I don’t often take a week off from blogging, but the end of the semester got away from me until I realized I almost let National Poetry Month go by unrecognized—can’t have that! Of course there are lots of ways to celebrate, starting with the 30 Ways to Celebrate from the American Academy of Poets … Continue reading
How do you think your pen is feeling today? How about your phone? Your keyboard? Your shoes? One of the most essential skills for reading, writing, and creativity is understanding different points of view. While we typically think about point of view when considering the human characters in literature, Drew Daywalt’s The Day the Crayons … Continue reading
April is coming, with time for silliness. Somehow the total foolishness of April Fools’ Day feels exactly right after the long dark winter. You might want to check last year’s April Family Fun post for links to silly experiments, amazing fake foods, or clown make up. Or maybe this year you’d like to write some … Continue reading
It’s time for Valentine’s Day–that celebration of all things heart-shaped that brightens the depths of seemingly endless winter. I’ve written several previous posts on creative Valentine’s Day activities— check the Valentine’s posts from 2012 and 2013. I’m still waiting to hear who presented the best case for another body part to take over as ambassador of … Continue reading
One of our regular holiday pastimes is exploring new bookstores, and this year was no exception. One of my favorite discoveries on a recent trip was Shakespeare’s Storybook, subtitled Folk Tales that Inspired the Bard. In it, storyteller Patrick Ryan explores the traditional tales that may have inspired some of Shakespeare’s most iconic stories. Imagine … Continue reading
Where do creative kids go to publish their latest story, poem, editorial, review, or just about anything else? One possible answer is Creative Kids magazine. Creative Kids is a magazine “by kids, for kids” ages 8-16—it even has a brand new advisory board of students aged 7-15. Creative Kids aims to include prose, poetry and … Continue reading
I just returned from the National Association for Gifted Children convention, a venue I haven’t visited in several years. I came home with questions (Like, how did my friends go from young bloods to senior scholars when time seems to have flown by?) but also with lots of new ideas and resources. For the next … Continue reading
I love museum shops. They are almost always full of interesting and beautiful things—and they are one of my best sources for historical “artifacts” I can use to help students explore historical research. In museum stores I’ve acquired replicas of the newspapers reporting activities of the U.S. women’s suffrage movements, tin lamps and other gadgets, … Continue reading
It may be the day before Halloween in the U.S., but it is never too late for a good parody. I’ve written before about how parodies can give students motivating and effective practice in analogical thinking, and this week I discovered a new one. Ludwig Bemelmans’ classic children’s book Madeline tells the story of twelve … Continue reading
Do you teach Shakespeare? Interested in a new twist on iambic pentameter? Enter William Shakespeare’s Star Wars, by Ian Doescher. William Shakespeare’s Star Wars (subtitled “Verily, A New Hope”) is a retelling of the Star Wars tale as it might have been written by the bard himself. Imagine Luke Skywalker, Hans Solo, wookies and robots, … Continue reading
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