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Belief in Birds

Belief in Birds and Asking Teachers for Poetry Tips #PoetryFriday

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Before I share my poem, I have a favor to ask of any of you teachers. I will be presenting very soon about writing poetry with students. My audience will be pre-service teachers in a course about literacy for birth through grade 3, and I’d

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Author Visit at Rogers Elementary

I had three awesome school visits in February, and each one was a pleasure. But I’m going to share a few pictures from the last one, which was at Rogers Elementary School in Rogers, Minnesota. Holly Dragisich, the media specialist and school librarian, organized my three-day visit. The unusual thing was that this visit was

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More Than Two Sides [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Before moving on to my poem this week, I have a question for you. Do you know of one or a few kids ages 4–6 who would like to be in the book trailer for my first fiction picture book? The book comes

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Fairy Ring [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I wasn’t planning to post this week as I’ve been on school visits, and also because of my commenting debacle last week. Fingers crossed for this week! But the awesome poetry workshop kids at Hassan Elementary reminded me that playing with words is the whole

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Sacred Land #PoetryFriday

[NOTE: COMMENTS ARE FIXED NOW–THANK YOU FOR NOTIFYING ME!} Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Each winter, I get to play games on 6 Friday nights with a spectacular group of creative people (some in the kidlit world, others in entirely different worlds). A couple of weeks ago, David LaRochelle was

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Your Song #PoetryFriday

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I mentioned that I was going to try writing poems in 20 different places this year for #20for20. I don’t know if I shared my list of places here yet, but one of them was the orchestra. That’s where I jotted down the

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Haiku to Welcome the New Year

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) We’re changing things up for 2020 and posting on the last Friday of the month. Or, you know, we kinda failed to get our act together for the First Friday, and…well, never mind. We’re here now, and that’s what’s important. Thank you, Liz

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Grateful for…

I wanted to share a few more things I’m grateful for, because the harder or more stressful things are, the more it helps to focus on that. My husband Randy has been going through some painful medical procedures lately, with a scary fever and 3‑night hospital stay. I’m so grateful for all the love, support,

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3 Equations from Snowman-Cold=Puddle [#PoetryFriday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This is Week 2 (Week 1 here) of my sharing a few bits from my three books on the 2020 NCTE Poetry Notables list! So honored about this!   Before I share tidbits, I have to show you this. You might know how my very

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Winter Haiku from Lion of the Sky [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I am gob-smacked to share that I have THREE books on the 2020 NCTE Poetry Notables list!   I am so happy! The committee is made up of teacher educators, poets, and poetry lovers, and I know they spent much time and discussion on creating

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2020 — What Will It Bring Here on My Blog?

This year, time just feels like a flooded river rushing by. I didn’t do much wrap-up of the end of the year, and I am ill-prepared for the start of the year. Oh, well! I thought I’d just share a few things about my writing life and what I plan to do here on the

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Come In, a poem by Laura Purdie Salas

Come In? [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I do not feel ready for 2020–in so many ways. But time doesn’t pause just because we need time to catch up (wouldn’t it be cool if it did?!), so here’s my poem from my poetry diary earlier this week. And for lots of wonderful

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Endings and Beginnings [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome to the final 15 Words or Less Poems day (for now, anyway!) (guidelines here). I’m glad you’re here now, and I’m glad you’ve been here. I’ve been posting these photos and inviting you to write poems to them for many years now! If you’re just now finding this and want to use

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Randy Salas tries on the emergency immersion suit on the Paul R. Tregurtha freigher in advance of a safety drill.

Immersion Suit [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.  I am also so grateful for all your support as I announced the hiatus of 15 Words or Less. I hate announcing when I’m going to be ending

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