Kelly Bennett's Blog, page 59

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Poetry Challenge #107-Baby, You Can Name My Car!

According to a car nickname

Herbie the Love Bug, Lightning McQueen from Cars, Kit from Knight Rider, and Bandit from Smokey and the Bandit. If you need more reason than that , there’s this: October 2nd is

Poetry Challenge #107 Baby, You Can Name Your Ca...

Poetry Challenge #106-Lobster Day

World’s Lobster in Shediac, New Brunswick

Yeah! It’s National Lobster Day! (Yes, there is such a thing.*) In honor of these claw-clacking crustaceans, write a lobster poem. But not just any lobster poem. 

Poetry Challenge #106 Lobster Day  What comes to mind when you think of a lobster? Is it the cola-guzzling lobster in Erin Moulton’s funny, heartful Tracing the Stars ? Diane Keaton’s  lobster scene from Annie Hall ? Pilgrimage to the world’s largest lobster ? Or, like me, the last sunset s...

Poetry Challenge #105-Happy Birthday to You-Hoo . . . ever!

Happy Birthday! Every day is somebody’s birthday! Who do you know who has a birthday coming up soon? Poetry Challenge #105 Happy Birthday to You-Know-Who!!!! Can you write a poem to that person telling them why they’re special or what they mean to you? Work on it until every word is exactly the one you want. Do you want your poem to rhyme? Do you want it to have a certain number of syllables on a line? Is it a list poem or a story? You get to decide. You can even give it to the person as a bir...

Poetry Challenge #104-Hope Lives

National September 11th Memorial & Museum

Today marks the 18th Anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States. “The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. Additional people died of 9/11-related cancer and respiratory diseases in the months and years following the attacks.” The site of the World Trade...

Poetry Challenge #103-Back to School

Bennett’s 1st Day of 1st Grade (Jack, too)

School bells are ringing, schedules are made, new pens and pencils and notebooks full of blank pages fill bright, new backpacks.

Poetry Challenge #103 Back to School  Write a poem about the beginning of the school year—or the beginning of any school year you remember. Are you excited/scared/worried? Does anything surprise you? What do you like best? Least? 

Ready for School!

Try writing your poem in couplets—two lines that rhyme. See what happens if...

Poetry Challenge #102-Worker's Holiday

Labor Day, called by some the “Worker’s Holiday,” is celebrated the first Monday in September in the U.S. and was signed into law on June 28, 1894, by President Grover Cleveland.

Up until that time workers in America (including children as young as five) toiled twelve hours a day, seven days a week to eke out a living.

Child Labor laws in other places???

Nowadays, thanks to the efforts of those early labor movement organizers, we Americans take fairer work conditions for granted.

Poetry Ch...

Poetry Challenge #101-End of Summer

Sun Setting on Summer in WHB

It’s hard to believe summer is coming to an end. Long, sunny days are growing shorter. Nights are cooler. Trips to the beach or pool are less frequent (or maybe more…)

 What signs tell you that summer is almost over? Back to school sales? The one branch of red leaves? Geese flying overhead?

What do you do to celebrate the end of summer? Take one last swim or hike? Bake (or eat) one more pie? Have one more campfire and roasted marshmallow?

One last swim…

Poetry Ch...

Poetry Challenge #100-One Hundred Reasons Why . . .

Today marks the 100th 7-Minute Poetry Challenge! A 100-hand round of applause to those of you who’ve tried any—all—of the prompts. (All of the prompts are posted & waiting if you’d like to give them a go, or take a look back.) Poetry Challenge #100 One Hundred Reasons Why . . . If ours were a kindergarten class, we would each have brought a hundred of one ingredient: toothpicks, cotton balls, acorns, M&Ms . . . and mixed them up into some marvelous creation—trail mix, a wreath or maybe a Fru...

Poetry Challenge #99-It's The Berries!

Berries!It’s berry season! The Kingston Trio sang a song called “Raspberries, Strawberries” that you can watch here: Poetry Challenge #99 Berries! Which kind of berries are your favorite? I love blueberries and strawberries—especially in a strawberry rhubarb pie. I love walking through wild strawberries and smelling the sweet smell underfoot. And scratches are worthwhile for raspberries warmed by the sun. Write a poem about berries—any kind, any form. I bet it will be sweet! Set the timer for...