Write Out and Why I Write

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When I was out in the garden with my students yesterday on a Wonder Walk, they were quick to point out the watermelon ripening. Of course I had to take a photo–knowing that it would feature in my writing and thinking in a few days.

Today I spent the bulk of my day in a math inservice instead of celebrating the National Day on Writing with my students. I hurried home after work to tune into the Write Time livestream that featured Write Out ambassador, Grant Snider (of Poetry Comics fame). As I listened to Grant talk about the importance of his notebook and the need to capture snippets of ideas before they floated away, I realized that I use my camera as a notebook. I capture glimpses of experiences and when I look at them, stories and poems unspool. I found myself thinking about the watermelon as a metaphor for why I write. And while I’m not sure it totally works, ideas emerged.

When Grant talked about how in comics the images need to add something beyond the words, I started scribbling my images, going beyond the watermelon growing in the garden. I started trimming my words, responding to my drawings. You can see from this rough first effort that I started with a watermelon image and then realized that it wasn’t my first image. (I did redraw the entire poetry comic–but haven’t yet taken the time to add color and finalize it–and maybe I won’t get there at all). The process was what mattered most.

Writing lets me:

Soak up and soak in

Shadowed and in sun

Swelling, ripening, evolving

Feast on the words

Review, reflect, rethink

Let thoughts ignite

#whyiwrite #writeout #writewherewestand #watermelon

So, why do you write? What processes help you get words onto the page? Why does it matter?

Write Out on a Wonder Walk

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Today was the day…the perfect day for a wonder walk. (You can find all the details on the Write Out Choice Board that is linked)

We prepared by reading Wonder Walkers by Micha Archer. This picture book lays out the whimsy of wondering and the power of questions. The first graders in my class understood right away the difference between questions they already knew the answer to and questions that provoked thinking and imagination.

I gave a brief explanation of the small nature collectors we would use as a tool on our wonder walk. And it only took a minute before a student was waving his hand and wanting to know if we would do some writing after our wonder walk. I love when my students truly know me…and we’re there! Of course there will be writing! They had two “jobs” on the wonder walk:

  • collect some nature items to fit into their collector (without picking from living plants)
  • think about interesting questions they might ask about the nature items

We wandered and wondered and collected. They found rocks and leaves, sticks and dried flower petals, seed pods and other plant matter.

When we got back to the classroom, each student selected one item from their nature collector to draw and write about. They sketched and colored and then turned to their notebooks to write their wonderings.

Then, right before lunch, they picked their favorite question or wondering and wrote it on an index card that I typed up so we could display them. Here’s our Wonder Walk Wonderings!

What will you find on your wonder walk? What wonderings will it evoke?

Write Out in the Backyard

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I went out into my backyard in search of something “boring” or “ordinary” to take a photo of and the wild menagerie (as we call it) called me over. The wild menagerie is made up of all the potted plants that have outgrown their pots, are odd looking, or are too unruly for the house. They end up on the back patio–where they seem to thrive in neglect.

I used a prompt from Matt at Ethical ELA where he describes an exercise for describing the most boring object ever (MBOE) as a way of creating fodder (and language) to make a poem. I am drawn to these plants because they remind me of roses, but instead of flowering on a stem, they seem to bloom as a head of a snake. I can imagine them sliding across the ground, intertwining their sinuous bodies as they multiply, filling up an expanse of the patio. It’s hard to remember they were once small succulents in a pot!

So here’s a poem that focuses on that particular batch of succulents who have escaped their pots and have made a “garden” for themselves on the cement of the patio.

Green globes on a stalk

slithering snakes

coiling and crawling and cavorting

beyond their pots

befriending the aloe

encouraging the spiders and lizards

cheering on all the misfit plants

who thrive in this unattended garden

a place where the most hearty

call home

When you step outside, what ordinary or boring plant calls for your attention? What poem will it conjure?

Write Out with a Cherita

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This morning I noticed a prompt over at Ethical ELA where the invitation was to write a cherita. I story poem told in 6 lines and three stanzas. A beginning of a single line, a middle of two lines, and the ending of three lines. And this is also the 4th day of the Write Where We Stand #writeout challenge. The challenge asked how going outside inspires the writer within.

