Celebrate Poetry All Month Long with Read, Discuss, Do

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  Happy National Poetry Month! We are celebrating National Poetry Month with a weekly poetry challenge all month long. To follow along, subscribe to our newsletter or check back here every Monday and Friday throughout the month of April for updates.  Kickoff: Books and resources for National Poetry Month   Week one: Read and write haiku  Article: A Brief History of Poetry by Marci Whitehurst Week two: Read and write odes Article: Eight Creative Ways to Explore Poetry All Year Long by Rebecca J. Gomez Week three: Read and write riddle poems   Week four: Poet's choice! If you and/or your children/students participate in any of our challenges this month, we'd love to hear from you.  You can  email  us or  tag us  on Instagram (use the hashtag #RDDPoetryChallenge or #RDDPoetryMonth). We will be sharing some readers’ poems in a round-up post at the end of the month, so if you’d like your poems to be considered, please let us know when you s...
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Picture Book Pair for Sharing Love and Friendship

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 Picture book pair posts are about showing how books with similar themes can open up a world of discussion possibilities, and those discussions are great ways to connect with your children or students. It can be fascinating to see how different authors and illustrators approach different topics and themes. Pairing books with similar themes during story time will help children learn that everyone sees and experiences the world a little differently, and it's good to see other people's perspectives.

Today is Valentine’s Day, and that has everyone talking about love! But not just romantic love. The love of friends and family is a big topic too! Yes, this time of year love is a hot topic, but it’s a good topic to read and talk about all year long. So today we’d like to share two lovely books with a theme of love between friends. But love isn’t the only thing these two books have in common. They also both feature bears!

In Love is in the Little Things by Stella J. Jones, illustrated by Jane Massey, love is in all the little things two friends do and share together. This is a charming “slice of life” story featuring a little girl and her best friend, who happens to be a big, lovable bear.

In Love is in the Bear by Judith Henderson, illustrated by Nahid Kazemi, Bear and Bird plan to sing a duet in the opera together. Bear doesn’t get the part, but Bird assures him that they are still a duet with or without a stage. It’s a sweet story about an unlikely friendship that stays true through thick and thin.

Read: Love is in the Little Things and Love is in the Bear

Discuss:

  • How are these two stories similar? How are they different?

  • In each of these books, what are some ways the friends show their love for each other?

  • Each of these books features a bear character. In what ways are the two bears alike?

  • Think of a special friend in your life. How do you show your friend that you care about him or her?

  • List some “little things” that show how someone loves you.

Do:

  • Make a card or write a note to a special friend in your life. Send it through the mail as a special surprise.

  • Imagine that your best friend is a bear, and draw the two of you together doing a favorite activity. Here’s a tutorial for how to draw a simple bear if you need some help.

  • Are you musical? Take a cue from Love is in the Bear and sing a duet with a friend!

  • Be a friend to someone you don’t know well by showing love to them in some small way. Maybe you’ll make a new friend!

For more ideas on sharing love this season and throughout the year, check out these past posts:

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