Blog

Afraid to Wish for Answers [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) You know, we Poetry Princesses organized our monthly challenges for this year at the end of 2017. And a sestina in July sounded just peachy. Really. Then…real life. My husband and I moved on Monday, and July was a month of frantic packing,

Read More »

Peacock [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.   Here’s another photo from our trip to Cyprus. This lovely gent lives at the same camel park as the camel I shared a couple of weeks ago. This

Read More »
On Your Way to School

On Your Way to School #PoetryFriday

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell have done it again, creating another poetry anthology perfect for educators to use to grow readers who are excited about poetry. Great Morning!  (Pomelo Books, 2018; hear a sample read here) is a wonderful selection of poems meant for school

Read More »
Hay

Hay! [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.  Before today’s challenge, I want to share some lovely news from Elaine Magliaro (author of the glorious picture book Things to Do) shared on Facebook recently that two

Read More »
Spurious Sayings

Spurious Sayings [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Here’s my final poem I wrote for the Madness Poetry competition created by Ed DeCaria–this is the one that kicked me from the tourney in the Final Four, where it was beaten by a fabulous Cinderella poem by Amelia Shearer. Our word was “spurious.”

Read More »

Camel [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.  While in Cyprus, we went to a camel park–and rode camels! I loved this handsome fellow. This image makes me think of several things:

Read More »
Together. Three.

Together. Three. [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This week has been a rough week. I went to a celebration of life for the husband of a friend, and I’ve had a lot of stress both personally (moving in a couple of weeks!) and professionally. As I reread this week’s poem, I remembered

Read More »

Mosaic Sky [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 really have a thing for airport art. Here’s a close-up of a piece of a mosaic: This image makes me think of several things:

Read More »
Things I Will Miss-rev

Things I Will Miss When We Move — an Aphra Behn Poem [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) You know what happens when you collaborate? You stretch. You grow. You learn. Even if it’s not always a comfortable process, it’s well worth it! This month, our Poetry Princess challenge was an Aphra Behn poem. Nope, never heard of it. Turns out

Read More »
Kofinou Refugee Camp

Refugee Camp Mural [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.  Here in the United States, we celebrated our independence and freedom yesterday. (Hope you had a fun  holiday!) I thought this might be a good week to share

Read More »

A Thousand Nicknames for Snow [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This might be an odd choice for the end of June(!), but I’m continuing along with sharing the poems I wrote for the Madness Poetry competition created by Ed DeCaria. This was for Round 3, and my assigned word was “parlance.”

Read More »
Tower Bridge, London

Tower Bridge [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 love boats and water and bridges. I took this pic while we were on our Thames Rocket boat tour, as the guide explained to us that when

Read More »

Poems of Empathy — #PoetryFriday

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’m taking a break from sharing my Madness Poetry poems to ask you to go back and look at 1 or 2 student poems I shared earlier this week. I shared photos of 12 or so pairs of very brief poems related to asylum-seekers. I’m

Read More »
swan

Swan [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. In the flat we stayed in in London (Canary Wharf area) for a few days, we could feed the ducks and birds right off our balcony or from

Read More »
Green Card Voices speaker

A Compassionate Point of View in Poetry — World Refugee Day

Wednesday, June 20, is World Refugee Day, and I wanted to share a poetry-writing activity I did with 3rd-8th graders in case you’re looking for a writing activity with one of your summer programs (or in years to come). Almost every year, I teach at Success Beyond the Classroom’s Young Authors Conference at Bethel University

Read More »
Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,548 other subscribers

Are You Looking For?

