Writing with a Purpose

Without even talking to me Ian sat down with his Bookworm Wednesday book report form and started filling it out for tomorrow's free movie at our local cinema.

Alec soon followed.

I love how eagerly the older two boys wrote, how much attention they paid to their spelling and their sentence structure.

I guess when writing actually serves a purpose it's not so bad, though Ian did tell me his arm hurt after writing.  "Authors must work our and lift weights so they have nice strong arm muscles!" 

My boys don't usually write willingly.  They try to avoid it at all costs but when it's something that is important to them, when they see that their writing serves a purpose they are much more likely to take it seriously.

To help with his book report (since he could not remember anything about any book we've read recently) I sat down to read a few books with the boys.

We read Bats at the Ballgame.  My kids LOVE this series of books and were so happy to see this book in our pile.

We also read Wild About You.  My kids love the book Wild About Books and when I saw that this was by the same creators I just knew we had to check it out.

Ian really wanted to read another chapter in Surviving the Applewhites and since I hadn't yet found anything else I didn't like about the story after reading ahead a bit I agreed, but warned them that we might not be finishing it if I find anything else I think is inappropriate.

We also read a chapter in The Robot King by Brian Selznick.  We love Brian's other books since his stories are well written and have AMAZING illustrations to go with them.  When I saw this book I knew the boys would love it.

I try to find a nice blend of books that will appeal to them all.

Once I was done reading Evan wanted to write up his book report (since he didn't want to have to miss the movie) and willingly wrote his name and the title then dictated the actual report to me to write down.

What are some ways you get your children willingly writing?