Category: Write Ideas

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Just Sit Down and WRITE!

“The BEST thing is just to write; to sit down and write, to begin doing it and not to be scared by the blank page.”                                                      ~David Almond

As we SPRING into writing, it’s always good to take advice from the authors we are reading. Let’s fact it. The blank page is intimidating. David Almond has experienced this and is generously encouraging us to stare down that blank page and to fill it with our ideas. This is, first and foremost, what writing is all about. Grammar and mechanics, and syntax and style follow.

Writing is a courageous process.

David Almond goes on to remind us that our ideas are a gift, “We have each other, and our stories twist and mingle like the twisting currents of a river. We hold each other tight as we spin and lurch across our lives. There are moments of great joy and magic. The most astounding things can lie waiting as each day dawns, as each page turns.”

He reminds us to explore, “Writing will be like a journey, every word a footstep that takes me further into undiscovered land.”

He reminds us to be brave, “We have to allow ourselves to see what there is to see, and we have to imagine.”

He reminds us to play, “And what is wrong with playing with words? Words love to be played with, just like children or kittens do!”

Then, he gets to the crux of it: “Then what shall I write?

I can’t just write that this happened then this happened then this happened to boring infinitum. I’ll let my journal grow just like the mind does, just like a tree or beast does, just like life does. Why should a book tell a tale in a dull straight line? Words should wander and meander. They should fly like owls and flicker like bats and slip like cats. They should murmur and scream and dance and sing.”

I love that: “Words should wander and meander.”

When we read books, we are inspired. We grow our precious fund of knowledge. But we also, if we dare listen, learn valuable lesson about the art of writing!
~Kimberly
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Submit Soon!

Submissions are open NOW through June 5, 2026.

Writing is an artform that is meant to be read by a reader! Blackbird & Company Educational Press is proud to announce a call for submissions to student writers, Kindergarten through 12th grade, who courageously write from the heart using our curriculum.

The theme of Reveal 2026? Our students’ big ideas! This journal’s name—Reveal—captures the idea that every piece of writing is a revelation about the author, both in terms of what they stitch together in their imagination and what they send out into the world.

And the bonus? Submit work early, by March 31, 2026 and you will be automatically entered to win a Solo Stove Campfire kit.

For added inspiration, here is a published piece from Reveal 2025 crafted by Hadleigh R. as she worked through Introduction to Composition: The Essay, Volume 1. Notice—not a single passive verb throughout! Enjoy!

The Whirligig

Catching a glimpse of my sister waving at me from the corner of my eye, I hustle across the lush lawn of the rest stop to join her and Jagger at the workout/playground area. A tarp covers the playground to protect it from the Texas sun, making an excellent place to rest. Unlike most play structures, this one is metallic and sturdy, perfect for a teenager hoping to enjoy some quality time with her younger siblings at the rest stop. They wave their hands excitedly from the top of the highest structure as I come closer, but I don’t plan on climbing it and making a fool of myself, so I beeline for a small green circular platform with a wheel for holding on. I should be able to keep an eye on them from there. But when I step onto it, gripping the wheel for balance, I realize I missed an important detail. The dais is tilted so that whenever someone steps onto the platform, they start to spin, their weight fueling the centrifugal force. In a single second, the world whips around me at full speed, blurs of green and brown as I spin faster than I imagined possible. I glance down at my hands, which seem to be the only things around me not twirling. My fingers squeeze tight to the metal, not daring to let go. Only yards away from me, my mother walks our mutt. I yell for help, but she doesn’t seem to hear me as my view of her whips by again and again. Closing my whirling eyes, I spin alone in a vacuum chamber of blackness. When my mom shouts my name, I open my eyes to the swirling colors again, summoning the courage to leap from my imprisoned state. Facing my fear of twisting my ankle, I leap from the apparatus, stumbling to lean giddily on the now-motionless handle as the world still spins. Once it slows, I lurch around to come face-to-face with a concerned-looking mother and her two, small, openmouthed children. Smiling weakly, I apologize, loping away as fast as I dare, my siblings following close behind.

 

~Kimberly

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Valentines and Letter Writing

Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to craft a letter by hand!

A card and letter—the kind that is written by hand—is a true kindness, a keepsake.

