Our After-School Kids wrote a paragraph about themselves, including both factual and fictitious elements. It was up to their peers to try and sort the facts from the falsehoods. Are you able to tell the difference?
Big Thanks!!
Wow, what a week! We finished up our fabulous Manga workshop (thanks Eric and Kate!), wrapped our creative story-writing workshop led by the talented Sheila Heti (thanks Sheila, Valerie and Joe!), held a wonderful open house for the parents of our after-school kids, put on our first annual Story Fair (thanks Jim Adams, Kevin Sylvester and Doug MacNaughton!) and received our first grant from The Ontario Trillium Foundation (thanks OTF!). We are tired, happy, and very, very grateful!
Happy International Volunteer Day!
Today is International Volunteer Day here on Planet Earth! Since 1985, December 5th has been deemed International Volunteer Day, and is now celebrated in 130 countries. While we aim to celebrate the amazing contributions our volunteers make every day of the year, today, in particular, we would like to express an enormous thank you to all of our volunteers!
Without you, our after-school program could not exist, our Alpha field trips would not be possible, and the Intergalactic Travel Authority would be a much lonelier place. Every time a student asks us if they can come back to work on a story, it is because you took the time to help out. When a teacher says “None of us want to leave and go back to the classroom after that amazing workshop” – it is because of you.
We are so grateful you spend your valuable time with us – thank you for making Story Planet something we are proud of!
We are always excited to welcome new volunteers to our awesome team, contact us and find out how you can get involved!
Story Fair
Our Story Fair is coming up this Thursday, December 6th. Join us for some great storytelling throughout the evening:
5:30– Jim Adams, First Nations Storyteller
6:30 – A Reading by Kevin Sylvester, author of the Neil Flambe series
7:00– The musical stylings of Doug MacNaughton
This is a wonderful opportunity to come and check out our space, and take advantage of the supreme gift selection at the ITA.
Bring the family and feel free to drop by at any time!
Event Showers at Story Planet!
We have so many amazing events coming up this week! Up tomorrow night (November 27th), is Sheila Heti helping writers expand their skills by exploring, ‘How To Write As You’. This Thursday (November 29th) we have a Spoken Word workshop with the amazing Patrick de Belen (for 14 to 19 year olds) and, on Saturday morning (December 1), from 10 to 11am , we have an awesome screening of, The Intergalactic Space Adventures Of Cleo And Anouk for kids 7 and up. And that’s just this week, wait to see what’s up for the next!! Check out our Event Log for more info on everything rocketing out of Story Planet and the ITA!
Minty Mars Rock Hanging Garden
The wonderful women of Esculent Urbanism generously donated a Mars Rock Hanging Garden to hang in the window of the Intergalactic Travel Authority. The garden is a minty and delightful addition–many thanks to Heather and Erika for bringing their creative gardening skills to our space! Maybe when our plant grows some more we can brew some minty space travel tonic?
Sheila Heti Workshop
Are you writing (or thinking about writing) memoir, fiction, or non-fiction? Participate in this writing workshop lead by the talented Sheila Heti and learn How To Write As You. All proceeds from this workshop go directly to Story Planet, helping us to provide amazing free programming for kids in Toronto.
Halloween at Story Planet
After spending a month immersed in all things monster-y, Story Planet After School kids wrote some unique monster stories themselves. The kids made their creatures come to life with Fimo, collaged settings for their monsters to live in, and wrote epics in which their creatures experienced great adventure!
Story Planet author, Anushan, wrote a delightful monster tale:
A long time ago, Longarm was a monster with flat wings. He was at home on the moon. The moon is rocky and dirty. Longarm is small and he flies. One day, Longarm and his friend, Crusher (he crushes everything), flew to Earth to visit Africa. When they got there, they went to the beach. The End.
Just Landed! Reviews of Story Planet’s Latest Favourites
We are excited to share some (very) early reviews of recent stories that just arrived at Story Planet, created by an awesome grade 5/6 class!
“Adventures in Funky Soccer is an adventurous story, full of funny characters that you will never forget!”
-The Ottawa Times
“The awesomest scary book you will ever read! The Tales of the Crazy Dog – winner of the prestigious Yellow Ice Cream Award – is a must-read for all animal lovers!”
-The Toronto Times
“The Life of A Ninja According to Iris Ruby is this year’s most marvelous fantasy book… A breathtaking story, full of phenomenal characters that will make you laugh and cry!”
-The Athens Times
Stop by Story Planet to hear about more exciting stories, delivered fresh every week.
Monsters, Manga and Musings
Monsters, and monster stories, are taking over Story Planet! Our after school kids are creating amazing characters out of Fimo and fantastic stories out of their imagination. Here’s a sneak look at a couple of their great creations. Once the stories are completed, towards the end of October, we’ll share those with you too!
Next up, in November, Mondays will become Manga Mondays as we start up a new, after-school workshop that will last for 4 weeks. Eric Kim has been doing amazing work with us already, and this will be the second Manga workshop we’ll run with him. We’ve been hearing from kids, who already have an interest in drawing and Manga, that they want to dig a little deeper. Eric will help hone their skills! The workshop will start on November 5th and run for 4 Mondays for kids in grades 5 to 8. Email info(at)storyplanet(dot)ca for more info.
At Intergalactic Travel Authority we’re musing over possible new products for the holiday season! As Intergalacticus approaches, we have some exciting items that will get your imagination humming. As an early teaser, guess what this might be…