Creative Writing in Veterinary Science Camp by Author of Be the Vet Books

Do you want to practice your creative writing? Do you love pets? Do you want to be a veterinarian when you grow up? This class will allow you to practice your creative writing with a subject that you love and taught by a teacher who has written a lot of fictional stories about veterinary medicine!

📙I am the co-author, along with my veterinarian husband, Dr. Ed Blesy, of the popular BE THE VET book series which has sold 1000s of books over the past several years. Using the first person point of view, the  books make the child feel as if he or she is part of the story. 
Each story features fictional dog and cat emergency or illness cases followed by an opportunity for the reader to suggest treatment based upon prior knowledge and story clues. Then my husband shares his actual suggested treatment in the fictional case in the book. Readers learn about many common cases that veterinarians see.

👩‍🏫This Class:
Following the success of my ongoing class based upon the stories in BE THE VET, I have created THIS class which focuses more on the creative writing part of the series. Students will have a chance to write their OWN pet emergency or illness stories focusing on what symptoms or signs of distress the animal might exhibit and what care the veterinarian might provide. *As is true in the BE THE VET series, students will be advised to make their pet emergency or illness stories be a case that would work out "happily ever after."

🐕Day 1:
*Introductions
*Explain the structure of Be the Vet's dog and cat emergency stories.
*Share examples from the book series:  (for example, dog bite from another dog, chocolate ingestions by a dog, tapeworms in a cat, foreign object ingestion by a cat)
*Provide a lesson in how to structure and add details to a short story.
*Brainstorm ideas for dog or cat or pet emergency or illness situations (can be based on personal experience, if desired, or completely fictional).

🐈Day 2:
*Greetings
*Lesson about character development and settings
*Each student will:
**Choose a pet emergency story.
**Create characters for the story.
**Choose a story setting.
**Begin writing pet emergency story.
***Students will be given a worksheet to complete that will help with story organization. Students must be able to write independently though I am, of course, available to answer questions.


🐶 😺Day 3:
*Greetings
*Finish writing pet emergency stories (or most of it).
*Add a paragraph about what they think the veterinarian may do to help their animal.
*Add the "happily ever after ending" for the pet after it has been to the veterinary clinic in their story.
*Share stories (or partial stories) with their peers. The "I pass" rule will be respected though sharing is encouraged. I want this class to be stress-free, fun, and encouraging of the creative writing process.

Please note: IF there are only a couple of students, the class will likely NOT last the full 50 minutes per session as I allot time for sharing with multiple students. Thank you.

*I will NOT be medically correcting the children if they suggest a specific treatment for their written emergency or illness. I am not a veterinarian. The stories they are writing are fictional as is their treatment. The purpose of the class is to practice creative writing after having short story lessons from a teacher and published author in the subject area of veterinary medicine which interests many children. Having read my books is NOT a requirement.

📘Fictional Veterinary Books by Marcy Blesy:
Be the Vet, Book 1
Be the Vet, Book 2
What's it Like To Be the Vet?
Hazel, the Clinic Cat
Hazel, the Clinic Cat, and the Kooky Kittens

-BS in elementary education
-MS in educational administration