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Seagull [15 words or less poems]
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)! Hi, everyone! I took this picture a few weeks ago in Grand Marais, MN, a beautiful little town on Lake Superior. It was a beautiful afternoon, and I got to walk along the lakeshore looking at rocks for a little while before my
poetryaction and bookalikes for You Are (Not) Small
Kids are always told they’re too young or too small for just about everything they want to do. This picture book reassures kids that they are not small…and they are. It depends on how you look at things. For this poetryaction, I borrowed a line from the book itself: “You are small and you are
poetryaction for Imani’s Moon
Sometimes I like to start a poetryaction by wondering what happened after the last page was turned. Has the main character changed? Are there hints in the book about what might happen in the future? Check out my Pinterest boards of poetryactions and bookalikes if you’d like to see more:>)
poetryaction and bookalikes for Scaly Spotted Feathered Frilled
Happy Monday! It’s been a while since I’ve shared some poetryactions and bookalikes, so I’m planning to share quite a few in the coming weeks! I love how Catherine Thimmesh clearly explains how paleoartists study, make inferences, draw analogies?and how they also must come to terms with certain things we may never know about
Oh, Did You Need That Homework? [poetry friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I hope you had an awesome Poetry Month. I did. It was super busy with lots of visits to schools and libraries. However, I’m way behind on blog reading, and I especially am a bit sad that I missed out on so many terrific online
Straws [15 words or less poems]
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)! Hi, y’all! It’s great to be back after a VERY busy and social Poetry Month! Here’s some commissioned art outside the Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin. I believe our tour guide said these are supposed to represent flowers. Though I could be remembering
Tip #23: Ask Kids Questions [Poetry Tips for Teachers]
Welcome to today’s tip in my month-long (even if it was last month) Poetry Tips for Teachers series. This is the last tip, and I thank you guys so much for stopping by to read throughout April and today! Later this month, once I recover from my Poetry Month road trips and events, I plan
2 Poems for Poetry Friday!
Happy Poetry Friday! I’ll have another tip Tuesday in my month-long Poetry Tips for Teachers series. For today, I already have two poems I need to share because of other folks’ schedules, so I didn’t want to overwhelm you with even more stuff! For my first Poetry Friday poem, I am pleased to be featured
Tip #22: Fess Up [and 15 Words or Less Poems]
Welcome to today’s tip in my month-long Poetry Tips for Teachers series. Tip #22: Fess up. If you don’t feel comfortable with poetry (whether it’s the poetry itself or just the dramatic presentation of it), it’s okay to let students know that. In fact, they are often thoroughly relieved to discover that you aren’t the
Tip #21: Focus on Sounds [Poetry Tips for Teachers]
Welcome to today’s tip in my month-long Poetry Tips for Teachers series. Tip #21: Focus on sounds. If a poem features repeated sounds in it, emphasize those sounds as you read it so that kids will pick up on the repetition. In the poem below, for example, which I wrote for Ed DeCaria’s March Madness
Tip #20: Mix It Up! [Poetry Tips for Teachers]
Welcome to today’s tip in my month-long Poetry Tips for Teachers series. Tip #20: Mix it up! I hear people advise teachers, “Just share poems you love!” I kind of disagree with that. I mean, of course, share the poems you love. But perhaps your poetry taste is very narrow. If you only share silly
Tip#19: Let kids chime in! [Plus a guest post for rhyming writers]
First of all, writer friends, I have a guest post up at Angie Karcher’s RhyPiBoMo series. I shared an excerpt from the book Lisa Bullard and I wrote together, Rhyming Picture Books: The Write Way. Take a peek if you’re interested! And teacher friends, welcome to today’s tip in my month-long Poetry Tips for Teachers
Tip #18: Let the Poet Read [Poetry Tips for Teachers]
Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome to today’s tip in my month-long Poetry Tips for Teachers series. Tip #18: Let the poet read. If you’re self-conscious about reading poetry aloud, one way to ease into it is let the poets themselves read! I love the Poetry Speaks to Children anthology that comes with a CD of many
Tip #17: Give a Line Some Space [and 15 Words or Less Poems]
Welcome to today’s tip in my month-long Poetry Tips for Teachers series. Tip #17: Give a line some space. One approach to reading poems aloud is to do a slight pause at the end of each line, whether there is punctuation there or not. That’s the identifying factor of poetry, after all. Poets break their
Tip #16: Add Sound Effects [Poetry Tips for Teachers]
Welcome to today’s tip in my month-long Poetry Tips for Teachers series. Tip #16: Add sound effects. Have kids make sound effects appropriate to the poem. Kids love being sound effects experts, and it give pre-readers, especially, a great way to be part of a poem reading when they don’t actually know the poem yet.
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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