Category: Sylvia Vardell

Poetry Friday: #gratiku, New Year Post Postcards, and "Umbrella" Video

11/20/2020

#gratiku day 14
geese take flight
between rainstorms
time for tea

#gratiku day 15
ancestors
walk among the clouds
remembrance

#gratiku day 16
great family mystery
his birth records- hen's teeth
down the rabbit hole

#gratiku day 17
autumn storm
tree shelters squirrels
umbrella

"Umbrella" video from HOP TO IT

Yesterday's haiku reminded me
of the "Umbrella" video for my poem.
Sylvia Vardell created
on a recent zoom party for HOP IT IT.
Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell always create magic with their books.

You can order your copy at QEP Books via phone 800-323-6787 and email: qepsupport@qepbooks.com

Let's Welcome 2021 with a Poetry Postcard

Did you know there are 42 days until 2020 ends? Woohoo! Let's celebrate the New Year with a New Year Postcard? In Japan, it’s called Nengajo, a Japanese custom of ushering in the new year.

How It Works:

Choose to send five, ten postcards.
Create a postcard: you can buy a postcard and write a poem on the other side or you can create one postcard to send to everyone (I use Walgreens or Zazzle)
Once you get the names, send by February 12, 2021 (beginning of Chinese New Years)
If you choose, you can work in the Chinese animal for 2021: The year of the Ox. It is not required.
Have fun!

All poetry goodness can be found at
Teacher Dance. Thanks Linda!

8 Comments

Poetry Friday: HOP TO IT, Part Two~ Grab an Umbrella

10/16/2020

10 Comments

There is a lot of goodness to be had in the Poetry Friday community today. Please visit Janice at Salt City Verse for more places to read poetry.

I will get right to it. Yesterday was the official book birthday of HOP TO IT: Poems to Get You Moving, edited by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell. It features 100 poem by 90 poets that will make you wiggle your hands and toes, hop, skip, stretch, and jump in puddles.

The Children’s Book Council (CBC) selects a small number of new releases to highlight on their “Hot Off the Press” page ever month. This month, they chose HOP TO IT. What an honor.

Lucky me to have my poem, "Umbrella" in the collection. Living in the Pacific Northwest, there's plenty of rain and puddles for jumping, I've always been that person.

Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell create books that are treasure troves for anyone sharing poetry with kids. In HOP TO IT, each poem is paired with a book. This is something I did when I taught poems and books, they make a lovely paring. So I am thrilled that The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates and Juniper Bates was selected to be with my poem.