Hello to all my friends at Tenafly, NJ’s Stillman School.  I spent the day with the teachers and students on Tueday, May 25th, and we all had a blast.  Thank you to librarian Charlotte Shaffer for bringing me to this wonderful school.  Here is an added fun fact, I grew up in Tenafly, so driving down Tenafly Road and passing favorite places, like Sunnyside Park, was a great, big, added bonus.  And when Charlotte introduced me to the children, she made sure to mention I grew up in Tenafly and went to Maugham School.  The children all seemed to think that was pretty cool.  But here is the deal, it was the kids who were really cool.  They were great listeners, great participants and excellent writers too.  After each of my presentations, I taught the children a brainstoming exercise, and then, together, they wrote a poem.  Here are their great creative works:

I Bought by, Kindergarten and First Graders

Strawberries – RED – are very good

I bought chocolate – just like I should

Cinnamon has a silly scent

Chocolate is very sweet

The Things That Make You Think, by Second and Third Graders

Strawberries are red and juicy

Purple is a beautiful color

Gold makes me think of money

Strawberries make me burp

Elephants squirt water in m face

Wax can chop you with an axe

Carrots are healthy and orange and swet

A ball is very bouncy

Death is not funny at all

It’s All Different Stuff  by, Fourth and Fifth Graders

I like apple pie

I like how guitar strings roam on your fingers

I like gigantic cheese burgers

The small cow was purple

The frozen yogurt was poisonous

I like chocolate ice cream

The mice dance like ballerinas

The chicken ate watermelon

The llama turned around and ate some cheese

I drink milk every morning,

but dairy makes me sick

Great job kids! I love these poems. Keep on writing.  Hey, let me know if you made up alliterative phrases using the names of your family members.  If you want to share, give me a shout out at judy@aimwrite.net.  I’ll post some results right here.

I have no more author visits until September.  I will, however, update the site periodically.  I am growing a few veggies in my tiny back yard this year, including zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers.   I will take some photos and share my results! Thanks to all my readers for the well wishes.  If you want to, you can contact me at judy@aimwrite.net and finally, remember…healthy eating starts with a poem!