This offering can take many forms. Original poems are little gems that pair perfectly with a sweet Valentine card! Terrific poems start with smart sentences. Read how by clicking through, then encourage your students to practice poetry.

For longer Valentine’s Day messages, our FREE Letter Writing will scaffold the activity each step of the way.

And, when it comes time to putting  an original poem or letter into the polished draft ready for the card itself, check out our Letter Forms activity.

Remember, handwritten sentiment is a beautiful gift!

 

~Kimberly

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One Bite at a Time: Long Research Writing

Campfire Tip #10: One Bite at a Time

“The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time,” or so the saying goes.

That’s also the mindset one must adopt when tackling the year-long research essay, known as Essay Volume 6: Advanced Research. This unit is designed for 11th and 12th grade students, representing the culmination of their research and literary writing skills. 

This school year marks my first foray into teaching Essay Volume 6. Over the last two sessions, I’ve learned a lot—and I’ve also fallen in love with this essay unit! It teaches life skills and writing habits that will stick with students for years to come. 

Is Essay Volume 6 a good fit for your student, either this coming year or years down the road? Here are some of my takeaways from teaching the long research project:

1. How It Works

Before we get into WHY I love Essay Volume 6, let’s go over what this unit entails. The Long Research Essay can be organized into two parts: the research process and the writing process. And conveniently enough, the guides are broken down into A and B volumes along the same lines. 

In the first half of the project, students choose a person, place, and thing they want to learn more about, unifying the three topics with a single theme (like creativity, truth, perseverance, or tragedy). Then they take a self-directed tour through the library and internet to find their sources and build a fund of knowledge. As I’ve taught this Pages class, I’ve given lessons on how to find and use credible sources—which is one of the most important skills in college writing—and expect students to present their research findings each week. This stretches their abilities in new ways!

In the second half of this course, students synthesize their research by writing and revising. Because they combine their person, place, and thing with their theme, they create a brand new narrative about their topics—chances are, no one has combined their topic and theme in the same way before! This is an exciting opportunity to apply a literary essay style to one’s own research.

2. Motivated Learning

A major principle of the psychology of memory is that we remember information that’s personally meaningful to us and struggle to remember information we don’t care about. You probably know this just from living life. 

Because Essay Volume 6 gives students so much creative freedom, they can choose to research topics they’re passionate about, transforming a potentially mundane research project into a motivated pursuit of knowledge. Writing doesn’t have to be boring. If you’re writing about the right things, it can be the most engrossing activity imaginable. 

For example, my student, Kingsley, has long been inspired by ballerina Margot Fontayne. She has a book about Fontayne’s life on her bookshelf that she’s never had the time to read. But Essay Volume 6 says, “Pursue your interests!” So that’s what Kingsley’s done. Choosing Margot Fontayne as her person to research, she’s taken a dive into this legendary dancer’s life, satisfying her curiosity and honing her research and writing skills. She finally had the chance to read her book!

When done right, research writing gives thinkers the chance to pursue questions they have about the world. 

3. Rising to the Challenge

Time and time again, I’ve seen this truth play out: Set high expectations and students will rise to meet them. 

The Long Research Essay is a daunting task. It demands self-discipline. Motivation. Consistency.

But, I believe our Blackbird students are more than up to the challenge. When students set big goals for themselves and then achieve them, they build their confidence one brick at a time. The impossible becomes possible. Students learn that they are capable!

The week-by-week scaffolding of Essay Volume 6 provides the framework necessary for students to soar to great heights. You don’t craft a masterpiece in one sitting; rather, you chip away at your work of art day by day, sometimes fueled by perseverance rather than inspiration. 

Let’s set some lofty goals. And then get to work. 

 

~Claire S.

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Blasting-off an IDEA

Tip #4 IDEAS Motivate Writers

Writing is an art form achieved via a series of steps:

1) It all begins with an IDEA. Without an idea, the writer will simply stare at the blank page.
2) Once there is an idea in the mind of the writer, the PENCIL steps in to translate thoughts to words on the page.
3) When the pencil’s work is complete, the job of the writer is to become a READER. Encourage your students to RE-READ everything they write.
4) Empower students to use the RED PEN as they re-read to REVISE. Teach them to use strong words, to fearlessly re-arrange, to make corrections, and to not be afraid to strike through.
5) Polish the draft, preferably in cursive by hand.

