International Day of Friendship

I ran an errand this week and saw that school supplies are already on sale! I was both surprised that stores were already stocking school supplies AND excited to get a great price on new scissors, glue, and spiral notebooks! (I love school supplies even though I don't have young children in school any more.) I thought it might be fun to post a poem from our CELEBRATIONS book that is perfect for an upcoming holiday as well as back-to-school sharing. Did you that July 30 is the International Day of Friendship? That's one of the special occasions that we discovered when we created The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations: Holiday Poems for the Whole Year in English and Spanish (2015). It's a United Nations celebration designed to encourage governments, organizations, and community groups to hold events, activities and initiatives that promote solidarity, mutual understanding and reconciliation. 

Here's a brand new poem from the CELEBRATIONS book, "How to Make a Friend," by Jane Heitman Healy that's perfect for celebrating this holiday-- and for kicking off a new school year, too-- in English AND Spanish, plus with the Take 5 activities for sharing this poem and linking with picture books and poetry books, too. Enjoy!

Now head on over to Reflections on the Teche where Margaret is hosting our Poetry Friday gathering. See you there!

Presenting at ILA on TRANSMEDIA

I'm heading to St. Louis for the International Literacy Convention this weekend. Formerly the International Reading Association, this big organization has also moved its annual conference from May to July, so it will be interesting to see the difference. I'm looking forward to seeing friends and presenting alongside Janet Wong, Rose Brock, and Cynthia Alaniz. Originally, Mary Lee Hahn was also supposed to present with us, but she needs to be with her mom-- which we understand completely. We'll miss her!

Our talk is on "transmedia" and how we can use all kinds of media alongside books in print to build literacy (Saturday, July 18, 3-4pm America's Center room 106). We'll be talking about social media, audiobooks, apps, ebooks, videos, games, cards, and more. Very cutting edge! And of course, we'll weave POETRY throughout all this too-- with poetry apps, ebooks, videos, games, etc. Here are just a few nuggets with a sneak preview from my part of our session.

Speaking of new media, Kimberley Moran is hosting Poetry Friday this week over at Google+. That's fun! See you there-- here's the link.

Celebrate Pride!

It's Gay Pride weekend in San Francisco where the ALA conference is going strong. Tomorrow is officially Gay Pride Day and the Supreme Court has made their historic ruling. What a confluence of moments! Celebrate with this fun poem:

And here are the Take 5 activities that go with this poem: 

1. Play marching band music in the background as you read this poem aloud enthusiastically. One source is SoundCloud.com/lumarchingband.
2. Read the poem again and invite children to cheer along with the phrase Hip Hip Hooray! as you read the rest of the poem.
3. Share experiences watching, attending, or participating in a live parade.
4. Pair this poem with the picture book This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman (Magination, 2014) and explore the details and diversity in the illustrations.
5. Connect with another “parade” poem, “Independence Day” by Linda Dryfhout (July, pages 186-187); selections from Poems to Dream Together/Poemas para sonar juntos by Francisco X. Alarcón (Lee & Low, 2005); or the picture book Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman (Candlewick, rereleased, 2015).