Dear Students, & A New Book!

Wildflowers

Photo by Amy LV

 

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Teachers and Students - Welcome to your new school year!  I have been thinking about you, about my own children and the new schools I'll be working in and this school year ahead.  It is indeed a type of meadow, full of surprises and growing, beauty and adventure.  I can't wait to see what new book titles will land in my notebook and what new friends I will make.

I guess you could call today's poem "a gift poem" since I wrote it with all new school-year-hikers in mind.  We often write with a special audience in our heads, and today my special audience is you.  

And now....a book announcement!  I am so pleased to share this brand new book with you today.  It's THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY, compiled and edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong.  With both a Common Core and TEKS edition, this book introduces the idea of breaking for poetry each Friday.

From Janet and Sylvia -

In 2006 blogger Kelly Herold brought Poetry Friday to the “kidlitosphere.” Much like “casual Friday” in the corporate world, there is a perception in the world of literature that on Fridays we should relax a bit and take a moment for something special. Why not bring the Poetry Friday concept into your classroom and take five minutes every Friday to share a poem and explore it a bit, connecting it with children’s lives and capitalizing on a teachable moment? Pausing to share a poem—and reinforce a language skill—on Poetry Friday is an easy way to infuse poetry into your current teaching practice. 

Just in time for the 2012-2013 school year, get your copy of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY, edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. It's a new anthology of 218 original, previously-unpublished poems for children in kindergarten through fifth grade by 75 popular poets from Jack Prelutsky and J. Patrick Lewis to Jane Yolen, X.J. Kennedy, Margarita Engle, Nikki Grimes, Kathi Appelt, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Georgia Heard, and many more. (See a complete list of our impressive poets at poetryfridayanthology.blogspot.com.)

The book includes a poem a week for the whole school year (K-5) with Common Core curriculum connections provided for each poem, each week, and each grade level. Just five minutes every “Poetry Friday” will reinforce key skills in reading and language arts such as rhyme, repetition, rhythm, and alliteration. 

I am tickled to have five poems in this anthology, and thrilled to have a few copies to give away!  For the next three Fridays, by leaving a comment, you will have an opportunity to win your own copy of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY.  Please just leave a comment on this post to be entered in the first drawing.  The winner will be announced next Friday, August 24...at which time I will begin a new drawing for this book!

If you don't win...please check it out on Amazon and consider ordering a copy for yourself or your child's teacher.

On my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, it is an honor to host naturalist and teacher Bill Michalek and his notebooks this week.  Please stop by and read his thoughtful post and also enter your name in the giveaway for one of Bill's favorite books.  If you or your students keep notebooks, please remember that Sharing Our Notebooks is a blog to inspire just that work by highlighting all types of writer's and artist's notebooks.

Mary Lee is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Year of Reading.  Enjoy the treats!  Happy Poetry Friday!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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