Small Reads for Brighters Days
Last night, I visited Knapp Elementary School in Knapp, Wisconsin, for a literacy celebration. It was easy to see Principal Kristin Humphrey is a reading specialist by training–books are celebrated everywhere in the school! I especially loved these displays of artwork related to my book A ROCK CAN BE… The kids and I read a […]
(continued from yesterday’s post) [Addendum: I am so disappointed in election results. I think it’s more important than ever to reach every kid through books and reading and writing, and telling them through each of these activities: you matter. No matter what your race, religion, or gender, you matter. You are a human being, just […]
I know it’s election day today, but I’m just going to focus on positive things! I had a fantastic two-day visit with Pinewood Elementary School last week in Monticello, MN. It’s always great to visit with students when the staff has prepped so carefully. They read some of my books, shared poems on the morning […]
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 […]
As I mentioned yesterday, I led biopoem sessions at a Young Authors Conference all last week. The students wrote and shared amazing poems: a silly poem about brussel sprouts, a thoughtful poem about creativity, a heartbreaking poem about gender identity and fitting in, a scary poem about rats, a celebratory poem about soccer, and SO […]
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 […]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I wanted to give Wealthy Elementary School a small thank you gift for having me spend a week sharing poetry and nonfiction excitement with its students. So, I decided to write a poem. It’s hard to capture how involved and positive, and supportive this school’s […]
During lunch one day with the Poetry Club (3rd-5th graders), I talked about mentor texts, which teacher Kim Doele had already introduced them to. I shared a Rebecca Kai Dotlich poem I love and how I used it as a really strong mentor text. Then I shared an excerpt from a lovely free verse poem […]
At a conference last year, I was introduced to biopoems, a wonderful structured form to let students write about a person. During my visit this week Wealthy Elementary in East Grand Rapids, MI, I’m writing biopoems with third graders, but we’re not writing them about people. Instead, we’re using topics they’ve recently researched and written […]
