Happy Poetry Friday and welcome back to Northfield Elementary School. Today, the third grade poets are working on odes. I’ve been doing an elementary school workshop on odes for many years. Usually, my model poem is “Ode to Pablo’s Tennis Shoes,” by Gary Soto. When it’s time to write, I have the kids take off […]
Laura's Blog
Thursday, 31 May 2018
Wednesday, 30 May 2018
The Northfield Elementary poets have been working hard on their list poems. Today, our lists of juicy words take us inside a desk and a pencil box, explore a beautiful garden, and dig down into the earth. The mentor text for my list poem workshop is Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Words in My Pillow” from the […]
Monday, 28 May 2018
Our beloved historic downtown has been hit with its second catastrophic flash flood in less than two years. If you would like to help with recovery and restoration efforts, please consider donating to the Downtown Ellicott City Partnership. In 2016, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater asked me to contribute a current events poem to her wonderful collection, POEMS ARE […]
Thursday, 24 May 2018
Welcome back to Northfield Elementary School, Poetry Friday friends. This is my twelfth year as Northfield’s poet-in-residence, working with the third grade team. The annual poetry residency is sponsored by the school PTA’s cultural arts committee, and by an Artist-in-Residence grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. Thank you! This has been a great teaching partnership […]
Thursday, 26 April 2018
To celebrate the last Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month, I’d like to introduce you to Henry Crawford. This fall, Henry was a featured reader at Wilde Readings — the local literary series I co-host with poets Ann Bracken and Linda Joy Burke. I was intrigued by the way Henry’s work as a lawyer and […]
Thursday, 12 April 2018
Shh! Welcome, but come in quietly. It’s a Poetry Friday surprise birthday party. The guest of honor? Lee Bennett Hopkins! (Whoops — no exclamation points. We’re trying to keep this party a secret.) Lee is not only a wonderful children’s poet and Guinness World Record holding anthologist (really — the citation is here), he has […]
Wednesday, 11 April 2018
Happy National Poetry Month, everyone! The paperback edition of The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary comes out this week. To celebrate, I’m doing a *big* giveaway: A class set of books for one lucky teacher or librarian! How do you enter? Simple. I want to hear — and share — how your students are […]
Monday, 2 April 2018
It’s Texas Library Association week! Come say hello. This is where I will be: Tuesday 4/3 Pre-conference Poetry Rodeo 1-5 pm Hosted by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong of Pomelo Books Jen Bryant and I are doing a short presentation on Poetry and Art at 3 pm, but plan to spend the whole day. The […]
Thursday, 15 February 2018
Happy Poetry Friday! Thanks for visiting the Poe House with me last week. I pulled a random name from the comments and Jama Rattigan is the winner of the Poe Keepsake Journal. Congratulations, Jama! Before I get to this week’s post, I want to thank Arnold Adoff and the Virginia Hamilton Conference. Last week, I […]
Sunday, 11 February 2018
Hello, friends and readers. One of my favorite things about being an author is doing research. When my children were in elementary school, I worked part-time as a features writer for Baltimore’s Child magazine and my local edition of The Baltimore Sun. As a newcomer to Maryland, the job helped me get to know my […]
Laura Shovan is the author of the award-winning middle grade novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Her second book, Takedown, is a Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way selection. Look for A Place at the Table, co-written with Saadia Faruqi, in 2020. Laura is a poet-in-the-schools Maryland.
