On this first day of spring step outside, celebrate the blossoming and craft a haiku greeting. How to craft haiku:   five syllables s e v e n  s y l l a b l e s five syllables  …

During the fifth week of Discovery, Section 5 encourages each reader to develop a creative culminating project with options that provide a variety of ways to demonstrate deep understanding of the book. Your students will not only have a chance…

Do you want your hands to learn to see? Not possible you say? Read on… Wherever you are this very moment, look around, hone in on a cluster of objects. First, look. Trace the edges with your eyes. Next ,…

  In her book Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech repeatedly uses the phrase “trying to catch fish in the air” to mean trying to achieve the impossible, when disillusionment is a much more likely situation. And as a writer with…

Did you know that, when it comes to art, every line has a personality? That the lifework of the master artist has a particular voice? When it comes to the lines of Matisse, spare, weightless, whimsical, and articulate come to mind.…

“Drawing is based upon perspective, which is nothing else than a thorough knowledge of the function of the eye.”     -Leonardo DaVinci We are designed to see and understand an object based on the relationship between the play of light…

  I have been discouraged when people don’t like my writing—when people don’t like my voice. I’m sure this is true for all writers. The truth is, it’s hard to be yourself when people disagree with what you personally find interesting…

This is not a typical high school project. This is a watercolor composition, a gift from a friend. This is the prized possession that hangs in my kitchen with Mona Lisa’s ubiquitous gaze following my paces patiently, “Kim, you can.” Lore has…

Thanksgiving is a terrific time to connect with friends and family across the miles. But it’s also a perfect time to help young writers creatively communicate thankfullness. Visit our Pinterest page and let the writing begin: Telephones come in all…

 Concrete poetry is not child's play but rather the intersection where typography and poetry meet to play. Sir Ken Robinson reminds us that “…imagination is the source of every form of human achievement.” Concrete poetry is an invitation to imagine possibility.…