Mortimer Minute

Thank you, Carmela, for inviting me to share a Mortimer Minute! The official Mortimer Minute rules are listed below. The main aspect is answering three questions (two that you invent yourself, one from a previous hopper).

My three questions:

1) What has been one of your favorite ways of sharing poetry in school?

One year at my children's elementary school, we had students read poems during the morning announcements every day during National Poetry Month. This was a great program for several reasons -- it gave the whole school a chance to hear the poems, it was quick and easy for teachers, and the kids loved it. Students picked poems that they liked, and their appreciation for the poems was evident in their readings. My son performed Allow Me To Introduce Myself by Charles R. Smith. It would be a worthwhile program to have year-round. Each week, a different classroom could be in charge of sending readers to the office. If daily readings seem too complicated, it could take place weekly instead.

2) Imagine you were running a children's poetry weekend for Poetry Fridayers. Where would you have it and what would you feed Jama?

Well, off the top of my head, I can imagine having it at St. Mary's College of Maryland, where they have a writers' conference in the summer. I haven't been to the conference, but I have visited the campus and it is charming. If we were taking a picnic over to the waterside, I would probably bring finger foods, so we could read and write while we ate. Cheese, crackers, fruit, hummus, veg, but more importantly, espresso chocolate shortbread, lemon crinkles, and pecan pie cookies.

3) Please share one of your poems with us.

I wrote this acrostic in honor of one of my son's favorite subjects:

Geography—
Educating Ourselves;
Getting Reports About Places
from the Heavens to the back Yard.
by Tabatha Yeatts

Guess what the Earth weighs? Nearly six sextillion tons!
Earth moves sixty-six thousand miles per hour 'round the sun;
Our world's biggest lake is the (mis-named) Caspian Sea;
Greenland might be the biggest island, but would Australia agree?
Russia and China touch the most other countries: fourteen,
And San Marino is known as the world's oldest country;
Plateau Station, Antarctica is the coldest spot we've got;
Head to Dalol, Ethiopia if you want to be hot.
You + geography = legend!

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The Hop continues! Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche will be joining the Poetry Blog Hop on October 4th!

Our bunny Foo Foo reading A Visit to William Blake's Inn,
photo by Elena Y.

Here’s How-to-Hop, “Mortimer Minute” style!

* Answer 3 questions. Pick one question from the previous Hopper. Add two of your own. Keep it short, please!
* Invite friends. Invite 1-2 bloggers who love children's poetry to follow you. They can be writers, teachers, librarians, or just-plain-old-poetry-lovers.
* Say thank you. In your own post, link to The Previous Hopper. Then keep The Mortimer Minute going: let us know who your Hoppers are and when they plan to post their own Mortimer Minute.

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Amy has this week's Poetry Friday round-up at The Poem Farm.

I announced the winners of my giveaways on Wednesday.

P.S. Geography side-note: This List of Sovereign States is interesting. They say that 33 countries don't recognize Israel, that 22 countries don't recognize China, and that North and South Korea each "claim" the other!