learning
Poetry Opens New Worlds
When you find a favorite writer who also wrote poems, it’s like a light bulb moment! This is what happened earlier this week when I saw a quote by EB White from a letter he had written to a despondent person. It was on social media. And in these times, I thought it was very…
There’s a BioBlitz Underway for Monarch Butterflies
One way that scientists gather information about different species is to engage the public. Monitoring life cycles, sightings, phenological events, and migrations are all ways to find out more about what a particular species is doing and how it’s adapting to our changing world. One such example is the BioBlitz that is underway now for…
A Busy Week
It’s Friday again! How the heck did that happen? Time just moves too fast! Last week, we brought home a trailer load of boxes that had been in storage since our move to the cabin in 2022. We meant to get the totes out before now, but – as you know, life happens. When I…
Poetry Friday: Eternal Ephemerals
One of the things I learned about when I worked at a local land trust was spring ephemerals. Going into the job, I didn’t know much. I knew a lot about other topics, but spring ephemerals had escaped my attention. After I worked at the Mississippi Valley Conservancy in 2019, I learned to look for…
Earth Day & Poetry Month
Today is Earth Day. I pulled out some of my environmental lessons and am working to put them together so I can post them to Teachers Pay Teachers. One idea I had in 2020 was to make a self-study activity card pack on the monarch butterfly for classroom use. Lately, it’s been on my mind…
National Poetry Month, Day 14: Freedom Speaks
Today’s prompt word is resist. The statue, whose name is Freedom, sat outside the Congressional Auditorium in 2019. She is the same statue whose form sits atop the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Today, I’ve pretended that she is speaking to her sister, Justice, to resist. We need the Congressional (Legislative) and the Judicial branches…
National Poetry Month: Day 8
I started this morning reviewing some blog articles I wrote in 2012, 2013, and 2014 for a website I made for my elementary after-school garden club students and parents. Reading my own words brought back many fond memories of the years I led this group I founded in 2004. It ended in 2017, but then…
National Poetry Day #6: Using the Prompt Iridescent
When we went to Ireland last fall, my husband and I found the history there fascinating. We spent one of our days hiking in the Glendalough Valley found in the Wicklow Mountains. St. Kevin was a sixth-century monk who first lived in the Glendalough Valley as a hermit. He later founded a monastery at Glendalough….
Poetry Friday Is Day Four of National Poetry Month
Welcome to the Poetry Friday Community! All are welcome here. This week’s host is Matt Forrest Esenwine, children’s author extraordinaire! He has the round-up at his blog Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme. Please join us at his page for more poetry goodness. For Poetry Month, I’ve been writing a poem a day based on the Verse…