Hooray for 2010 Summer Workshops!

I had so much fun teaching my Poetry, Fiction, and Songwriting workshops for kids this summer. It's hard to believe they're already over. In Fiction, the students wrote fabulous stories about adventures that took place everywhere from Mt. Kilimanjaro to Mine Hole Land to a drawer in someone's bedroom. In Poetry, there were sestinas, villanelles, and beautiful free verse that could break your heart.

This year, in my Songwriting for Kids workshop, the class worked together to write a song about a river that I'd like to visit (especially that cave full of gold!) I think my favorite line in the whole song is "the trees are doing the cha-cha in the wind." How great is that? You can listen to this year's class singing their song in The Listening Room and here are the lyrics:

The Moon Shines Bright onto the River
by the 2010 Songwriting for Kids class


Chorus:
The moon shines bright onto the river
The moon shines bright onto the river
The moon shines bright onto the river   
The moon shines bright onto the river

Verse 1:
The owls are hooting
The river’s moving
The trees are doing the cha-cha in the wind

The waves are crashing
Against the rocks
Drops of water splashing on a stranger’s skin

Chorus:
The moon shines bright onto the river
The moon shines bright onto the river
The moon shines bright onto the river   
The moon shines bright onto the river

Verse 2:
Flying fish are soaring high
Starfish on a rock
The water’s deep and cold

Coyotes are howling
An owl lives in the forest
Near a cave full of gold

Chorus:
The moon shines bright onto the river
The moon shines bright onto the river
The moon shines bright onto the river   
The moon shines bright onto the river

Bridge:
The dark blue sky is like
A blue blanket
On my bed

Chorus:
The moon shines bright onto the river
The moon shines bright onto the river
The moon shines bright onto the river   
The moon shines bright onto the river