Slice of Life Story Challenge

From the Past: Gearing up for a Classroom SOLS Challenge

Ruth Ayres

In February 2009, Stacey wrote this post about bringing the Slice of Life Challenge into the classroom. Check it out for some of her ideas, including an announcement sent home with students explaining the challenge.

If you are a classroom teacher, you may want to bring the challenge into your classroom. Kids don’t have to have blogs, because they can use their notebooks for their slices.

If you are in another role besides classroom teacher, please encourage your colleagues to join Slice of Life Challenge. This week I’ll be taking a couple minutes at staff meetings to encourage teachers to join. Remember, to participate in our community, you will need to have your own blog. It only takes a few minutes to set one up.

Let us know if you are bringing the SOLS Challenge to your classroom.

Discover more from TWO WRITING TEACHERS

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Unknown's avatar

Published by Ruth Ayres

Unhurried. Finding the magic in the middle of living. Capturing a life of ridiculous grace + raw stories.

5 thoughts on “From the Past: Gearing up for a Classroom SOLS Challenge”

  1. I did this too in 2009 and had a pizza party for those who wrote all 31 days. It was fun to see their slices. I am planning on challenging my students again this year!

    Like

  2. I would like to encourage my colleagues to create their own blog and consider slicing, if not everyday, at least once per week. Any tips or experiences anyone could share would be really appreciated.

    Like

  3. I’m excited to offer this opportunity to share with my students! In reading Stacey’s note home, I realized that I may have been leading my students astray in writing about things that have happened long ago…as I’ve done in some slices where I was focusing on a writing craft such as flashback.

    Considering the middle school schedule and the fact that my poor first hour students might only get to write about their mornings and/or trip to school, is it OK to allow them to broaden their topic to the recent past?

    Thanks so much! 🙂

    Like

  4. We “slice” once a week on a blog set up by School Fusion (our school site). I print out everyone’s contribution and we vote on a “winner” – someone who was best able to capture a moment in the best writerly way. We study each slice as writers – comment, critique and compliment. It has become an important facet of my writer’s workshop. So…thank you, Stacey and Ruth!

    Like

  5. Our school district uses Edline for all of our school websites and gradebook applications. I recently learned how to post a discussion on my class webpages and give permission only to the students in that class (I teach 8th grade, so I have 3 classes). I am going to post a new discussion each day in March with my slice. Students will post the text of their slices in the comments. They will also be able to comment on each other’s slices by putting something like: “@Ms. Rush, your slice made me laugh!” at the beginning or end of their slice (or as a separate comment). This week, I am planning on laying the groundwork. I can’t wait to get started! Of course, I am giving you and Stacey complete credit for the whole idea!

    Like

Comments are closed.