Elf Owl and Second Grade Gifts

Happy greetings from All Write!!! Summer Institute 2013.  It has been wonderful to be in Warsaw, Indiana, celebrating reading and writing with so many new and old friends.  I was so excited to be here that I got my days confused and actually posted early, by accident! Happy Poetry Every Day!

Elf Owl

by Amy LV

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

Students - Elf owls are very small birds, about the size of sparrows.  They are desert birds who live in saguaro cacti in the southwestern parts of the United States and in Mexico.  For today's poem, I pretended to be an elf owl and to speak as an elf owl.  Learning new facts and spinning them into poems is one of the most joyful parts of my life.  You will easily find the repeating line...and maybe you will notice what is perhaps my most-proud-rhyme ever!

This spring, I had the good fortune to Skype with Barbara Lehn's second grade class from Willard Elementary in Concord, Massachusetts.  After we talked poetry and visited (even some pets) through our computers, the students burst into a flurry of writing their own poems.  I was very lucky to receive a whole envelope full of notes and poems which I am pleased to share with you for today's Poetry Peek.  Simply click the poems to enlarge them.

by Anna

I would like to say many thank you hugs to Barbara Lehn and her class full of poets and readers.  I very much enjoyed my first-ever-Skype ever with them, and one of these young poets, Matilda, expresses my gratitude best -

by Matilda

May you all enjoy the many gifts of poetry all summer long...and throughout your lives.

It's still not too late to register for Kate Messner's Teachers Write! free online summer writing camp.  I'll be visiting for a session, as will many other authors, and it's a wonderful way to get back writing in community and in your own home at the same time.  Kate Messner offers many gifts to the Kidlitosphere, and it was her Kid-Lit Cares: Superstorm Sandy Relief Effort that connected Barbara Lehn's class and me through educator, author, and mother Linda Booth Sweeney. Linda bid on my books and Skype visit, and I'm so glad she did.  Thank you!

This week at Sharing Our Notebooks, I am so happy to have my friend Emily Krempholtz generously offering a look into many of her notebooks, past and present.  This blot has been a bit fallow of late, and I could not be more grateful than to have Emily bring it back to life. Please stop by and get re-notebook-inspired and enter Emily's giveaway too!

If you happened to miss Monday's post, please visit it if you'd like to learn about Professor Cathryn Smith's poetry pole, a wonderful thing indeed!

Today Carol is hosting Poetry Friday today at Carol's Corner.  Visit to discover a variety of poetic picture books and find a multitude of links to all poetry goodness in the Kidlitosphere today.  Next week, I will host the festivities here and hope to see you back.

In the meantime, here is a writing technique for you to try, from second grader Caroline!

by Caroline

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