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Rabbits Recycle, from Putrid Poetic Ponderings [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Here’s a poem from The Putrid Poetic Ponderings of Louis J. Pasternak, AKA Dr. Skullstench, which I’ll be sharing in serial form right here throughout National Poetry Month. If you know of teachers who might be looking for a humorous, accessible poetry read-aloud for Poetry
Tangled [15 Words or Less Poems]
Welcome to 15 Words or Less Poems Day! Are you ready to wake up your poetry brains with our weekly exercise (guidelines here)? Most of my pics seem to come from airports or planes lately! This one is in O’Hare. This image makes me think of:
The Penn-Harris-Madison Young Authors Conference
Monday, I shared the group poems written by the K‑5 students at the Penn-Harris-Madison Young Authors Conference last weekend in Mishiwaka, IN. Today, I want to just share a few details/thoughts on the event. My entire family except me was born in Indiana, and I found out right before I left Minnesota that my maternal
Poetryaction for Summer Birds [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I got to meet Margarita Engle at NCTE last fall when we were signing books next to each other. What a lovely person! Have you read her Summer Birds, with glorious illustrations by Julie Paschkis? I confess I’m not a huge bug person. Leaving behind
Landing [15 Words or Less Poems]
Welcome to 15 Words or Less Poems Day! Are you ready to wake up your poetry brains with our weekly exercise (guidelines here)? Well, I’m kind of annoyed that there’s a person in my picture! The lens didn’t click fast enough, I guess. Oh well. When I visited Wealthy Elementary School last month in Michigan,
Read-Aloud Revival & the Author-Illustrator Relationship
I was the guest author for an online Author Access Event yesterday with Sarah Mackenzie. I had an awesome time talking with Sarah and fielding questions from homeschooling families who were taking part in the livestream event. That video series is part of a paid members-only portion of the site, but I wanted to share
A Sap and Sun Sedoka with the Poetry Princesses [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! Last month, we Poetry 7 shared our ekphrastic poems inspired by Picasso sculptures. I was not too happy with either the sculpture OR my poem. I’ll try to be less curmudgeonly this month:>) This month, we wrote sedoka, and mine was kind of a
Snowplowasaurus [15 Words or Less Poems]
Welcome to 15 Words or Less Poems Day! Are you ready to wake up your poetry brains with our weekly exercise (guidelines here)? I was walking the track at my gym a few weeks ago, and looking out the window, I could see a big tractor-thingy (bulldozer?) removing snow off the roof of the library
A Poetryaction for If You Plant a Seed [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’ve blogged about NCTE last fall, and one of the many enjoyable sessions was the Children’s Literature Breakfast, featuring Kadir Nelson. I was quoting Kadir in a talk about mentor texts that I gave last weekend (more about that next week), so I thought I’d
Leaf Necklace [15 Words or Less Poems]
Welcome to 15 Words or Less Poems Day! Are you ready to wake up your poetry brains with our weekly exercise (guidelines here)? OK, hopefully I’ve finally got it right this week! This is a picture of a gift given to me by Kim Doele, a 3rd-grade teacher at Wealthy Elementary. She was hugely instrumental
Essential: Update on My Word of the Year
I figured it was time for a Word of the Year check-in. And then I realized I couldn’t remember my Word of the Year. Oi. That tells you right off the bat I haven’t been thinking about it much, doesn’t it? On the plus side, even though I haven’t been thinking of the word itself,
Can Be… Books by 2nd Graders
I’ve been sharing loads of poems by the students of Wealthy Elementary, but today, I want to share some nonfiction. The second grade wanted to write nonfiction books using my Can Be… mentor text project. I would only have two sessions with each class, one 45 minutes long and the other 30 minutes long. So
Sort of Ceiling [15 Words or Less Poems]
Welcome to 15 Words or Less Poems Day! Are you ready to wake up your poetry brains with our weekly exercise (guidelines here)? Sorry for the confusion last week–I had the settings to not allow comments (accidentally). We should be all good today, though! Thank you for your poems and good thoughts last week. My
Monday Was a Poetry Blur at Wealthy Elementary
Here are a few pictures from yesterday, when I did grade-level sessions plus kindergarten class poems about love. And I got to hear many amazing poems by members of the Poetry Club! Principal Morey and all the faculty and staff have been so enthusiastic and welcoming. Today, I’ll be doing lots of individual class workshops,
Getting the K‑5 Poetry/Nonfiction Party Started at Wealthy Elementary
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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