When Monkeys Fly: Celebrating Student Writing

Flying Monkey Award Monkeys

We had our annual awards ceremony yesterday morning, where certificates of accomplishment for all sorts of subjects were handed out to upper elementary students. A few years ago, I wanted to break up the seriousness of the ceremony and so, I created The Flying Monkey Award. Students have a chance to earn The Flying Monkey Award by keeping every single writing notebook prompt from the course of the school year. This year, there were 75 writing prompts in their notebook, and some went through two or three notebooks of writing.

I call out the sixth graders who have won (it is a lottery and your “ticket” is your notebook) off the stage, and fire a Flying Monkey across the cafetorium to them. It’s great fun, with lots of cheers and celebration, and many incoming students ask me about the Flying Monkey early in the school year.

I guess that’s what we call a “school tradition.”

Peace (flying, soaring, screaming like a monkey),
Kevin

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