I’m always looking for new ways to approach my writing, so the challenge of the cherita was a welcome way to think about the value of outdoors to my writing process.

Step outside and feel nature course through your veins.

Senses ignite and ideas sprout. Slugs slide, waves wander, trees trumpet, offering invitations your pencil can’t resist.

Lift those magic wands—indoors or out—conjuring words. Words that dance and leap and twirl with the music of wind and water and land. Let them bring us to your place so we can love it like you do.

#writeout #writewherewestand #cherita #smallpoems

And who can resist all the things I see at the beach…including this low flying plane.

What stories do we need to hear about your place? How does going outside help us better understand the place you love and live?

Write Out: Today by the Numbers

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Today was a HOT day of teaching and then an evening walk on the beach. Inspired by Twig and Toad and a special dispatch by the numbers, I crafted my own enumeration of today by the numbers.

When I arrived at the beach this evening it was 94 degrees. When I left right after sunset, it was 90 degrees. This became the beginning of my list of numbers for the day.

What numbers describe your day?

Today: by the numbers

6:18pm on the beach: 90 degrees

Ocean water: 72 degrees

Sunset: 6:13pm

whales seen today: 0

whales seen yesterday: a pod of orcas frolicking

wildfires in the county: 2

wildfires too close: 2

freeways closed today because of fires: 1 (luckily not for too long and not too close to home—but my heart goes out to commuters who were impacted)

photos taken at the beach: 34

videos of waves crashing: 4

photos taken at school: 11

sweaty first graders in class today: 16

successful acorn art projects with short poems created by first graders: 16

Top wind gust speeds on campus today: up to 22 mph

Length of time spent napping after teaching and before walking on the beach: 15 minutes

Length of beach walk: 3 miles

Overall evaluation of the day: 5 out of 5 stars. Can’t complain, but I will whine a bit about the heat and the Santa Ana winds.

#writeout #writewherewestand #list #enumerations

Wish Where We Stand

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Last weekend’s rain from hurricane Rachel has turned to dry Santa Ana winds and hotter-than-summer like temperatures. What feels like endless summer to beach goers is fire weather to everyone else in the county.

I watched the dark gray smoke gather and billow as I drove home today and my husband confirmed the wildfire on Camp Pendleton when I called. I changed into shorts and we headed to the beach for today’s walk. As we pulled into the parking lot we both saw it! A huge plume of splash offshore. Could it be, it must be, is it… First thought: gray whale. We rushed from the car to the edge of the cliff and watched. Splashes and more splashes. Whales–but more likely orcas (killer whales) than gray whales. There was clearly a pod. They were leaping and diving, close but not close enough.

The delight from the whales and the dread from the smoke began to braid. We are seeing so many impacts of climate change. Too warm ocean water (even though I am enjoying it), too dry land, weird weather, starving sea birds, beaches washing away, cliffs collapsing, the list goes on and on.

Today in the Write Now Teacher Studio the Write Out Challenge prompt was to make a wish for your place…or #wishwherewe stand. Here’s today’s effort:

Wishing

on orca plumes

splashes seen from shore

on gray-black smoke

snaking along the coast

on fire weather

disguised as endless summer

Wishing

for gentle rain that nourishes

instead of flooding

for winds that don’t

whip fires into frenzy

for waters just right

so that ecosystems thrive

Wishing

my students care for this earth

my grandchildren love this earth

our future thrives on this earth

#writewherewestand #writeout #wishes #smallpoems #wishwhereyoustand

Writing Out by Writing In

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In its name Write Out is about getting outside and writing under the influence of whatever nature happens to be around. But as a classroom teacher, sometimes I need to invite nature inside instead of taking my students out.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge proponent of getting students outside, especially for writing. But with a bag of acorns, carefully collected by a friend in another part of the state, sitting at tables with hand lenses and sketchpads was just what we needed today.

We started by reading Because of an Acorn…twice! My first grade students enjoyed searching for hints about what the next page would reveal. They noticed the life cycle and food cycle in the story, and it was a perfect time to talk about the ecosystem that included the acorn.