Children have enormous creative potential.

This potential will flourish and they they will thrive as writers when they are inspired to revel in the important work of IDEA making.

THINK Tortoise (not the hare). Learning to write is a long journey, we know this to be true.

Michaelangelo said:

“If you know how much work went into it you wouldn’t call it genius.”

At the core of each child’s being is some form of genius.

We inspire genius as we inspire children to bring shape to their IDEAS.

 

~Kimberly

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Why We Publish Student Work

Campfire Tip #3: Writing is a Gift

Hopefully you’ve heard about Reveal by now, Blackbird & Company’s annual anthology of student work. But do you know why Reveal is so important? Why we talk about it every chance we get?

It comes down to confidence. We like to remind students that writing is a gift. When polished student writing is published, your students are giving a wonderful gift to readers. Being published is the hallmark of legitimacy in the field of writing. True. But more importantly, published writing is a courageous and generous offering—so how better to prove to your students that their voices matter than to publish their ideas? 

I’ve always found the link between intrinsic motivation (or motivation that comes from within) and self-confidence fascinating. They feed each other. The more intrinsically motivated a person is, the more satisfaction is gained from completing goals.  People with higher self-confidence are simply motivated to attempt tasks for the sake of accomplishing.  Work itself becomes meaningful.

These psychological principles translate directly to writing. The best way we can help our blackbirds gain confidence in writing is to help them become personally motivated. The best way we can help them become personally motivated is to build up their confidence by publishing the polished ideas they have brought to shape. 

As the editor of Reveal, I’ve seen firsthand the pride that swells within students’ chests when their work comes out in print, when they know that their voice has been chosen and has merit and value. Fostering this budding belief in oneself is one of the most important tasks we can take upon ourselves as educators—it just might be the fuel that keeps young writers writing. 

That’s why we publish Reveal. To show young writers what becomes possible when they spread their wings. 

Submitting work to Reveal 2026 is super easy. And, if you submit work accomplished via any of our materials now through March 31st, 2026, you will be automatically entered to win a Solo Stove S’Mores Bundle.

 

~Claire S.

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Inspire Your Students to Write Meaningful Essays!

Take the heavy-handed prep-work out of teaching students to write an essay!

Our unique scaffolding, designed to mentor the art of essay writing, will guide your students each step of the way—from brainstorming through revision to the polished final work—allowing you to offer support as a mentor and guide.

I will never forget running alongside each of my four children when they were learning to ride a bike once the training wheels were removed, “Keep pedaling! You can do this…!” The messaging is almost the same when it comes to coaching a student to write.

Our introductory composition is designed to introduce students in grades 6 through 8 to the overarching purpose of the essay, simple rhetorical style, and both the descriptive and literary essay form. Middle school students will be equipped to write their essays articulately. Each of the three volumes is designed to be completed in 10 to 15 weeks and contains all of the information you will need to mentor and inspire.

Great essays have the power to encourage, empower, and enlighten. For this reason essay writing should not be treated as just a mechanical endeavor, but rather, as a pathway for the writer to communicate the depths of the heart and mind.

Big ideas can be communicated through a range of writing domains including creative writing. It is vital that students discover and explore the potential of all types. Some writing describes, some narrates, some exposes, and some persuades. Some writing is simply meant to entertain. All writing has the power to inform. This three volume set will guide students systematically into the art of essay writing!

Our Volume 1-3 Bundle include:

  • Student Guide – Vol. 1: Essay as Structure: Become an Architect!
  • Student Guide – Vol. 2: The Descriptive Essay
  • Student Guide – Vol. 3: The Literary Essay
  • Thinking in Threes, by Brian Backman
  • The Tin Forest, by Helen Ward
  • Grandfather’s Journey, by Allen Say
  • The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf
  • Train to Somewhere, by Eve Bunting
  • Letting swift River Go, by Jane Yolen

Volume 1 – Essay as Structure: Become an Architect!

An exploration of essay form and writing technique.

Teacher support material is included in the volume.

