Ask Norman: Do You Punch?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Hey Kids! Sachio and Jessup, friends from The Little School, asked the same question (friends do that sometimes, don’t they!):
What do you think Norman has to say about punching? What do you think about punching? To read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
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Say kids: Have you ever tasted Goldfish Punch? We found a tasty recipe by the “Lady Behind the Curtain” website. WANT TO GIVE IT A TRY?
Look! Norman’s new fishbowl—and he has 2 friends now!
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Poetry Challenge #180-Revisionist Wednesday-Cutting UP!
Are you a cut up? Did you every get in trouble for “cutting up?” Does anyone even use that term in Merriam-Webster’s Intransitive Verb option #2 anymore?
“to behave in a comic, boisterous, or unruly manner: clown.”
Well get ready cause we are! Perhaps with more physical intent: a poet’s version of the newspaper Jumble (my mom-in-law’s favorite).
For this you’ll need scissors!
Poetry Challenge #180
Cutting Up
Choose a poem you’ve written that you’d like to make better.
Print the poem in a large font or write it out by hand in large letters.
Cut the words into individual pieces.
Organize them—alphabetically or by number of letters or any other way you can think of. Can you see any interesting/exciting combinations of words now?
Work on a sheet of blank paper and rearrange the words into a new poem. Feel free to add more words if needed. Write them on the paper where you want them to be. You don’t have to use all your words. Read the new poem aloud and see how it sounds.
You can do this on any poem. If you want a different challenge, Take two poems and mix their words together. Have fun!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Scrambling!
Don’t Think About it, do it! Play!
Be a Cut Up!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1766 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl): SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Ask Norman: Do You Know Geometry?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Hey Kids! What do you think? Do you know geometry? He knows how many laps around his fishbowl, and how many laps up and down. Does that count? To read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
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Say kids: Below is a snap of Norman’s new fishbowl. If I tell you it’s perfectly round, the radius is 6 inches and the height is twice that much, can you figure out how much water it can hold? WANT TO GIVE IT A TRY?
Look! Norman’s new fishbowl—and he has 2 friends now!
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Poetry Challenge #179-KIND Random Acts
One reason I love Valentine’s Day is Conversation Hearts, those chalky pastel hearts imprinted with love notes. When I was a kid, we’d sift through the tiny box searching for those with specific saying to share. (In the process eating the misprinted and broken ones.) In sixth grade, I gave one to Gary Hall which read BE MINE. He popped it into his mouth and held out his hand for another…didn’t even both to read it! If I could have do overs I’d choose one with a different four-letter word after BE: K-I-N-D.
It has been decided that we all need to be reminded to Be Kind and so Valentine’s Week has been officially declared Random Acts of Kindness Week, and smack dab in the middle—in case a whole week of being randomly kind is a hardship—Feb. 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day.
Poetry Challenge #179
Random Acts of Kindness
Today in honor of Random Acts of Kindness Day, let’s write a Random Acts of Poetry poem . . . with very specific, seemingly random, rules:
# of lines: the digits of today’s date (or whichever day you choose) added together (If it’s the 17th, add 1+7=8 and write 8 lines or if you’d rather go with the year: 2+0+2+1=5, write 5 lines)
# of words on the line: the number of letters in the month. (For example, February has 8, write 8 words per line; or 3 for Feb.)
Repeating letter: the 3rd letter of your name. Use this letter as many times as possible. (Mine’s L; what’s yours?)
Rhyme scheme: ABCCBA…repeated as long as you need it. That means the 3rd and 4th lines rhyme, as well as the 2nd and 4th, and the 1st and 6th.
You can write about kindness or random or acts or anything else you can think of.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think About it, do it! BE KIND
And if, like me, you are heartened by accounts of other’s kindness, click over to The Kindness Pandemic Facebook page. Throughout this pandemic, whenever I need a boost (several times some days) I click over to read a story. What generous amazing people there are in this world. Kindness is Contagious!
Here’s the official website link with activities, suggestions, color sheets, too: Random Acts of Kindness.org.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1766 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl): SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Ask Norman: Do You Make Mistakes?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Hey Kids! What do you think? Does our finny friend make mistakes?
Ready to read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
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While Legos don’t make good fish food, they sure make good goldfish. Check out this Lego goldfish created by Gonkius: (We found it, with directions on the brickblogger.com.) WANT TO GIVE IT A TRY?
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Poetry Challenge #178-Bust Out the Bumbershoot!
For more than 4,000 years—longer if one counts fronds—umbrellas have been working tirelessly on our behalf. They protect us from rain, shield us from sun, make excellent walking sticks, rubbish picks, pool cues, tushy pokers & ice shades in fruity drinks! And that’s only when acting as nouns.
Umbrellas serve and protect as adjectives and verbs, too. And so today, Feb. 10th, National Umbrella Day, with one huge sweeping—umbrella-esk—gesture we honor this most useful invention.
“The word umbrella comes from the Latin word umbra, meaning shade or shadow.” Brolly, parasol, gamp are slang for umbrella as is bumbershoot, “a fanciful Americanism for an umbrella from the late 19th century.”
FYI: According to Merriam-Webster, Bumbershoot is said to be a melding of the British “Brolly” and slang for parachutes they resemble when unfurled.
Bumbershoot! If Gene Kelly can dance and sing in the rain with an umbrella partner, we can praise them poetically, can’t we?
Click on the pic for this DIY umbrella
Poetry Challenge #178
Bust Out the Bumbershoot!
Create a shape poem about, involving, or inspired by an umbrella—fully open in all its unfurled glory or tightly rolled and snapped closed—poet’s choice.
FYI: A shape poem is a poem in which the words on the page are arranged to resemble the subject of the poem, or somehow relate to the subject.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
Cheers!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1755 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl): SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Ask Norman: Do Fish Fly?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Hey Kids! What do you think? We know Norman T. Goldfish does lots of tricks—Circles, Bubbles, Flips! But, do you think our finny friend, Norman, can fly? What about other fish?
Ready to read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
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Amor’s question set us wondering so we looked up more about flying fish. There are actually about 65 species of fish that can fly—glide really. Most are about 7-8 inches long. Here’s more about flying fish from Animals Network
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Poetry Challenge #177-Play Like a Girl!
There was a time not so long ago when women were considered too “fragile” or “delicate” to play sports (even though hauling—water, rocks, grain, kids—scrubbing floors, laundry, slinging iron pots etc. was woman’s work.) It took a President proclamation by Ronald Reagan, in 1987, to officially recognize the history of women’s athletics and the Title IX amendment, in 1972, to make it against federal law to excluding students from participating in educational and athletic programs on the basis of sex. And even after it’s taken “Girls with Guts, Breaking Barriers and Bashing Records” to begin to equalize the gender playing field. So for today’s prompt, let’s here it for the girls!
Poetry Challenge #177
Play Like a Girl
In celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, write a poem describing a girl’s sporting event. It might be basketball, track, swimming, gymnastics, hockey, skiing…you name it.
Use poetic devices such as sounds, rhythm and repetition to simulate the sounds, feeling, action of the game.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think Too Much About it; Just Do it!
Let the Games Begin!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1750 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl): SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL