 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme is hosting Poetry Friday today. It's National Poetry Month and I couldn't be happier. There's so much happening this month. First up is the 2026 Kidlit Progressive Poem. It's a poem party and each week the poem builds a line by a different poet. Here's this year's line up. April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise April 14 Jone MacCulloch at Jone Rush MacCulloch April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads April 20 Buffy Silverman April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem April 22 Karen Edmisten April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails  Next Saturday, April 11, I'll be hosting my quarterly Poetry Pop-up at 11 AM EST. Are you curious about this gathering? What happens at a Pop-Up Poetry Salon? It’s a time to gather with other poets and write for about an hour. I typically plan a couple of prompts or invitations to spark ideas for writing. We write for about 20-ish minutes. Then we have the opportunity to share and give positive feedback. Frequency of the Salons I like to hold pop-ups about once a season. Why I Hold the Pop-ups I feel more than ever we are needing community and time to write. For me, writing is art. I want a safe space to try out ideas. There’s a creative spark when we gather, write, and share. It's great to have something to come back to later or say that’s enough for now. If you'd like the link, please let me know in the comments or shoot me an email. Student WorkOne of the things I love about teaching poetry when I’m subbing is providing students a way to express themselves. I also stay curious with how I’m presenting and teaching. Recently, I figured out how to draw out similes and metaphors from students by rephrasing. For example, instead of asking for colors, I asked for “the color of…” Something I noticed with the poems I’m sharing today is how students played with the animal sounds Cheep, peep, cheep Peep, cheep, peep Peep, cheep, cheep Wo-of, wo-of, wo-of Wo-o-f, wo--of, woo--f W-o-of, w-o-of, w-oo-f Me-ow, me-oow,meo-w Me-ow. Me-oow, meo-w Me-ow, me-oow, meo-w Squawk, squawk, squawk Nan, nan, nan Flap, flap, flap I just love their playfulness I'm Hosting Next Week. Looking Forward to the Party
8 Comments
Poetry Friday, Week 13: A Family Literacy Event and Getting Ready for National Poetry Month3/27/2026 Marcie at Marcie Flinchum Atkins is hosting today. Her book When Twilight Comes is here! I can't wait for my copy. She's writing about my favorite time of day. If you have a twilight poem to share, tag her: @MarcieFAtkins Hashtag: #PoetryFriday Share your link: www.marcieatkins.com/blog Family Literacy NightI was invited as a poet to participate in my friends' elementary school's literacy night this week. I've subbed in the library when they had librarians and in the classrooms there in the past. I was over planned for the event with four activities: three were stations and one was a whole group activity. It was clear that the whole group didn't fit the needs of the night. The stations included the following: Station One: Read Some Poetry Station Two: Write a Haiku with Haiku Cubes Station Three: Write a 3 line or 6 line poem using the Poetry Cubes As I set up the stations, I realized that I had three risk levels: low for the reading poetry books, medium risk for using the Poetry Cubes, and high for using the Haiku Cubes. I set up examples on a chart. And I made sure to pull some of the more adult words from the Haiku Cubes (IYKYK). Families came in and out the whole hour. What I didn't plan on was that a few students just wrote a poem on their own. I had cards, tags, and library pockets for them to create a "Poem in a Pocket", thinking they could copy the poem they wrote from the station. It reminded me of how much fun I had during the years I helped family library nights at my school National Poetry Month: Verse of Ages Daily Word Prompts I belong to the Oregon Writers' Colony. Every year, they publish a word list for April and follow up with a reading. When I had my "Poetry Rocks" group, we attended and share poems. With my book getting ready to launch, I have the bandwidth to participate with these little word nuggets. I hope you can join me and are inspired by the words. My friend and creator of the list, Susan Blackaby, says this: To celebrate National Poetry Month, OWC is once again hosting Verse of Ages. Get ready for a month of prompts and myriad ways to stretch your imagination! Skip the rules and see how words spark ideas and then go where they take you. Here are some ways to use the prompts, but these are just guidelines:
Save the DateThe next Poetry Pop-Up Writing Salon will be on Saturday, April 11, 2026. It will be at 11 AM EST.
It's going to be a busy weekend for me as I am hosting on Friday, April 10. Perfect way to celebrate National Poetry Month. Margaret at Reflections on the Teche has poems from prompts through the Ethical ELA during the monthly Open Write. Monday, I returned to the kindergarten class where I subbed last Friday. On the way to school, the teacher texted me and asked if I could do some poetry. I didn't have my go to Bellow! Bleat! Boom! by Georgia Heard but isn't that what ebooks are for? So I purchased it and was ready. I had the good fortune to have two fourth graders be available to assist and of the 18 students only eleven were in class. (Flu and colds making the rounds). I managed to get eight completed. I began with a word bank chart: animal, sounds, color, food they would eat and stressed it didn't need to be real), and a wish.  © Graphic by Amber Fleek
Welcome to Poetry Friday! Linda at A Word Edgewise has hosting duties and is having fun her annual Christmas Mash-ups..