Volume 2 – The Descriptive Essay

An exploration of the Descriptive Essay.

Writers will be mentored through each step of the process as they compose five original descriptive essays—beginning with a prompt, brainstorming, crafting a thesis, and developing the idea through the self-edit and final draft. Teacher support material is included in the volume.

Volume 3 – The Literary Essay

An exploration of the Literary Essay.

Writers will be mentored through each step of the process as they compose five original literary essays in response to five exceptional small tales—beginning with a prompt, brainstorming, crafting a thesis and developing the idea through the self-edit and final draft. Teacher support material is included in the volume.

You might consider purchasing our complete middle school Writing Year Pack to start back-to-school writing on the right foot!

 

~Kimberly

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The BEST Sentences are Poetic!

This poem is a call to ACTION:

   to see light through the color slide,

   to listen for the sound of the hive,

   to watch the mouse wander its way through the maze of the poem,

   to feel around in the dark for a light switch,

   to waterski and wave at the author who is standing at the shore

   (patiently smiling, I imagine).

This poem is also a REMINDER:

   to NOT tie the poem to a chair and to NOT torture a confession out of it.

 

Deconstructing poems to shreds of rudimentary grammar and mechanics, rhythm and rhyme scheme, always distracts the reader from the ability of poetry to resonate a wonderful thought provoking idea!

Reading poetry aloud helps us listen for the lovely sounds of language.

Reading poetry on the page helps us see the way words work together and empowers us to write splendid, strong sentences.

This poem, as example, is comprised of four sentences. FOUR—count them. Each begins with a capital letter and ends with a mark—four beautifully simple sentences broken into bite-sized fragments. Here, Billy Collins demonstrates how words are woven to phrases, phrases to complete ideas in the form of a sentence.  Furthermore, when a poem is written to help us consider just exactly what a poem is, well that poem is a an ars poetica (click through to learn a little more).

Listen to Billy Collins narrate this wonderful poem here.

 

~Kimberly

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Inspiring Writers: Ideas are Genius!

Writing is an art form.

Writing is an art form achieved via a series of steps:

1) It all begins with an IDEA. Without an idea, the writer will simply stare at the blank page.
2) Once there is an idea in the mind of the writer, the PENCIL steps in to translate thoughts to words on the page.
3) When the pencil’s work is complete, the job of the writer is to become a READER. Encourage your students to RE-READ everything they write.
4) Empower students to use the RED PEN as they re-read to REVISE. Teach them to use strong words, to fearlessly re-arrange, to make corrections, and to not be afraid to strike through.
5) Polish the draft, preferably in cursive by hand.

Children have enormous creative potential.

 

This potential will flourish and they they will thrive as writers when they are inspired to revel in the important work of IDEA making.

 

THINK Tortoise (not the hare). Learning to write is a long journey, we know this to be true. 

 

Michaelangelo said:

“If you know how much work went into it you wouldn’t call it genius.”

 

At the core of each child’s being is some form of genius.

We inspire genius as we inspire children to bring shape to their IDEAS.

 

When it comes to literacy, much of the exceptional work that your students will accomplish is subjective in nature tied to their ideas.  As students read great stories, they make observations. These observations will inspire ideas. Cataloging ideas in writing over time builds confidence, nurtures skills, develops voice, and motivates students to engage in the work of writing.

Blackbird & Company is an idea born along the way. We have developed an ELA curriculum for kindergarten through 12th grade with three things in mind: 1) Work is GOOD, 2) Children are individuals with enormous potential—genius potential, and 3) Idea-making inspires genius to blossom.

When it comes to literacy, much of the exceptional work that your students will accomplish is subjective in nature tied to their ideas.  As students read great stories, they make observations. These observations will inspire ideas. Cataloging ideas in writing over time builds confidence, nurtures skills, develops voice, and promotes true literacy.

IDEAS are genius . Click through to listen in to Motivating Writers: Ideas are Genius on the Sped Homeschool Podcast.

We want ALL students to write well.

We want them to think creatively and to value their ideas.

We want them to know that engaging in the process of writing ideas is worthy because writing is a gift.

When you inspire children to write their IDEAS, their IDEAS will Take Flight!

~Kimberly