Nanowrimo Lives at Heritage Elementary

Mrs. Whitsitt attended the kick-off celebration today at Heritage Elementary School

Today was the official NaNoWriMo kick-off for one-hundred twenty 5th grade students at Heritage Elementary School in Saline, Michigan. Their goal? To write one million words in the month of November.

November is National Novel Writing Month for over 300,000 adults. Adult writers commit to writing 50,000 words in a month. The event includes a Young Writers Program as well. Last year, 90,000 young writers took part. The program for young writers allows participants to set reasonable, yet challenging individual word-count goals.

Heritage students in Ms. Palidori, Mrs. Coughlin, Ms. Smith, Mr. Fiske and Mrs. LaBoe’s classrooms have all committed to writing 10,000 words this month. Last month, in anticipation of this event, local author, Claudia Whitsitt, visited classrooms to inspire students and encourage them to participate.

Today, Mrs. Whitsitt again joined students for the launch of NaNoWriMo and to announce a special contest. At the end of the month, twenty authors will have the opportunity to enter a scene from their writing. Two will be chosen to win a thirty-minute consultation with Mrs. Whitsitt.

Kudos to students and teachers who have committed to this process and who are dedicated to writing and expressing themselves creatively though this pledge. Mrs. Whitsitt said of the classes , “This is an incredible group of educators. They have shown their dedication to students by taking on this project and continue to support literacy both in and out of the classroom. It’s teachers like this that make a difference in the lives of our young people each and every day. I salute them.”

Mrs. Whitsitt taught in Saline Schools for the last several years of her teaching career until her retirement in 2013. Since then she has written a historical fiction for middle grade students, Between the Lines, set in the 1960s at the start of the Detroit Riots. The story is the tale of three girls who join forces to change narrow minds and alter the prejudice views of their community. Students are excited to read this book, which will be published in 2015.