A writer inspired by nature and human nature

Posts tagged ‘homeschooling resource’

Aside

Have an Amazing New Year!

May your days be blessed and beautiful

May your nights, sweet dreams supply

May your New Year be amazing

As a monarch butterfly

© Bette A. Stevens

Learn about Monarch Butterflies

Bette in her garden with one of the monarch butterflies that emerged from its chrysalis at the farmstead in central Maine.

Monarch butterflies offer an amazing view into the intricate nature of the wild. Their scientific name—Danaus Plexippus— Greek for “Sleepy Transformation,” gets part of the story right, but not the epic whole. Monarch butterflies embark on an amazing migratory phenomenon as they have the ability to hibernate and metamorphose. International conservation efforts to protect and restore monarch habitat are ongoing. These efforts may help improve the near-endangered/endangered status of the species; but we, as ordinary citizens, can easily help the monarch butterfly recovery right in our own backyards and gardens.

Resources for kids, families, educators and gardeners
Download Bette’s FREE PDF “Fun & Learning with Monarch Butterflies” where you’ll find:
★ Monarch Butterfly Facts
★ Coloring Pages
★ Gardening
★ Video: How to Make an Origami Butterfly
★ Butterfly Teacher Guide and so much more…
★ How you can help protect our monarchs
DOWNLOAD Bette’s FREE PDF https://4writersandreaders.com/fun-learning-with-monarchs-2/

AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarch’s Tale (Award-winning Picture Book) by Bette A. Stevens—Purchase AMAZING MATILDA paperback and download eBook for #FREE

Find out even more about our amazing monarch butterflies and discover how you can help this species recover at http://www.wildcenter.org/science/all-about-monarchs-2/

Wishing all of you & all of
our amazing monarch butterflies…
“An Amazing New Year!”

~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author

[EXPLORE BETTE’S BLOG]

Written

on 12/29/2021

Aside

Write a 🎃 Halloween Haiku & Get the Kids Writing Too!

***Make writing a* *Family Affair!***

Find out how to write a Haiku poem & get the kids writing too…

Black Cat HALLOWEEN Haiku BAS 2019

Midnight—our fabulous, furry feline—inspired me to write BLACK CAT, a Halloween haiku (Haiku: a Japanese-inspired three-line: 5-7-5 syllable poetry form) and to design a poster to go with the poem. Kids love illustrating their poems. They enjoy listening to poetry and to reading it aloud too.

Reading and writing poetry is a fantastic way to improve creativity and critical thinking skills for people of all ages. Plus, it’s an outstanding way to foster foundational learning and literacy for children. It’s so much fun to read and write poetry together! The kids will love it and I know you will too. Whether at home or in the classroom writing and sharing poetry is a perfect way to celebrate any season—for any reason!

What’s inspiring you this autumn?
Brainstorm your list and get writing.
Have fun—don’t forget to get the kids writing too!

Here are some Writer’s Tricks (literary devices found in every writer’s toolbox) I used to create BLACK CAT. These tools can set a mood— they make writing and reading memorable and fun. Check them out and see if you can discover where I used them in my poem.

Read on to find out more about these literary devices.

BLACK CAT

Black cat waits, watches…
Stalking tricksters in their webs.
Spiders are her treats!

© Bette A. Stevens, Maine author

Three 🎃Tricks from the Writer’s Toolbox (Literary devices) used in writing poetry and prose

Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.
Consonance
Another literary device used by writers and poets is consonance—repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. This repetition often takes place in quick succession.
Alliteration
You put your alliteration tool to work when words that start with the same sound are used close together in a phrase or sentence. The sound is usually a consonant and the words don’t have to always be right next to one another.

How to find “just the right words”
Abundant writing resources are available in print as well as online. Listed below are the two resources I had readily available in the classroom for my students (Grades 4-8). Paperbacks are inexpensive enough to have multiple copies on hand, and in my opinion they are indispensable.

The Scholastic Rhyming Dictionary by Sue Young
Webster’s Thesaurus for Students by Merriam-Webster

Happy Writing & Reading Poetry…

🎃HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator

Download Bette’s FREE PDF to discover even more about how to write haiku (Click this link) https://4writersandreaders.com/poetry-party-lets-haiku-lesson-1-free-pdf-from-bette/

This post is shared in loving memory of our amazing kitty, Miss Midnight. ~Bette A. Stevens

[Explore Bette’s Blog]

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Written

on 10/17/2020

Aside

Have Fun Writing Haiku & Get the Kids Writing Too!

Write a Halloween Haiku & Get the Kids Writing Too!

Black Cat HALLOWEEN Haiku BAS 2019

Midnight—our fabulous, furry feline—inspired me to write BLACK CAT, a Halloween haiku (Haiku: a Japanese-inspired three-line: 5-7-5 syllable poetry form) and design a poster to go with the poem. Kids love illustrating their poetry. This Halloween post is shared in loving memory of our amazing Miss Midnight.

What’s inspiring you this Halloween?
Brainstorm your list and get writing.
Have fun—don’t forget to get the kids writing too!

Here are some Writer’s Tricks (literary devices found in every writer’s toolbox) I used to create BLACK CAT. These tools can set a mood— they make writing and reading memorable and fun. Check them out and see if you can discover where I used them in my poem.

