No TIP today, rather, a reminder and an encouragement!

While reading through our Blackbird & Company ELA Benchmark materials, I was awestruck.

Just to hold in my hand a concise stack of pages detailing what a child will learn over their childhood—just in learning to read and write—was both a testimony to what it means to be human and to the powerhouse that is the human brain. Let’s take, for example, the first thing on the list. ”Holds book right side up, turns pages moving from front to back.” We have all seen a toddler holding a book upside down, pretending to read. It’s really a small miracle how one day something just clicks in their brain and they know to turn the book around.

When you think of all the tiny parts of language arts coming together over the span of a child’s early years, it can seem like a daunting task to be the teacher.

How will I hit all those small pieces?

Having two adult children, it’s fun to reflect back on those years and realize how many of the bits and pieces naturally came to my children (at different speeds, of course). I didn’t actually have a checklist of all the small parts (thank goodness or I might have freaked out). Don’t get me wrong, we had our big bumps, especially my son, who did a stint of ELA remediation at Linda Mood Bell. But, it is amazing, each child’s capacity to learn to decode and encode language while growing a love for good books and becoming motivated to share their unique ideas. I just felt this moment of extreme gratitude for what it means to be human, gratitude that all us educators are in this rich vein of motivating young writers to eventually raise their voices in the wide world.

Keep pressing in! The work is worth it!

Bravo for Shakespeare + Haiku!

Thank you Hadleigh R. for submitting these amazing haiku highlighting our Shakespeare words: watchdog, moonbeams, yelping, and clangor!

We’re so glad our December Giveaway inspired your poetic voice.

And, Congratulations, we are sure Shakespeare would be proud that you carried on his appreciation of the singular specificity of words!

Here’s how to enter:

Comment your own haiku below using one of Shakespeare’s celebrated words—see photo below to review—to be entered into our giveaway! To receive additional entries, head over to our Instagram or Facebook pages, be sure to follow us, and tag a friend on our latest “12 Days of Haiku” post.

We will be giving away three sets of Shakespeare’s Words & Will’s Words. Three lucky winners will be announced TOMORROW (12/15/2023) on Instagram and Facebook!

Chilly white blanket atop the city streets is an invitation to play.

 

Chilly white blanket

atop the city streets is an

invitation to play.

Now you try!

Here’s how to enter:

Enter your own haiku here using today’s Shakespeare word—invitation—to be entered into our giveaway! To receive additional entries, head over to our Instagram or Facebook pages, be sure to follow us, and tag a friend on our latest “12 Days of Haiku” post.

We will be giving away three sets of Shakespeare’s Words & Will’s Words. Three lucky winners will be announced 12/15/2023 on Instagram and Facebook!

Congratulations:

Evan Y.

& Elliot Y.

& Naomi B.

& Will B.

& Marie B.

& Sullivan R. !

Thank you for participating in our November Giveaway, and for putting your creativity into each of these pangrams!

“My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.”
                                       ~A.A. Milne, from Winnie the Pooh

Wobbly is BEAUTIFUL!

We are so proud of you all!

Stars in the sky, your multitudinous lights twinkle a wintery song.

 

Stars in the sky, your

multitudinous lights twinkle

a wintery song.

Now you try!

Here’s how to enter:

Enter your own haiku here using today’s Shakespeare word—multitudunous—to be entered into our giveaway! To receive additional entries, head over to our Instagram or Facebook pages, be sure to follow us, and tag a friend on our latest “12 Days of Haiku” post.

We will be giving away three sets of Shakespeare’s Words & Will’s Words. Three lucky winners will be announced 12/15/2023 on Instagram and Facebook!

I stick out my tongue and let the ice cold snowflakes leapfrog across it.

 

I stick out my tongue

and let the ice cold snowflakes

leapfrog across it.

Now you try!

Here’s how to enter:

Enter your own haiku here using today’s Shakespeare word—leapfrog—to be entered into our giveaway! To receive additional entries, head over to our Instagram or Facebook pages, be sure to follow us, and tag a friend on our latest “12 Days of Haiku” post.

We will be giving away three sets of Shakespeare’s Words & Will’s Words. Three lucky winners will be announced 12/15/2023 on Instagram and Facebook!

The temperature outside dwindles as I read by the cozy fire.

 

The temperature

outside dwindles as I read

by the cozy fire.

Now you try!

Here’s how to enter:

Enter your own haiku here using today’s Shakespeare word—dwindle—to be entered into our giveaway! To receive additional entries, head over to our Instagram or Facebook pages, be sure to follow us, and tag a friend on our latest “12 Days of Haiku” post.

We will be giving away three sets of Shakespeare’s Words & Will’s Words. Three lucky winners will be announced 12/15/2023 on Instagram and Facebook!