Littlescribe mini-writing festival returns for education week

The Littlescribe Mini-Writing Festival returns on Monday, July 26 with thousands of students across the country taking part.

Children in Kindergarten through to Year 8 will learn creative writing from 15 of Australia’s most popular authors and illustrators.

The interactive and online learning experience has been created for schools and teachers by the educational online writing platform, Littlescribe and 65,000 students have registered for the 2021 Festival, double last year’s number of participants for the inaugural event.

The festival starts on Monday 26th July and runs for five days. There will be three daily author workshops, catering for students 5–14 years. Each session will focus on developing a specific writing skill and   authors will set additional challenges.

“It’s very inspiring to watch students, teachers, authors, and illustrators collaborate as a community,” said Littlescribe CEO, Jenny Atkinson.

The Mini-Writing Festival continues to partner with the Book Council of Australia (CBCA).

“It’s the perfect warm-up event for CBCA Book Week, with the 2021 theme ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’ woven into all the workshops. The festival invites students to write alongside their favourite authors, to elevate and celebrate children’s authorship,” said Wendy Rapee, Chair of the National Board of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA).

“Drawing on teacher feedback from 2020, this year’s daily workshops will join forces to create a memorable, completed piece of writing," said Atkinson.

“There’s also the option to share students’ work on our Story Starter Wall, giving their writing an audience and platform,” she said.

Many of Australia’s most-loved authors are back in 2021, as well as some new faces. Participating authors include: Jackie French (The Schoolmaster’s Daughter); Tristan Bancks (Ginger Meggs 100th Anniversary Book, Detention, Two Wolves); Andrew Daddo (Atticus Van Tasticus); Deborah Abela (Bears in Space); Oliver Phommovanh (Brain Freeze); Kirli Saunders (Bindi); and Wendy Orr (Dragonfly Song).

The 2021 Littlescribe Mini-Writing Festival will also see the return of author/illustrator James Foley (Alphabet Soup, Super Potato). James will draw on-the-spot illustrations at each author session to stimulate and inspire student creativity.

“Learning should be fun, and all of these workshops are extraordinarily enjoyable for the kids, and hopefully for the teachers too,” said author, Jackie French.

Following the event, teachers will be able to access resources to use for the rest of the year.

The Festival fee is from $5 (+GST) per student. This provides access to all 15 workshops and writing resources for Terms 3 & 4.

For more information and to register, visit www.littlescribe.com Follow the festival on Instagram and Facebook @littlescribe.

For teachers, the Littlescribe Mini-Writing Festival includes:

• lesson plans for before, during and after each workshop
• an interactive, 45-minute write-along streamed video conference led by Littlescribe’s Literacy Leader Jo Edwards, featuring an author and an illustrator
• a specific writing skill explored and modelled in each workshop
• a short writing challenge for students in each workshop
• a direct link to the CBCA Book Week theme ‘Old Worlds, News Worlds, Other Worlds’
• a series of edited micro-videos on specific writing skills to use in the classroom for the rest of the year
• access to a full-workshop video recording (until September 1).

Littlescribe
Littlescribe, an award-winning company, officially launched in Australia in 2018. It is an educational writing platform, written by teachers and connected to the national curriculum (Australia, New South Wales, Victoria). Designed for primary and high school students, it includes rich and engaging resources.

Littlescribe inspires and motivates children to write by transforming their writing projects into digital and printed books to share with their class, family, and friends.

Littlescribe has collaborated with The United Nations Earth School and Emerging Minds, the National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health, to develop writing programs specifically for children who have experienced trauma from significant events, such as drought, bushfires, floods and now, COVID-19.