel in all directions of time and space: into the future, back to places which existed long ago, and to undiscovered worlds inhabited by unknown species. And you never know what’s going to happen each time he steps out of the tardis!   So, inspired by this I wondered if you could tell me: if you could travel in time, where would you go, who would you like to meet and what would you like to do? 

 

Remember, just leave a comment to enter and you could win a Little Green Pig goodie bag! Until next week,

 

Ella