There is nothing like a hand lens to get students to look carefully. They looked, listened, smelled, and rattled these little nuts. They took out their sketch pads and carefully captured their observations, also including a number, what they noticed, and what the acorn reminded them of.

Later this week we will finish an Andy Warhol-inspired acorn art project and write some poetry inspired by our acorn observations. There is nothing quite like bringing nature into the classroom to help students connect and fall in love with all that the earth has to offer. After all, we want these 6 and 7 year olds to grow up to care about and take care of our planet.

How might you bring #writeout in if you are not able to get out?

Write Out and Kilo

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This afternoon I had the opportunity to learn more about the traditional Hawaiian practice of Kilo. Three educators from Hilo, HI hosted a gathering on Zoom to share this practice with educators through NWP’s Write Out.

Kilo is all about observation. Bringing your whole self and all your senses and attention to whatever nature is around you: sky, earth, water. After spending some time learning about Kilo, we were invited to find a window or walk outside to take the time to experience a moment of kilo ourselves.

I walked into my backyard, senses tuned, notebook in hand. I listened, smelled, felt, looked, and even tasted (without actually putting anything in my mouth) what otherwise feels ordinary. The intentionality of the kilo somehow intensified the experience for me.

From my notes, I wrote.

Wind calls, beyond a whisper

yet not a shout

urgently ruffling my hair

caressing my cheek with cool fingers on a warm afternoon

Sun peers over my shoulder

my hand casting a shadow on my notebook, my eye catches

sister orb weaver’s web dancing

light and wind holding hands

Sweet and tart blueberries

tease my tastebuds

a reminder of summer

lingering, hanging around

well into fall

#smallpoems #kilo #writeout #writewherewestand #inthebackyard

You can find more information about the Kilo on the Write Out choice board. I highly recommend trying it out. I know I will also be doing it with my students in the next weeks.

Write Out with a Mentor Text

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Getting outside to take photos, to walk, and to anchor my writing is a daily endeavor. With tides cooperating with my schedule, I was out walking on the beach this afternoon. The water was warm (more than 70 degrees F), the beach was wide, and today–because of the effects of the storm this weekend–the beach was sudsy.

I spent time during my walk videotaping the clouds of foam dancing along the shore, gathering and spreading as the waves chased and scooped. Then I turned to still photography to capture the foam in close up.

On the second day of the two-week Write Out experience, I turned to a mentor text to support my writing. My colleague Christina started a Google Doc with potential mentor texts when I asked whether we were starting a list for people to lean on as they participate in Write Out. I added a couple…and today tried another on the list to see where I would take my writing.

Using The Lesson of the Falling Leaves by Lucille Clifton as my starting point, I explored a different kind of repetition of words for my #smallpoem today.

the sea exhales
blowing bubbles
bubbling questions
questioning understanding
understanding complexity
I strive to become
a scholar of the sea
#writeout #writewherewestand #mentortext

What mentor text would you add to the list? Which will you use for your own writing? Which would you share with students?

Be sure to #writewherewestand this week!

Write Out 2026

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Today marks the beginning of Write Out 2026–an annual 2-week event with the National Writing Project and the National Park Service that urges all of us, adults and children alike, to get outside and do some writing.

New this year is the #writewhereweare challenge in the Write Now Teacher Studio. Every other day over the course of the two weeks, we are invited to write and post to a common prompt. Today’s prompt was to write a 6-word story about our place.

Southern CA has been dealing with the effects of Hurricane Rachel, bringing some much needed rain along with high surf, high tides, and coastal flooding. Some beaches are experiencing the loss of sand and parking lots filled with the ocean.

Today I was back at my local beach, hopeful that the low tide would offer a wide expanse for walking and that storm damage would be minimal. It was cloudy, but comfortable with plenty of beach for my walk along with inspiration for my photography and my six words.

After the storm, beach walking still. #writeout #writewherewestand #sixwords

And the weather was cool enough for me to wear my Write Out Write Where We Stand sweatshirt! (Thanks to @deathstr42 for the photo) You can purchase your own at the NWP shop!

Please join us for Write Out and the Write Where We Stand challenge. Everyone is welcome!