Laura Shovan's Blog, page 8
March 31, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 10, Buffy Silverman
Happy National Poetry Month, everyone!
We’ve been working on the month-long #WaterPoemProject for ten days now, but if you’re looking for Poetry Month writing prompts, we’ve got you covered. Start with Day 1 and you’ll have poetry prompts from now through the end of April.
If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
Sharing our writing prompt for Day 10 is children’s poet Buffy Silverman.
Buffy’s poetry prompt is: A Watery Home
Buffy Silverman
Write a mask poem about an animal and its watery home.
A mask poem is written from the viewpoint of the poem’s subject. Choose an animal (real or imagined) that lives in water as your subject.
You might write from the viewpoint of a tadpole that wriggles on the bottom of a pond, a crayfish that hides under rocks in a stream, or a dolphin that leaps in the ocean. Write a poem that tells about your home.
Answering these questions might help you begin: What sounds and sights surround you? How do you stay safe and find food? Why is your home the perfect place for you to live?
***
Your task is to draft a poem in the voice of a water-dwelling animal before the end of the day tomorrow, Wednesday, April 1, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Buffy Silverman’s newest book On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring is published by Millbrook Press. Find out more about Buffy’s books at http://www.buffysilverman.com
***
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
Tweet
March 30, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 9, Kathryn Apel
Can you believe it’s already Day 9 of our month-long #WaterPoemProject?
I hope that writing poetry is brightening your day during this challenging time. [My home state, Maryland, has been instructed to shelter in place.]
If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
I am so pleased to welcome my dear friend Kathryn Apel to give us a poetry prompt today. Kat is a children’s poet and verse novelist who lives on a farm in Australia!
Kat’s poetry prompt is: Silly Solage
Developed by Australian poet Cameron Semmens, a solage is a short, witty poem that plays with words. Lines one and two rhyme. Line three is a single word that adds a twist. Write a water-related solage.
You can read more about solage poems at Kat’s blog, Kat’s Whiskers.
Kat says: My tip is to start with a homograph (same spelling/pronunciation, different meaning) or heteronym (same spelling, different pronunciation/meaning) for your last line, then work backwards.
Some homographs/heteronyms to get you thinking:
stream: of water / to run – like your eyes
bore: drill into underground water / a dull person / make somebody uninterested
desert: arid region / leave
***
Your task is to draft a silly water solage before the end of the day tomorrow, Tuesday, March 31, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Kathryn Apel is a born-and-bred farm girl who’s scared of cows. She lives among the gum trees, kangaroos and cattle on a Queensland grazing property. A trained teacher and literacy consultant, Kat shares her passion for words at schools and festivals. Kathryn specialises in poetry workshops for kids and adults – and staff professional development sessions across grades and curriculum area. Read about Kat’s Books, with links to reviews & activities, or to Buy Books. Download Kids’ Stuff activities for home & classroom use.
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
Tweet
March 29, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 8, Laura Shovan
It’s Day 8 of our month-long #WaterPoemProject. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ.
Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
It’s my turn to come up with our water-themed writing prompt today. Let’s try one of my favorite forms to share with young poets: the opposite poem.
Laura’s poetry prompt is: Rainy Day Opposites
Getting ready to explore some underwater life!
Write a two stanza poem exploring two opposing views of rain — or any water-related opposite.
Some ideas for this poem are:
Rain in the summer vs. rain in the winter.
What rain feels like when you’re alone and what it feels like when you’re with a friend.
Animals that life in the water compared to land animals.
A rainy day in the city and a rainy day in the country.
Snow in the daytime and snow at night.
You will find a full description of my opposite poem workshop at my old blog, Author Amok. There are fun student poems there too!
And to help put you in a rainy mood, here are two of my favorite poems about the rain: “Weather” by Eve Merriam, and Langston Hughes’ beautiful, “April Rain Song” which you’ll find in this video (begin at :37).
***
Your task is to draft an opposite poem related to water before the end of the day tomorrow, Monday, March 30, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Laura Shovan’s debut middle grade novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, won several awards, including NCTE 2017 Notable Verse. Her novel Takedown was selected by Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way, and was on the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer list of feminist books. Her 2020 book is A Place at the Table, co-written with author/activist Saadia Faruqi. Laura is a longtime poet-in-the-schools in Maryland. She likes to knit, bake bread, and doodle robots.
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
Tweet
March 28, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 7, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
It’s Day 7 of our month-long #WaterPoemProject. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ.
Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
How did Week 1 go for you? When I’ve done this project in the past, the first week is filled with energy. I have ideas! I am excited to write! Sometimes by week 2, my poems aren’t the greatest. I’m just happy to get them done. If that’s happening for you, it’s okay. This project is about experimenting and generating lots of new writing, not about producing a perfect poem every day.
I am so happy that my dear friend Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is visiting (virtually) from her Poem Farm today.
Amy’s poetry prompt is: A Water Memory, Real or Not
Here is Amy’s cat Mini Monster… he likes water too!
We are water. We drink water. We bathe and swim and play and work with water. So each one of us has many water memories. Some water memories connect to special times in lakes or creeks and some are as ordinary as washing a glass in the kitchen sink.
I enjoyed rereading some of my own water poems in thinking about Laura’s #WaterPoemProject, and my memory is part true and part untrue. I first shared this poem in April 2013, along with a little sketch, HERE at The Poem Farm.
Yes, I have had sips of water from my cupped hands. But I did not taste deer and moonlight and coyote calls. Or did I?
When we write poetry, we can tell things straight-true or we can bend and create the stories we imagine.
If you are unsure of how to begin, make a list of a few water memories. Then, if you are still unsure, begin with a one word line – Once.
***
Your task is to draft a poem with a water memory (real or imagined) before the end of the day tomorrow, Sunday, March 28, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is author of many books for children. She has taught writing for over 20 years and is currently teaching a new writing lesson each day from her vintage camper, Betsy. Find Amy’s poems at www.poemfarm.amylv.com and the notebook lessons at www.sharingournotebooks.amylv.com .
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Feedback Models
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Amy’s got a new book: Write! Write! Write!
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
Tweet
March 27, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 6, Heather Meloche
Welcome back to our month-long #WaterPoemProject. It’s Day 6. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
Today, we have a creative prompt from YA author and poet Heather Meloche.
Heather’s poetry prompt is: Write a Concrete or “Shape” Poem about Waves?
Click to enlarge. Snake poem and art by Heather Meloche.
A concrete poem, also called a shape poem, is written in the shape of what it is describing or focusing on. Sometimes, these poems are mixed with a drawing of the poem’s subject, such as my poem below about snakes, which describes a true story about an event I had during summer camp (Eeek!). I drew the snake, and then filled it in with my poem in a creative way.
Now you try by using the image of a wave as your prompt. To help you, here is a picture of a wave that you can fill in, or you can draw your own or create the image with your words.
Wave shape poem form by Heather Meloche.
Heather says: Sometimes, just the words of the poem create the image, like this image created by my poem about a plant. (Click to enlarge.)
To inspire you, click on these two sound clips of waves crashing.
Ocean Waves 1 from FreeSoundEffects.com.
Ocean Waves 2 from FreeSoundEffects.com.
Have fun with it!!
***
Your task is to draft a shape poem about waves before the end of the day tomorrow, Saturday, March 28, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Heather Smith Meloche’s work has appeared in Spider and Young Adult Review Network (YARN). She has placed twice in the children’s/YA category of the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition and won first place for Hunger Mountain’s Katherine Paterson Prize in 2011 for a short story in verse. Penguin Putnam released her debut novel, Ripple, a contemporary young adult novel, in September 2016. She lives in Michigan with her husband, two boys, and a very energetic Jack Russell. http://www.heathersmithmeloche.com
Check out her handout Breaking into the Writing Market for Young Writers.
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of Waves
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
Tweet
March 26, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 5, Margaret Simon
Welcome to my month-long #WaterPoemProject, Poetry Friday friends.
It’s Day 5. All week, we have been writing in response to prompts about water.
If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
For #WaterPoemProject regulars who are new to Poetry Friday, each week a kidlit blogger hosts poetry-related links and posts from around the kidlitosphere. This week’s host is Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference. (Thanks, Tabatha!) Still confused? Renée LaTulippe has a great post about our weekly poetry party.
Poet and educator Margaret Simon put together a video for today’s prompt.
Margaret’s poetry prompt is: The Taste of Water
Are you new to tanka poems? The tanka is a traditional Japanese form related to haiku. Find out more about this form at Tanka Online.
***
Your task is to draft a “Taste of Water” tanka before the end of the day tomorrow, Friday, March 27, 2020. Alternate ideas: try a tanka on any water-related subject, or write a water poem filled with as many taste words as you can think of.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Poet and educator Margaret Simon lives on the Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. She blogs about poetry and life on the bayou at Reflections on the Teche.
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Feedback Models
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
Tweet
March 25, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 4, Shari Green
It’s Day 4 of our month-long #WaterPoemProject. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ.
Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
I’m excited to welcome verse novelist Shari Green to our project. She’s got a great writing prompt for us today.
Shari’s poetry prompt is: A Fogbow Fibonacci Poem
Photo credit: Shari Green
Fogbows are like rainbows, caused when sunlight hits water droplets in the air. The water droplets in fog are much smaller than raindrops, though, and fogbows end up having little or no color. They’re sometimes called white rainbows, cloudbows, or ghost rainbows.
Create a Fibonacci poem about a fogbow.
Are you new to Fibonacci poems? Learn how to write one from the guy who created this poetic form, Greg Pincus! Check out Greg’s post “How to Write a Fib.”
***
Your task is to draft a Fogbow Fibonacci poem before the end of the day tomorrow, Thursday, March 26, 2020. Alternate idea: try a fib poem on any water-related subject.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Shari Green is an award-winning author of middle grade verse novels. Her books have been nominated for multiple provincial and state readers’-choice programs and included on international “best of” lists.
Shari Green
In her non-writing life, Shari works as a Licensed Practical Nurse. Thank you, Shari!
Visit her at www.sharigreen.com
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Feedback Models
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
Tweet
March 24, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 3, Linda Mitchell
Welcome back to our month-long WaterPoemProject. It’s Day 3. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ.
Children’s poet and school librarian Linda Mitchell is sharing the writing prompt today.
Linda’s poetry prompt is a Found Haiku using Wonderopolis
You may have tried writing a haiku before. (Check out children’s poet Kenn Nesbitt’s haiku instructions here.) But today’s haiku challenge has an extra layer: Create your haiku from words you find in a Wonderopolis article about water.
Linda has provided some printables for us to use as we construct our poems.
Click to enlarge and/or print.
Click to enlarge and/or print.
Click here for Linda’s slides on how to create your Found Haiku.
***
Your task is to draft a found haiku about water before the end of the day tomorrow, Wednesday, March 25, 2020. If you’re not in the mood for haiku, any found poem using words taken from a water-related article is a good alternative.
What exactly is a found poem? Find out at Facing History.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Linda Mitchell is a family girl, middle school librarian (public school), creative, curious, geeky and loves to learn! Her weekly Poetry Friday posts can be found at A Word Edgewise: A Word Edgewise.
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Feedback Models
Prompt 1: Irene Latham
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
Tweet
March 23, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 2, Elizabeth Steinglass
Welcome back to our month-long #WaterPoemProject. It’s Day 2. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ.
Today our surprise writing prompt creator is children’s poet Elizabeth Steinglass.
Liz’s poetry prompt is: What Would a Raindrop Say?
Elizabeth Steinglass
Precipitation is water that falls to the ground as rain, snow, sleet, hail, or mist. Pretend you are one of these types of precipitation, a raindrop or a snowflake, for example. Write a mask or persona poem from your pretend point of view.
Here are some questions you might want to think about: Where are you? What’s happening? What do you see? What do you feel? Where did you come from? Where are you going? What do you hope will happen? What do you hope won’t happen?
***
How did your writing go yesterday? Are you ready to dive in again? Your task is to draft a piece of writing about the language of water before the end of the day tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Elizabeth Steinglass is the author of Soccerverse: Poems about Soccer, illustrated by Edson Ike, published by Boyds Mills & Kane. You can find out more about Elizabeth at her website www.ElizabethSteinglass.com.
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Feedback Models
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
Tweet
#WaterPoemProject: Day 2, Elizabeth Steinglass
Welcome back to our month-long #WaterPoemProject. It’s Day 2. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ.
Today our surprise writing prompt creator is children’s poet Elizabeth Steinglass.
Liz’s poetry prompt is: What Would a Raindrop Say?
Elizabeth Steinglass
Precipitation is water that falls to the ground as rain, snow, sleet, hail, or mist. Pretend you are one of these types of precipitation, a raindrop or a snowflake, for example. Write a mask or persona poem from your pretend point of view.
Here are some questions you might want to think about: Where are you? What’s happening? What do you see? What do you feel? Where did you come from? Where are you going? What do you hope will happen? What do you hope won’t happen?
***
How did your writing go yesterday? Are you ready to dive in again? Your task is to draft a piece of writing about the language of water before the end of the day tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Elizabeth Steinglass is the author of Soccerverse: Poems about Soccer, illustrated by Edson Ike, published by Boyds Mills & Kane. You can find out more about Elizabeth at her website www.ElizabethSteinglass.com.
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Feedback Models
Prompt 1: Irene Latham
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
Tweet
