A Book Slice - Tasty!

Tuesday Slice of Life is hosted each week by Stacey and Ruth at their blog, 

Two Writing Teachers

         I don’t want anyone to forget that we just finished poetry month, so it’s good to keep one fabulous book of poetry in mind in May, too. 

        I am happy to write about Laura Purdie Salas today, May 1st, about her new book, Bookspeak, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon.   I wrote a haiku for Laura today as a tribute to her love of books and poetry, and because she wrote a haiku every day during poetry month. 

Talk of poetry.

Laura’s popping up everywhere.

She writes how books feel!

            When I taught in the classroom we loved conversations about books and reading.  We discussed what books give us, what they do for us, those we like and why, those we dislike and why.   Students not only discussed these topics as a class group, but they wrote to me in letter journals about their books and delights or struggles.  They brought books that I just had to read and they loaned books to each other.  The more formal writing was about books, too: poetry, reviews, and personal stories about their earliest memories or special times with books and parents, grandparents or aunts and uncles.  I have a few books with published works about books too, but Laurie Purdie Salas’ recent book filled with wonderful poems about all kinds of book topics makes me sad because I am no longer in the classroom so I can share it with my students.  However, I have done the next best thing, I am sharing the book titled Bookspeak with all the classes in the school! 

All Things Reading!

      

It’s been quite a month.  I am connecting in several places today as I say goodbye to April, poetry month. 

       You can find me over at the Nerdy Book Club talking about all the bookshelves I have in my house (somewhat embarrassing), which really only means I own a lot of books .

       I am connecting to Betsy’s blog, Teaching Young Writers in order to share the chalk poem that I wrote and chalked last week, of much interest to all the young skateboarders who practice at the end of my street, a cul de sac. Here is my poem:

       And I will link this post to It’s Monday, What Are You Reading, to Kellee and Jen’s blog, Teach Mentor Texts which I try to do every Monday. 

Non-fiction - A Mystery

         I am in the middle of preparing a short presentation about non-fiction writing and poetry for the teachers at school, and in the recent two days, I’ve found two posts who are such perfect examples of that.  It was like a gift to me to read them.  Please look at Amy Ludwig VanderWater’s The Poem Farm for her final Dictionary Hike post about the Zaire River, and then go to Elaine Magliaro’s Wild Rose Reader for three different ways to write about one thing. 

       Thus in the midst of this preparation, I’ve been trying my own research that includes my discoveries in a poem.

Fibonacci holds my secret

1, 2, 3, 5 . . . all around

But others know the deeper ones,

those who find me on the ground.

Squirrels know me as a one-dish meal

and nibble as they please.

They hide me in their middens

to find in winter’s breeze.

But the most important secret—

are you able yet to deduce?

It’s that I sometimes become a seedling

that becomes a spiky spruce.

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       Remember there is a poetry month CHALK POEM finale that Betsy of Teaching Young Writers is hosting tomorrow.  Come join us!

           Activities still are happening in these final days of Poetry Month. The last lines of the kidlit Progressive Poem can be found through the links on the right. Find Jama Rattigan's blog post at Jama's Alphabet Soup  to discover other Poetry sites in the kidlitosphere doing wonderful things!  Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining Mary Lee, at A Year of Reading in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Donna at Mainely Write, and Laura at LauraSalas.  Plus Greg Pincus of Gotta Book has just published his first E-book, The Late Bird.  

Good things and Not so good

       Today on PBS, near the end of poetry month, they showed an interview with the United States poet laureate Philip Levine with the British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy.  It is brief, but great to see.  You can find it here.

Someone’s cat

lay at the side of the road

on my way to work this morning.

He was curled like his brothers,

seemed comfortable in his sleep.

I wondered if someone’s hand

missed that soft grey fur,

if someone’s lap missed his warmth.

I imagine the bowl of cream

sitting in the kitchen

untouched.

I hear the voice call for him

out the back door.

“He’s always been there before.”

But if no one is

waiting,

calling,

crying,

then I will give a thought to this grey cat,

and grieve his passing.

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         Be sure to read about  a poetry month CHALK POEM finale that Betsy of Teaching Young Writers is hosting on April 30th.  Come join us!

           Activities still are happening in these final days of Poetry Month. The last lines of the kidlit Progressive Poem can be found through the links on the right. Find Jama Rattigan's blog post at Jama's Alphabet Soup  to discover other Poetry sites in the kidlitosphere doing wonderful things!  Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining Mary Lee, at A Year of Reading in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Donna at Mainely Write, and Laura at LauraSalas.  Plus Greg Pincus of Gotta Book has just published his first E-book, The Late Bird.  

photo credit: caterpiya via photo pin cc

Poetry Friday Rocks!

                A few days ago, Amy at A Poem Farm posted a poem titled Urge that craftily offered the advice to use strong verbs.  It begins:  Pack your pocket full of verbs.  So I did, yesterday, during Poem In Your Pocket Day.  Today's poem is a trial and error of Amy's advice; verbs are falling from my pocket!  Poetry Friday today is with Tabatha at Tabatha Yeatts: The Opposite of Indifference.  Come read and enjoy the final Poetry Friday of April!

                Hm-m-m, at lunch today, I could:

munch some mangoes

attack some tuna

slurp spaghetti

pick up a pepperoni pizza

tickle my tummy with tofu

squeeze a lemon

crunch a coconut

chew some crackers

gobble grapes

tackle some tacos

chomp churros

lick a lollipop

devour a donut

nibble a nectarine

taste a tomato

woof a waldorf salad

                   Ah-h-h!  I can hardly wait.

        Be sure to read about  a poetry month CHALK POEM finale that Betsy of Teaching Young Writers is hosting on April 30th.  Come join us!

           Activities still are happening in these final days of Poetry Month. The last lines of the kidlit Progressive Poem can be found through the links on the right. Find Jama Rattigan's blog post at Jama's Alphabet Soup  to discover other Poetry sites in the kidlitosphere doing wonderful things!  Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining Mary Lee, at A Year of Reading in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Donna at Mainely Write, and Laura at LauraSalas.  Plus Greg Pincus of Gotta Book has just published his first E-book, The Late Bird.