After reading a good story, you can follow these three easy steps to turn your story questions into writing prompts. See 5 sample prompts based on the fairy tale ‘The Golden Dress,’ to help you on your writing way!
Teach It: 10 Terrific Little Red Riding Hood Tales
This summer, when you want to keep your emerging and early readers from going on a skill slide, it’s a great idea to explore the fun of fairy tales. And there’s no better place to start than with Little Red Riding Hood.
More Poetry, Less Stress—5 Helpful Tips
Can poetry help you reduce stress? L.L. Barkat has 5 helpful tips to practice more poetry, less stress.
Top 10 Alphabet Books for National Literacy Month!
Great tips for teaching reading—from librarians, teachers, and literacy specialists—plus professional picks of 10 terrific alphabet books.
Totally Great Tips for Your College Essay—Interview With An Expert!
What’s the biggest mistake students make when starting to write their college application essay? Get the surprising answer, plus great essay tips, so you can write the best college app essay ever!
Learn to Read! — Beautiful Art for a Predictable Sentence Chart
You can teach children to read and write important high-frequency words by creating “predictable sentence” charts that are personalized for them and their friends. We’re helping you add beautiful art!
Life Notes: Dragon Scales to Go, to Stay
Remember what it was like to be a harried mom in the shoe store? (Or was that just yesterday?) In this Life Notes edition, L.L. Barkat recalls all too well — with dragon scales as part of the deal.
Life Notes: Figuring
In this Life Notes edition, a little girl’s lament turns into an evening of make-believe. If you’re feeling stressed, you might want to walk away—and into play—too.
Reading in the Wild: April’s Pages
“Reading in the Wild” identifies 5 main characteristics of ‘wild readers’—the people most likely to embrace literacy for life. Are you a wild reader? Do you want to be? Let’s make it happen.
5 Ways to Jazz it With Jewels (and Roses) for National Poetry Month
Why should National Poetry Month be oh-so-predictable? Here are 5 sparkling ways to add a little shine to April.
Life Notes: Greensleeves, Green Tea, and a Circlet
In this Life Notes edition, a child takes one writer’s morning in an unexpected direction—as children are wont to do.
How to Keep Poetry Alive: Use The Growth Model
Literacy doesn’t end with invitations, nor maturity. To keep literacy alive, we can use The Growth Model of Education.
Life Notes: What’s Your Happiest Moment?
What’s your happiest moment? We reach into the past in this “Life Notes” edition, to a high-armed couch and a mountain, to try to answer the question.
The Power of a Poem
Within the single poem “The Road Not Taken” is a whole relationship; in it, one sees the way that relationship unfolded for Edward Thomas and Robert Frost.
Poetry at the IRS: An Accidental Artist Date
A couple of hours on the meter, a walk through the metal detector and a long wait on the IRS office chairs might be all you need for an Artist Date.
Top 10 Found Poem Lines from Forbes—The Whopper Edition
Can you put a little poetry into the NASDAQ? Give it a try with a found poem line or poem starter from an issue of Forbes.
Letters to a Young Editor—How to Use College the Best Way You Can
How can you use college to someday become a great editor? (If you’re already out of college, these tips will still apply.)
Lydia Davis and Selective Memory, at Purchase College
In a witty address at Purchase College, Lydia Davis helps you re-imagine your writing life, from dreams to peas.