Laura Purdie Salas

Writing the World for Kids

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Love Your Family for Valentine’s Day #ClassroomConnections

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Valentine’s Day is a great time to talk about how we love our families, even though our families might be different from our friends’ families. My book Meet My Family, a rhyming nonfiction picture book celebrating all kinds of families in the animal world, is a wonderful lead-in to this discussion. Sing and move to […]

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A Thankful Venn Diagram #ClassroomConnections

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I can’t believe Thanksgiving is next week! And while our human celebrations might look very different this year, it’s comforting to me to know that nature and animals are following thier normal routines. My book Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle shows animals’ fall routines. Wouldn’t it be cool to do a Venn diagram comparing what your students […]

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Sing and Share for National Family Week #ClassroomConnections

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National Family Week is coming up later this month (Nov. 21-27). Talking about families with your students? Check out these two activities from the teaching guide that goes with my book Meet My Family. This first one’s a song–no materials needed!   And this one lets your students share and celebrate their own family and […]

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Solve the Puzzle for Animal Adaptations! #ClassroomConnections

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It’s that time of year! Animals are growing thicker coats or gathering seeds and nuts Or they’re hunting for places to hibernate or perhaps they’re traveling to a winter home where they can find food and raise young. If you’re studying winter adaptations, here’s an activity sheet that goes with my book Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle. […]

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The Power of Water

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November 10 marks the anniversary of the 1975 sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a Great Lakes freighter that went down in a storm in Lake Superior. (You guys know how much I’m fascinated by Great Lakes freighters, right? Some good publishing news on that coming up soon!) I’m grateful for water in so many ways, […]

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Getting Ready for Winter

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The days are getting brisker, here in Minnesota anyway, and the creatures are all preparing for the cold. If you’re studying topics like hibernation, migration, and adaptation, make sure to add Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle: How Animals Get Ready for Winter (Millbrook, illus by Claudine Gevry) to your list of resources. So far this fall, I’ve […]

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Celebrating Fall Leaves!

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Fall is my favorite favorite time of year, and fall color is one of the reasons for that. A couple of weeks ago, Randy and I tried out our inflatable kayak. We were on a small lake in St. Paul, and we got to admire a bit of fall color while a bald eagle hunted […]

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Collect Rocks Day Is Coming Up! #ClassroomConnections

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Did you know September 16 is Collect Rocks Day? Me, neither! (And really, isn’t every day a good day to collect rocks?) Agates are my favorite—what’s yours? To celebrate, check out my readaloud of A Rock Can Be at https://youtu.be/xBuJ1Fys-9M And on my page for the book, I have a teaching guide plus links to […]

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Animal Adaptations #ClassroomConnections

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One of the science topics I am constantly fascinated by is animal adaptations: how animals’ bodies and behaviors adapt to their environments. My favorite facts from Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle: How Animals Get Ready for Winter (Millbrook, illus by Claudine Gevry) concern Northern wood frogs that freeze solid and earthworms that migrate vertically, just a few […]

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Fortune Cookies, School Plays, and Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle!

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Today I’m visiting with Christy Mihaly over at the Grog Blog, and I’m sharing all sorts of tidbits about my writing process for Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle. Plus tips and resources for writing in rhyme. I hope to see you over there, and thank you, Christy!

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