Poetry Friday logo by Linda Mitchell Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’m in Madison, Wisconsin, for a few days. Finding Family is an Honor selection for the Charlotte Zolotow Award, and I’m going for the ceremony. I’ll get to tour the CCBC, meet the committee, and see my niece, Lily, who’s in college there. Should be lovely! On Wednesday, I shared a few reflections about what I learned or was reminded of from my April poetry practice. If you missed it, that post is here. The post also includes three magnipoems, so those will serve as my poems for this Poetry ..read more

In my Small Reads newsletter recently, I talked about reflecting on our writing: Wouldn’t it be cool, after a big writing project is totally finished, if we asked students to reflect on their writing and think about those questions above? How fun would it be to ask them to give an “acceptance speech” about their story or graphic novel or nonfiction writing? They might get some interesting “aha” moments about their own writing process and choices. I definitely have. My schedule is so overpacked–even more so the past several months since I started a part-time job and have been dealing with a c ..read more

Hi, and welcome! During National Poetry Month, I’m posting a magnipoem each day that I can. That’s a poem inspired by my simply looking at an object under a magnifying glass for 1 minute each day, and then jotting a poem. Feel free to try this with students (you can have them just get up close and personal to something and study it closely for a minute). If you want to share online, tag me (@LauraPSalas) or share here in the comments! You can see all my magnipoems here. We made it! We survived! National Poetry Month 2024 is in the books! You know, my poems were quick and pretty easy this year ..read more

Hi, and welcome! During National Poetry Month, I’m posting a magnipoem each day that I can. That’s a poem inspired by my simply looking at an object under a magnifying glass for 1 minute each day, and then jotting a poem. Feel free to try this with students (you can have them just get up close and personal to something and study it closely for a minute). If you want to share online, tag me (@LauraPSalas) or share here in the comments! You can see all my magnipoems here. Well, it’s April 29, and Poetry Month exhaustion is setting in. In March, April always sounds like a vast prairie of wildflow ..read more

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) During National Poetry Month, I’m posting a magnipoem each day that I can. That’s a poem inspired by my simply looking at an object under a magnifying glass for 1 minute each day, and then jotting a poem. Feel free to try this with students (you can have them just get up close and personal to something and study it closely for a minute). If you want to share online, tag me (@LauraPSalas) or share here in the comments!   I’m combining my National Poetry Month challenge with our monthly Poetry Sisters challenge. Kind of che ..read more

Hi, and welcome! During National Poetry Month, I’m posting a magnipoem each day that I can. That’s a poem inspired by my simply looking at an object under a magnifying glass for 1 minute each day, and then jotting a poem. Feel free to try this with students (you can have them just get up close and personal to something and study it closely for a minute). If you want to share online, tag me (@LauraPSalas) or share here in the comments! You can see all my magnipoems here. Well, the month is winding down, and I’m thinking about what I’ve learned from this month’s practice. I think the main thing ..read more

I’m sneaking my Poetry Month Magnipoem into my Classroom Connections post. Oh! This is one of my favorites I’ve written so far this month. What a relief, especially as I haven’t loved my last two. Here’s a bit of my process. And now…good news! Ya know, sometimes I look at one of my just-published books and think, “This is the one. It’s so beautiful. This is the one that’s going to reach a million readers.” And then…it doesn’t quite reach those grandiose heights! So I am absolutely thrilled that Zap! Clap! Boom! has been named a Blueberry Honor Award book! These awards celebrate children’s bo ..read more

Hi, and welcome! During National Poetry Month, I’m posting a magnipoem each day that I can. That’s a poem inspired by my simply looking at an object under a magnifying glass for 1 minute each day, and then jotting a poem. Feel free to try this with students (you can have them just get up close and personal to something and study it closely for a minute). If you want to share online, tag me (@LauraPSalas) or share here in the comments! You can see all my magnipoems here. I have a fuzzy blue bathrobe with a zipper front–and I love it! But when I looked at it up close, my mind went kind of blank ..read more

Hi, and welcome! During National Poetry Month, I’m posting a magnipoem each day that I can. That’s a poem inspired by my simply looking at an object under a magnifying glass for 1 minute each day, and then jotting a poem. Feel free to try this with students (you can have them just get up close and personal to something and study it closely for a minute). If you want to share online, tag me (@LauraPSalas) or share here in the comments! You can see all my magnipoems here. Here’s today’s magnipoem. I do not like it. But one of my goals this month is to just produce a quit magnipoem every day that ..read more

Repeating this from last week ICYMI: Guess what? My next picture book, Line Leads the Way, is available on Netgalley! If you’re a book lover, a blogger, a reviewer, a librarian (big library tie-in in this book!), or a teacher, Capstone Editions and I would be thrilled if you would like to access the digital review copy, read it, and share your opinion anywhere you talk about books! Fair disclosure: This is not a poetry book. I used a lot of wordplay and poetic techniques like alliteration, but it’s a story. I really love this book and can’t wait for it to come out on August 1. It features fabu ..read more