Last Thursday and Friday, I worked in a fourth grade room and taught the elfchen form. Using the poetry of Moe Phillips and Mary Cronin, we build a word bank. Below are their poems. I discovered that when you talk snow and winter in December, it's hard to not bring Christmas along in the mix. They also created art with a moon, trees, snow, and shadows plus a few snowmen that are now on display with their other art.
My goal for 2026 is to send out a monthly newsletter on my Substack, Deowriter: Musings to Spark the Spirit. I plan to talk about my upcoming middle grade novel that I am planning to publish independently in the spring of 2026. So if you haven't signed up, please consider doing so.
Sign Up to Receive a 2026 New Year Postcard
poetry postcards
brings tiny new year wishes amid the bills © Jone Rush MacCulloch It's 21 days until 2026 begins! This means time to sign up for the poetry postcards. Also, as far as I can tell, this may be the TENTH year of hosting. Woohoo! Send five, send ten or send to all? In Japan, it’s called Nengajo, a Japanese custom of ushering in the new year. How It Works:
 © Graphic by Amber Fleek If you celebrated yesterday either with family , friends or new adventures, I hope it was a wonderful day, Buffy at Buffy Silverman: Children’s Author has a wonderful interview with Suzy Levison today. She has a new book out. I had an opportunity to share poems from Thanku: Poems of Gratitude by Marlena Myles in a fourth grade class on Wednesday. Then they created a gratitude heart ala Georgia Heard and used it to write poems. The class was sparse as it was a district make up day for days lost at the beginning of the year. And a few students forgot to give me their poems.  What I Heard Poem The Poetry Sisters’ challenge for November was to compose an ‘Eavesdropped & Overheard’ poem in tribute to our pal at the long-running Chicken Spaghetti blog, Susan Thomsen. I got the part about finding lines I overheard. I'm not sure I wrote in the style of Thomsen's poem. The photo shows the list I created. But I think I have lines that could be poetry fodder later. These came from having lunch in a little hole in the wall place near my home. I wrote a shadorma. From the line: "I've seen what a branch off a tree can do..." Branches crack-- splinter off the maple I watched it transform-- a magical fort We hide, escaping the world. © Jone Rush MacCulloch, 2025 (draft) An Invitation: Please Join Us for the 2026 Poetry Postcards poetry postcards brings tiny new year wishes amid the bills © Jone Rush MacCulloch It's 34 days until 2026 begins! This means time to sign up for the poetry postcards. Also, as far as I can tell, this may be the TENTH year of hosting. Woohoo! Send five, send ten or send to all? In Japan, it’s called Nengajo, a Japanese custom of ushering in the new year. How It Works:
 I have today's Kidlit Progressive Poetry line. I hope you'll indulge me as I share my Texas Women's University Poetry Video links. Allergies caught up with me on Friday thus delaying a poem This year for the midterm project, I took some poems from poetry friends as well as working with Heidi Bee Roemer who has a most excellent Steamed Power Poetry Contest. Students selected from a variety of poems. They are encouraged to submit the poems to the contest but that is optional. Here are the first five of ten poems. Enjoy. Mariana V.: At The Pet Shop by Heidi Bee Roemer. Clarissa R.:Welcome to the Science Lab by Heidi Bee Roemer Sierra B.: Name That Seed! by Heidi Bee Roemer Aisha L.: Ode to the Washing Machine by Rebecca Kai Dotlich Victoria T.: My New Remote by Ken Nesbitt Note: The static audio at the beginning is intentional. Kidlit Progressive Poem 2025: It's 13th Year I think I may have participated in the annual progressive poem every year. Irene Latham began the tradition in 2012 and hosted until 2019. (Early archives here.) Margaret Simon stepped in and has been hosting since 2020. (Recent archives are tabs at the top of her page.) The rules: The poem passes from blog to blog Each poet-blogger adds a line. The poem is for children. Other than that, anything goes. Each blogger will copy the previous line exactly as written (unless permission from the previous poet is obtained) and add their line, offering commentary on their process if they wish. This year Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewisel wrote the beginning line and yesterday Buffy Silverman at http://www.buffysilverman.com/blog left me a line which instantly made me think of my deck with the Downy woodpeckers and hummingbirds. Open an April window let sunlight paint the air stippling every dogwood dappling daffodils with flair Race to the garden where woodpeckers drum as hummingbirds thrum Now it travels to Janice Scully at Salt City Verse. April 1 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise April 2 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect April 3 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write April 5 Denise at https://mrsdkrebs.edublogs.org/ April 6 Buffy at http://www.buffysilverman.com/blog April 7 Jone at https://www.jonerushmacculloch.com/ April 8 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse April 9 Tabatha at https://tabathayeatts.blogspot.com/ April 10 Marcie at Marcie Flinchum Atkins April 11 Rose at Imagine the Possibilities | Rose’s Blog April 12 Fran Haley at Lit Bits and Pieces April 13 Cathy Stenquist April 14 Janet Fagel at Mainly Write April 15 Carol Varsalona at Beyond LiteracyLink April 16 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm April 17 Kim Johnson at Common Threads April 18 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche April 19 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page April 20 Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading April 21 Tanita at {fiction instead of lies} April 22 Patricia Franz April 23 Ruth at There’s No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town April 24 Linda Kulp Trout at http://lindakulptrout.blogspot.com April 25 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe April 26 Michelle Kogan at: https://moreart4all.wordpress.com/ April 27 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance April 28 Pamela Ross at Words in Flight April 29 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry April 30 April Halprin Wayland at Teaching Authors  Graphic © Amber Fleek
Janice at Salt City Verse has a lot of poetry goodies to share on her blog. I concur with her that Laura Shovan's February poetry challenge kept me writing all month. The prompts shared by the group took me in surprising places.
