During the annual Day of the Writer, Manteca High students would take chalk and scribble their writing on the sidewalk near the front office.

But Friday’s wet weather all but washed out those plans.

“So we had to improvise,” said art instructor Matt McDonald, who opted for his students to paint their ‘found poems’ on large sheets of plywood.

The fourth annual event once again consisted of students taking part in a variety of writing activities.

Art students in Mindie Dolson’s classes, for example, had the challenge to make sense of 20 random words that they cut out from magazines, in turn, re-arranging the words in a rhythmic style.

“Some of the kids who are poets found it frustrating at first,” she said. “But once they got going, they had fun with it.”

Day of the Writer was held in conjunction with the MHS Academic Boosters-supported writing contest.

Every student, teacher, staff member and administrator was urged to take part in this activity, said English teacher Elyse Silva, who once again served as organizer for Day of the Writer.

She indicated that this day is set aside to recognize the importance of the craft of writing.

As for the writing contest, each department followed a specific outline.

Included were Math (Congrats and 10 essentials), Science (Big poem / This is what it’s like to be a…), electives (Top Ten list), Language Arts (Six room poem), Physical Education (What would happen if…), and English (The unofficial rules of ____).

All student and staff entries should be turned in by the Tuesday, Nov. 27, deadline.

The top pieces in each category will be forwarded to the writing contest committee for judging, with winners to be announced soon after.