Small Reads for Brighters Days
I haven’t been to yoga for almost a year, and Saturday morning, I went to an early practice. The studio was crowded, and people arriving just before the start time were looking discouraged. But those of us already in the room said, “Here…” and scooted our mats to make more room, and everyone fit. We […]
On Saturday, the 17th, I spent the day in Red Wing, MN, at the Anderson Center for the Minnesota Children’s Book Festival. Lisa Bullard and I both manned the So You Want to Be an Author tent. We spent the buggy afternoon talking with adults who want to write for kids and also writing poems […]
Last week, I visited Plainview Library (southern MN), and I had a wonderful time meeting Meg Curtiss, a children’s librarian who so naturally connects with kids. She’s doing awesome things for both the public library and (as a volunteer) the local school library. We celebrated the messiness of creativity and writing, and I was so […]
Last week, I got to teach at Success Beyond the Classroom’s Young Authors Conference all week at Bethel University here in the Twin Cities. Each year, this is a great chance to write with 12-15 groups of 3rd-8th graders. I always do poetry, and this year, we did biopoems. I was introduced to biopoems at […]
Last month, I got to visit Hugo Elementary School in White Bear Lake, MN, at the invitation of Media Specialist Connie Stirling, whom I had run into at the Hubbs Children’s Literature Conference. I was so excited to visit the school and spend an entire day writing poems with 1st graders! This meant the day […]
Back during Poetry Month, I had a lovely overnight visit to southern Minnesota for an evening event at the Lanesboro Public Library and then a school visit at LeRoy Elementary the next morning. (Here’s an article in the local paper. Thanks, Charlie Warner!) It’s agricultural country down there and Amish country, brown and barren and […]
I’m on an overnight trip in southern Minnesota, combining a library event last night with a school visit this morning. I’m noticing a shift in my school visits over the past year or so. My focus remains to inspire enthusiasm for reading and writing. I want kids to love words and books. But I also […]
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 […]
I had the best time in Mishiwaka, IN, at the Penn-Harris-Madison Young Authors Conference! I presented three sessions and shared, read, and wrote with groups of K-1, 2-3, and 4-5 writers. We had a blast writing some very quick group poems, and I’m sharing them here with you. I’ll share some pics and more about […]
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 […]
