I got the nicest surprise in the mail last week–a big envelope full of thank you cards for a school visit I did recently! In April, I did two weeks’ worth of school visits in southwestern Minnesota (see a 30-second video here). My very last school of that trip was Reede Gray Elementary, where they have an author visit just for the third graders every year. The kids were enthusiastic readers and question-askers, even though it was Friday afternoon.
The halls around the media center were full of haiku and acrostics and wonderful art. They had done some nonfiction poetry and even a welcome to me in haiku! It was fabulous. The teachers and media center staff had been doing a great job getting the kids excited about poetry and about my visit.
The letters were terrific–the high point of my week! Here are excerpts from just a few.
Poetry is like love. Thank you!
–Hannah
My favorite part is when we got to read the poems.
–Jacoby
You make good books for me…I hope you make different books so I can read them.
–William
Thank you for teaching me that animals can have poems, like us humans can.
–Rosemary
Poems are my favorite, too. I love them. I could write them like every day.
–Josi
Thank you for talking about poems. They can be so fun!
–Travis
Thank you for coming to my school and inspiring me to try my best in what I love.
–Marcades
I like the snake poem. I think that was awesome. I also like the picture of your daughter and how she looked like a walrus. That was so funny.
–Eric
I hope you liked the haiku. I liked your books.
–Logan
Thank you for sharing your books with us. I liked all of them. I liked when you let us read the lines.
–Rozlyn
Thanks for your poems
How you kept us reading,
And let us decide with the fireworks, [we wrote a poem about fireworks together]
Now we’re filled with job,
Keeping us writing poems,
So thanks for coming.
–Sara
I had a blast. I liked when we made that Mars Rover poem.
–Nicole
Aren’t they lovely? Maddie looking like a walrus (which inspired my book Stampede), writing group poems together, and reading poems out loud together were definite highlights for the kids.
Thank you, Reede Gray staff and students, for making my visit so terrific, and for taking the time to write and send these thank yous. I enjoyed reading every single one of them!