On Wednesday, I was enjoying morning coffee and my former school texted me, 'can you sub, it's an emergency?" It was a day that I didn't have plans and it worked out to jump in. The plans were emergency written with the topic "art/writing". I hadn't thought to bring any poetry lessons. I went to Georgia Heard's website and perused the Heartmaps and decided to do the belonging heart. 
Start of National Poetry Writing Month with a Write-In
On April 5, 2025, you're invited to write with me 11:00 AM-12:30 PM EST.
A group of us gathered on January 18, 2025 and had a wonderful time writing and sharing. If you want to join me on April 5, you can sign up here: Writing for a Shared Poetry World 
Kat at Kats Whiskers has the Poetry Friday hosting duties and shares a poem about cats and dogs.
I returned to Mrs. Martin’s fourth graders I had the opportunity to teach winter poems and we created snowman art. I absolutely love how the snowman turned out. Their expressions! I modeled that they could tear the circle out instead of using scissors and they did. They used the remaining whit paper to create the snow. 
I used four poems from The Dirigible Balloon:
Winter Word Warning by Lisa Roullard The Day After the Snow Day by Theresa Gaughan Winter Fairies by Moe Phillips (We also listened to this one) Wintertime Fair by Mary Cronin Students had copies of the poems and we underlined wintry words that we would like to see in our poems. I then challenged them to use at least one of their underlined words. I put them into the PADLET. They are in Section 2. So scroll past Section I. By using the teacher and adding sections, I can maximize the allowed number of free Padlets. Saturday, January 18, 2025
What: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King Jr.
Let's create or write poems for persistence, for presence during the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. Let's share our work in community. If you are a writer, a poet, a slow stitcher, or artist, join us for a couple hours of creative community. 10-12 EST If you can only join us for an hour, great. Join us. Join here: Creating for Persistence. 
Thanks to Karen at Karen Edmisten* for hosting Poetry Friday this week. She is sharing an Ellen Bass poem that had me at "the smell of grated ginger."
This week, I subbed for in a fifth grade class for my friend who was a teacher librarian and was moved into the classroom as a result of the district getting rid of the library positions. She has a fabulous class. She left me a Joyce Sidman unit of poetry for the week. So I read:
When In Doubt When in doubt. take a nap. Even at 10 in the morning. When in doubt eat the dark chocolate stashed in the drawer labeled “when in doubt”. When in doubt go outside at night. Look for the newest stars. Name them. When in doubt reread letters you’ve saved in a box. It’s your history. When in doubt talk to the neighborhood crow. The one who brings you trinkets. When in doubt drive to the coast. Count the waves. When in doubt sip tea at your local tea shop. Read the tea leaves. When in doubt text your friends. Let them know they’re loved. © Jone Rush MacCulloch The class wrote poems in response to Night Emperor and This is Just to Say. In the Padlet, you will also see my "This is Just to Say" poem, regarding teaching fractions in math this week. I am so hopeless in teaching math!!
Thanks to Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup for hosting our poetry posts.
First of all, I want to say that I am holding in my heart and prayers all those who live on the east coast and have been affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. Especially my poet friends. It was good to see Jan’s post. Last week, I subbed in two classrooms and was excited to once again share Georgia Heard's book, Boom! Bellow! Bleat! as a mentor text. With fourth grade, we did animals but in fifth grade, I gave the option to create a "spooky animal" like a "Pumpkinoctopus". It's evident that students had fun with these. Mrs. Martin's Fourth GradersMrs. Standish's Fifth Grade |
AuthorAll photos and poems in these blog posts are copyrighted to Jone Rush MacCulloch 2006- Present. Please do not copy, reprint or reproduce without written permission from me. 
Categories
All
Archives
February 2026
|