Poetry Friday posts

Classroom Connections posts

All my poetryactions

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
Tags
#waterpoemproject15 Words or Less Poems20for2030 Painless Classroom Poems50 State Poemsacrosticsactivity pagesactivity sheetALAA Leaf Can Be…Amy Ludwig VanDerwaterA Need to FeedanthologiesanthologyA Rock Can Be…art projectsaudiopoemsawardsbad newsBarbara Juster EsbensenBilly Collinsbiopoemsblog tourbookalikesbook festivalsBookSpeak!book spine poemsbook trailersbop poembyr a thoddaidcafepresscalendar poemsCamp Read-a-LotCan Be… bookscan be… poemsCapstoneCarol Varsalonacascade poemsCatherine FlynnccbcCCRA.W.3CCRA.W.4CCRA.W.5centoschapter booksCharles Waterschoral compositionschristina rossetticinquainsCLAclassified ad poemsclassroom connectionclassroom connectionsClover Kittyconferences and conventionscrown sonnetscybilsdansaDare to DreamDavid Elliottdeeper wisdom poemdefinitosdiamantesdiversitydizaindodoitsuDot DayDouglas Floriandownloadablesdrum corpse.e. cummingsekphrastic poemsepistolary poemsequation poemsessentialethereeseventsexquisite corpseFairy Tale Garage Salefamilyfibonaccifiction picture booksfinding familyfirefightersforeign editionsfound poemsfree author zoomsfree versefrom studentsgeesegeorgia heardghazalGift Taggiveawaygolden shovelgoldilocksgratitudehaikuheart of aheart of a teacherHeidi MordhorstHelen FrostHighlightshow-to poemshow to make a rainbowI Am FromI Am poemsidiomsif you want to knit some mittensIf You Were the MoonILAimagepoemsinterviewin the middle of the nightIRAIrelandIrene LathamJ. Patrick LewisJanet WongJoyce SidmanKendraKerlanKidlit Comboslailaura’s board booksLaura’s booksLaura’s poemsLaura’s readingsLaura ShovanLee Bennett HopkinsLilian MoorelimericksLinda Booth SweeneyLine Leads the WayLion of the Skylist poemslittle free librarylive writingLullaby and Kisses Sweetlyricsmadness poetrymagnipoemsmargaret simonMarilyn Singermary lee hahnmask poemsMatt Forrest EsenwineMeet My FamilyMelissa StewartMentors for Rentmentor textsmetaphorMichelle Myers LacknerMillbrookMinnesota Book Awardsmoneymoonmy reading lifemy writing processN+7naaninarrative poemsNational Poetry Month 2012 (haiku a day)National Poetry Month 2014 (riddle-ku)National Poetry Month 2015National Poetry Month 2016National Poetry Month 2017 (#wonderbreak)national poetry month 2018 (haiku a day)National Poetry Month 2020National Poetry Month 2021 (#EquationPoem)national poetry month 2022 (sticky-note poems)National Poetry Month 2023 (Digging for Poems)National Poetry Month 2024 (magnipoems)ncteNerdy Book Clubnifty newsnifty stuffNikki Grimesnonfictionnonfiction booksNonfiction Writers Dig Deepnovelsnovels in verseodesOne Minute Till BedtimeoppositifyOskar’s VoyagepadletpantoumsparodiesPatreonpeacepersonalpet poemsphotopoetryphrase acrosticspicture booksplagiarismpoempicspoemspoems for two voicespoemsketchpoetic pursuitsPoetry 7poetryactionspoetry activitiesPoetry Blastpoetry booksPoetry FridayPoetry Friday AnthologiesPoetry Princessespoetry promptspoetry sistersPoetry Tips for Teachersprogressive poempublishing processpuddle songPutridquotationsraccontinosRandy Salasread-aloudreadaloudreading poetry in the classroomRebecca Kai Dotlichrecipe poemsrefugeesresearchreview copiesreviewsrevisionrhyming booksrhyming nonfictionrhyming picture booksRhyming Picture Books the Write Wayrhyming poemsRiddle-kuriddle poemsRock Can Be…Rock the Blogrondeau redoublesRudyard Kiplingsalas snippetsSCBWIschool visitsScotlandseasonssecrets of the loonSELsestinasshrinking daysskinnyskypeslice of lifesmall readssnack snooze skedaddlesnowman-coldsonnetsStampede!storm poemstorytimestorywalkstudent poemsstudent workSylvia VardellTanita Davistankatautogramteachableteacher resourcesteen/adult poemsterza rimasthankfulthank yous and referencesthe business sidethings to do iftracy nelson maurertrioletstunie munson-bensonvideosVikram MadanvillanellevillanellesWater Can Be…wealthy elementaryWe BelongWhat’s InsideWhy-kuwinterwonderwonderbreakword of the yearwordplaywordsmithswork for hirewritingwriting bookswriting processwriting promptswriting the life poeticyoung authors conferencesYouTubeZapZap Clap Boomzenozentangle
Show More Show Less

Join Laura's monthly newsletter for eductators

Get three of Laura's favorite poetry activities when you subscribe to "Small Reads."