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:
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?
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
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.
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?
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!
Inspired by both Verselove‘s onomatopoeia poem invitation by Margaret and NWP’s Write Out Write Where We Stand Challenge, I took a mental walk on the beach this afternoon. The beach is truly my place.
I love children’s picture books. I might even fancy myself a connoisseur of sorts. I have old favorites, but I am always on the look out for new titles. Apparently I have a “type” when it comes to books. Our school librarian can pick a book for me…and most of the time, it is a perfect book for me.
One Day This Tree Will Fall by Leslie Barnard Booth appeared in my book bag a week or so ago…and before I even opened the cover, I was pretty sure it was a book for me. When I opened it and read through it, I nodded to myself. Yes, I’ll be reading this to my students, I said to myself. But of course, the true test is reading it aloud to kids.
Ah…the language flowed. Rhymes mingled with repetition, questions jumped in creating a refrain like a long lost friend. And wrapped in this gorgeous package was an appreciation of nature and an acknowledgement of the resilience and fragility of this ecosystem along with the introduction of important concepts like drought and decomposition (we had quite a discussion about drought–something we deal with regularly in our Southern California community).
Honoring the value of scars and hardship is a river that runs along the story of the tree. It’s a story of ecology and of acceptance and inclusion. When I finished reading it I told my students I knew I would read it again.
And I did. Later that same day, before we headed into some writing under the influence of acorns, I read the book to my students again. They didn’t complain. They noticed more…and so did I. I’ll be reading this one again…probably even buying my own copy. If you love great non-fiction for children, written with attention to the beauty and purposefulness of language…you’ll love this book. I’ll probably read this book to my students again before the school year ends! It really is that good.
On this second to the last day of National Poetry Month my students and I are still writing poems. I woke this morning to a suggestion from Abigail at #writeout in the NWP Teachers Studio to go outside and find a poem.
So I pushed and shoved at my lesson plans for today to make room for getting out of the classroom to collect a poem. We grabbed our sketchbooks and pencils and headed out toward the pollinator garden which sits on the edge of the playground. My directions to my first graders were to collect 5 words or ideas (they could sketch if there was time) and that when we returned to the classroom, they would turn those words or ideas into a poem.
As they reminded me, we do this kind of thing pretty regularly–sometimes by taking photos, sometimes with sketchbooks. So, they knew what to do. There’s plenty for curious kids to pay attention to: the playground ball stuck in the tree, the plant growing in the middle of another plant, bees buzzing, rocks and wood chips and so much more.
And when we got back inside, the writing began. All this happened toward the end of the school day, so there was not much time left for the writing, but we did take the time to share a few of these poems in progress. Here’s a sampling.
M asked me if showering was a real word as he composed.
It’s Earth Day, a perfect day to celebrate the earth and nature and our connections to them. Donnetta at #verselove suggested crafting a poem that honors Mother Earth in some way. Abigail, part of the #writeout team from the National Writing Project shared a recoding of Ada Limon reading the Mary Oliver poem Can You Imagine?
After a day spent with first graders talking and learning about all the reasons and ways we can and should honor and care for our planet, I found myself thinking about the ever-present tall palm tree that has been a constant on our playground for longer than I can remember. This is the tree that inspired my poem for today.
If you want to know when it’s spring, don’t bother with a calendar, just walk into my first grade classroom. The energy is palpable. Those babies that entered the classroom at the end of last summer are growing into knowledgeable and sassy almost second graders. They are readers and writers and fact collectors extraordinaire (although fact-checking is not yet in their realm of expertise). So what do you do at the end of conference week when it feels like the classroom is fitting like last year’s t-shirt–way too tight? Head out to the garden…with iPads in hand!
We’d been out in the garden with our notebooks earlier in the week–observing carefully in the spirit of Jane Goodall. So on Friday I asked students to go back to the place where they observed earlier in the week and find three photos to take. I reminded them of the photography techniques we had learned and set them loose to explore. There was the insect on the screen that first caught students’ attention. The lizard almost created a need for crowd control as these little paparazzi swarmed the cold-blooded sunbathers against the brick wall. They photographed strawberries, broccoli, fruit tree flowers, aloe, and who knows what else.
Yesterday, we studied the poem, Things to do if you are Rain by Elaine Magliaro. We noticed her action words (polka-dot sidewalks, freckle windowpanes…) and did not miss the metaphor of the rain tap dancing on the rooftop. After choosing one of their photos as the subject, they set off to write their own Things to do… poems. And since it’s mid March, I asked them to include three things in their poems: action, a comparison, and some metaphorical thinking.
We ran out of time…which I should say was intentional planning on my part. It wasn’t, but I am reminded of the value of time away from a draft if you want the young writer to really take another look and make the piece better. Using my poem as an example, we read it carefully, looking for the action, the comparison, and the metaphorical thinking. Then they went back to their drafts to finish them and to make them better. And they did.
O took one of those infamous lizard photos and wrote a short but sweet piece.
Things to do if you are a Lizard
Climb up walls like a snake.
Climb up on a sun on a bright green stem.
Run fast, fast, fast, fast!
Grow back your tail.
G found a flower in one of the garden beds, stretching a bit further with her words.
Things to do if you are a Flower
Reach for the sun
get picked into a bouquet
Blossom in spring
Be in a wedding and shine like the sun
Enjoy your life
Share life and health and happiness
Shine like the bright yellow sun
Tap dance in the breeze like a bird’s chirp is music
Send invitations to animals far and wide
to pollinate and see you bloom into
the prettiest flower
F is one of those quick-to-get-done students and thought he had finished yesterday. Today’s mini lesson was the perfect nudge to get him to push himself a bit further–although there’s still some room for growth.
Things to do if you are a Strawberry
Be red and shiny.
Let yourself grow!
Don’t let bugs eat you!
Have a big family that lives on a big bush.
Your petals help you grow and get washed by the rain.
The strawberries are like red poinsettia flowers.
Red strawberries shine like rubies.
Red roses are like ripe strawberries.
And of course, I had to get in on the fun!
Things to do if you are a Yellow Broccoli Flower
Shoot towards the bright blue sky
Soak up the sun in your bright yellow flowers
Sway in the breeze like you’re dancing the tango
Send invitations to the pollinators: Party at Broccoli’s house–all are welcome
Shed your petals and become part of a child’s healthy dinner
As I finish this post, the spring equinox announces that spring has sprung. Welcome Spring! (Although the first graders have been feeling your presence all month!)
