Pencils are Flying as Sammamish Christian School Celebrates NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)

Issaquah, WA, November 18, 2008

Pencils are flying! Never before in the history of Sammamish Christian School did parents and teachers witness such excitement towards writing! Welcome to National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO): a nonprofit literary crusade that encourages aspiring novelists all over the world to write a 50,000-word novel in a month. The multiage class of second and third graders at Sammamish Christian has NANOWRIMO Mania! Students have joined together and accepted a writing challenge for the month of November. Combined, this class of 13 pupils has committed to write at least 53,000 words crafted (in 30 days) into fictional stories.

Each day they celebrate their success with a posted word count outside the classroom for all to see.

2008 is the ten-year anniversary of NaNoWriMo, founded in 1999 by freelance writer Chris Baty. In its first year, NaNoWriMo had just 21 participants. In 2007, over 100,000 people took part in the free challenge, making it the largest writing contest in the world. And while the event stresses fun and creative exploration over publication, 24 NaNoWriMo novelists have had their NaNo-novels published, including Sarah Gruen, whose New York Times #1 Best Seller, Water for Elephants, began as a NaNoWriMo novel.

In 2007, there were 101,510 participants and 15,333 winners, including students from 366 K-12 schools. Sammamish Christian School is proud to take part in the 2008 challenge.

Sammamish Christian School and Noah’s Ark Preschool (SCSNA) was established in 1996. We currently enroll children for preschool through grade 3. We are a non-denominational Christian school located on the Sammamish Plateau.

The preschool and kindergarten programs are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). We encourage parents interested in our preschool or elementary program to call us at 425-392-7470 and schedule a tour.