There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
What Freedom Means to You (and Me)
What does freedom mean? L.L. Barkat considers the complications of this timeless question, in the company of tractor pulls, rifle shining, a trilling creek, and angora rabbit clouds.
Introvert Paradise: What Our Arguments Reveal
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Great Friendship Tales: Provence, 1970—More Than Just Different
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Great Friendship Tales: Provence, 1970 Book Club—The Writing Question
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Piloting Friendship, Starting at Mooyah
A trip to Mooyah provides the perfect, if unexpected, place for a decision to be made: it’s time to pilot a Friendship Project. Burgers and fries aside, consider joining the takeoff.
How to Turn Your Story Questions Into Writing Prompts!
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.