{"id":17583,"date":"2018-02-21T12:01:48","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T17:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=17583"},"modified":"2018-02-16T12:03:44","modified_gmt":"2018-02-16T17:03:44","slug":"poetry-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2018\/02\/poetry-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year marks the 29th<\/sup> year of my library system\u2019s annual poetry contest for kids. I love that this writing tradition has continued for so long and that kids and teachers still enjoy it. Below are a few other writing program ideas I\u2019ve seen or read about going on in libraries.\u00a0 I\u2019ve added some book suggestions from the experts when applicable. I think the library is a great place for kids to experience writing for fun and hope one of these suggestions gets you excited to try something new.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Start a writing club for kids. Use Writing Radar: Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories<\/em><\/a> by Jack Gantos as a group read and journal starter. It is pure fun. If you are part of the CSLP, which has the Libraries Rock theme, coloring journals in the catalog are only $1.25 \u2013 a cost effective way to promote writing and summer reading at the same time.<\/li>\n
  2. Talk with kids about what books they love. Have them write about how a book changed them. Encourage them to enter the Letters about Literature Contest<\/a>. Information about this contest can usually be found at your state\u2019s Center for the Book.<\/li>\n
  3. Have a poetry caf\u00e9 where kids can share poems they\u2019ve written themselves! Use Poems are Teachers<\/em><\/a> by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater to find over 50 engaging ideas using poems as the inspiration. Serve awesome snacks, decorate the tables and have a real microphone \u2013 kids will love it.<\/li>\n
  4. If you\u2019re part of a library system, have a pen pal program using your internal book delivery system to help deliver letters from pen pals living in different library locations.<\/li>\n
  5. Have a story writing contest. This takes preparation and the help of several judges to make it run smoothly. I\u2019ve seen libraries \u201cpublish\u201d the winners in a bound book that becomes part of the library collection. Use Georgia Heard\u2019s Heart Maps<\/em><\/a> with kids to help them write about what is really important to them.<\/li>\n
  6. Start a graphic novel\/comics club. Use comic book software for beginners or blank comic strip sheets to get started.\u00a0 As with everything else, there are a ton of YouTube videos that can help you plan your next steps with this group.<\/li>\n
  7. For a more passive program, set-up a writing station complete with decorative papers, calligraphy materials, colored pens, and more. Display fun writing prompts, interesting photos and poetry books.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Whatever you do – have fun.<\/p>\n

    Cheri Crow is the Youth Services Coordinator at Delaware County Libraries in Pennsylvania.\u00a0 She enjoys children’s poetry and reading about how kids learn to read and write.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This year marks the 29th year of my library system\u2019s annual poetry contest for kids. I love that this writing tradition has continued for so long and that kids and teachers still enjoy it. Below are a few other writing program ideas I\u2019ve seen or read about going on in libraries.\u00a0 I\u2019ve added some book suggestions from the experts when applicable. I think the library is a great place for kids to experience writing for fun and hope one of these suggestions gets you excited to try something new. Start a writing club for kids. Use Writing Radar: Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories by Jack Gantos as a group read and journal starter. It is pure fun. If you are part of the CSLP, which has the Libraries Rock theme, coloring journals in the catalog are only $1.25 \u2013 a cost effective way to promote…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[692],"tags":[471,1396],"class_list":["post-17583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-managing-childrens-services-committee","tag-alsc","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}