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The Journey — A Draft of Diminishing Verse
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Howdy, friends! I’ve missed a week or two recently–LOTS going on here. Most excitingly, a new website design! More on that soon. There are still tweaks to make and kinks to work out, I’m sure, but…isn’t it beautiful? Thank you to Steve Palmquist at Winding
Ready for Winter?
Fall is absolutely my favorite time of year. But even as I’m enjoying the fiery colors and ice-free sidewalks and trails, I’m aware that it’s a short season here in Minnesota. And part of fall is getting reading for winter. We humans, just like other animals, get ready for winter in lots of ways. Here
Getting Cozy for Fall–Knitting, STEM, Measuring, & Friendship Skills
Let’s talk about fall—my favorite season! It’s the perfect time to break out some knitted goodies. I haven’t knitted any gloves this year, but I’ve been working on this triangular shawlet for forEVER. If You Want to Knit Some Mittens is great for discussions about the process of getting from sheep to mittens, along with
The Best Gift for World Teachers’ Day
World Teachers’ Day (convened by UNICEF, Education International, and the International Labour Organization) is coming up on October 5, and teachers are working incredibly hard, as usual. You’re probably working very hard, too, so I’m going to suggest a quick and easy way to thank your kids’ teachers–buy them a book! Cute handmade gifts are
Being a Pond, a Poetryaction to Being a Dog
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This past couple of weeks have been humdingers. Oi. But I’m in this week with a poetryaction to Maria Gianferrari’s Being a Dog: A Tail of Mindfulness. So fun! (You can see all my poetryactions here.) And for lots of wonderful poetry, don’t miss
Social Emotional Learning for the New School Year!
I have lots of wonderful teacher friends, and at the beginning of the year, many of them focus on building community in their classrooms and libraries. If you’re looking to build community, inclusiveness, and friendship skills, consider sharing two of my books, Clover Kitty Goes to Kittygarten and We Belong. Clover Kitty is especially relevant
Collect Rocks Day Is Coming Up!
Guess what’s coming up on September 16? Collect Rocks Day! Personally, I think every day is a good day to collect rocks! Agates are my favorite—what’s yours? Tell me in the comments! To celebrate, check out my readaloud of A Rock Can Be at https://youtu.be/xBuJ1Fys-9M And on my page for the book, I have a
The Flow, a Poetryaction to Joyce Sidman’s We Are Branches
(Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Howdy, everyone–I’m (theoretically) in Central Florida visiting family this long weekend–if Idalia doesn’t stop my trip. Anyway, I won’t be around to visit everyone’s blogs, but I wanted to post this poetryaction and say Happy Poetry Friday! Have you read Joyce Sidman’s wonderful new picture book, We Are
Back to School Jitters?
It’s officially back-to-school time, at least according to all the school supplies I see on shelves everywhere. (Of course, by that logic, Halloween is in early September, but whatever.) Clover Kitty Goes to Kittygarten is all about that back-to-school anxiety that some kids feel. If you click the graphic above, you’ll find mazes, stick puppets,
That Day in July
Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This month, we Poetry Princesses played with the exquisite corpse form. Through a series of direct messages, we created a “poem” of original lines alternated with some of Linda Mitchell’s wonderful clunkers. The idea was we’d each take what we wanted from it
Poems Born from Wonder
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This is another fairly long post–sorry! Feel free to skip down to just the image poem if you only want a quick poetry hit. But if you want to know a bit more about the process behind writing poetry, whether it’s a gorgeous new printed
Welcome to the Wonder House, from Two Wonderful Poets and One Wonderful Artist!
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) It’s such a treat to see Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Georgia Heard’s new collection, Welcome to the Wonder House. Rebecca was one of the first children’s poets that lit a fire in me for writing poetry. (I discovered her in a Lee Bennett Hopkins anthology,
My Friend’s House — A Poetryaction to In a Cave
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Howdy, everyone! Thanks for your nice comments on last week’s poem, the dreaded monotetra :>D Several of you mentioned your favorite line was the one about twilight singing in plum. I have to tell you this made me so happy! I wrote that line strictly
Noise of the World
Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Also, you can skip the writing process and go right to my draft on the full-cover graphic near the bottom :>) Quick note: I’m looking for an online critique group of picture book authors that focuses solely on picture books/poetry. My own beloved
A Blizzard of…: a Poetryaction for The Power of Snow
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I have so many things to share, but I don’t want to overwhelm you, so I’m gonna do a quick bullet point list! My Texas trip was good, and I loved sharing the work of some PF friends! A big highlight was the people–from the
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Are You Looking For?
Go to my Poetry page for:
- National Poetry Month projects through the years
- Small Reads Roundups (poems grouped by topic)
- Introductions to several favorite poetry forms