Read on to find out more about these literary devices.

BLACK CAT

Black cat waits, watches…
Stalking tricksters in their webs.
Spiders are her treats!

© Bette A. Stevens, Maine author

Three Writer’s Tricks (Literary devices) used in writing poetry and prose

Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.

Consonance
Another literary device used by writers and poets is consonance—repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. This repetition often takes place in quick succession.

Alliteration
You put your alliteration tool to work when words that start with the same sound are used close together in a phrase or sentence. The sound is usually a consonant and the words don’t have to always be right next to one another.

Finding “just the right words”
Abundant writing resources are available in print as well as online. Listed below are the two resources I had readily available in the classroom for my students (Grades 4-8). Paperbacks are inexpensive enough to have multiple copies on hand, and in my opinion they are indispensable.

The Scholastic Rhyming Dictionary by Sue Young
Webster’s Thesaurus for Students by Merriam-Webster

Happy Writing and Reading Haiku

& Happy Halloween!

~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator

Find out more about how to write haiku and other poetry at Reference.Com

[Explore Bette’s Blog]

Save

Written

on 10/15/2019

Aside

Have an Amazing New Year! (Poem + Monarch Butterfly Resources from author Bette A. Stevens)

Have an Amazing New Year!

May your days be blessed and beautiful

May your nights, sweet dreams supply

May your New Year be amazing

As a monarch butterfly

Learn about Monarch Butterflies

Bette in her garden with one of the monarch butterflies that emerged from its chrysalis at the farmstead in central Maine.

Resources for kids, families, educators and gardeners
Download Bette’s FREE PDF “Fun & Learning with Monarch Butterflies” where you’ll find:
★ Monarch Butterfly Facts
★ Coloring Pages
★ Gardening
★ Video: How to Make an Origami Butterfly
★ Butterfly Teacher Guide and so much more…
★ How you can help protect our monarchs
DOWNLOAD Bette’s FREE PDF https://4writersandreaders.com/fun-learning-with-monarchs-2/
AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarch’s Tale (Award-winning Picture Book) by Bette A. Stevens—Purchase paperback and download eBook for #FREE
Find out even more about our amazing monarch butterflies and discover how you can help this species recover at http://www.wildcenter.org/science/all-about-monarchs-2/

Wishing all of you and our amazing monarch butterflies…
“An Amazing New Year!”

~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author

[EXPLORE BETTE’S BLOG]

Written

on 12/31/2018

Aside

Write a 🎃 Halloween Haiku 🎃 & Get the Kids Writing Too!

Write a Halloween Haiku & Get the Kids Writing Too!

BLACK CAT, A Halloween Haiku (inspired by Midnight, our fabulous furry feline). ~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author

Meet Midnight—The fabulous furry feline who inspired me to write BLACK CAT, a 🎃Halloween haiku🎃 (Haiku: a Japanese-inspired three-line: 5-7-5 syllable poetry form).

Midnight’s grooming table is decked out for each season or holiday and she loves it. I designed this year’s poster using a photo I took of Midnight resting on her grooming table here at the farmstead in central Maine. She’s a kitty who loves to hunt for spiders (one of her favorite treats). After taking the photo and writing the haiku, I added text plus spider and web graphics, then added a frame to make a poster. Kids of all ages enjoy writing and illustrating their own poetry. It makes a great family activity too.

What’s inspiring you this Halloween?
Brainstorm your list and get writing.
🎃Have fun—don’t forget to get the kids writing too!

Here are some writer’s tricks (literary devices found in every writer’s toolbox) I used to create BLACK CAT. These tools can set a mood— they make writing and reading memorable and fun. Check them out and see if you can discover where I used them in my poem.

Read on to find out more about these literary devices.

BLACK CAT (haiku) by Bette A. Stevens

Black cat waits, watches…
Stalking tricksters in their web.
Spiders are her treats!

Three Writer’s Tricks (Literary devices used in writing poetry and prose)

Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.

Consonance
Another literary device used by writers and poets is consonance. It is the repetition of the final consonant sounds, usually in the more important words or in the accented syllables.

Finding “just the right words”
Abundant resources are available in print as well as through online searches. Listed below are the two resources I had readily available in the classroom for my students (Grades 4-8). Paperbacks are inexpensive enough to have multiple copies available, and in my opinion, they are indispensable.

The Scholastic Rhyming Dictionary by Sue Young
Webster’s Thesaurus for Students by Merriam-Webster

🎃 Happy Writing and Reading Haiku

& Happy Halloween 🎃

~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator

Find out more about how to write haiku and other poetry at Reference.Com
Find out more about Maine author Bette A. Stevens and take a look inside her books at http://viewauthor.at/BetteAStevens

[Explore Bette’s Blog]

Save

Written

on 10/22/2018

Aside

Sky Stories (Haiku) by Bette A. Stevens

After three glorious days of 40 degree temperatures, the snow pack in the fields and front yard is beginning to melt at the farmstead in Central Maine. In fact, this was the first day I didn’t have to don ice cleats to walk safely down the driveway to the mailbox—the sun was shining and nary a cloud in the sky. By late afternoon the sky was telling another story. What stories are the skies telling you? ~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author

Here’s my latest haiku. See if you can write one too!

Sky Stories

Tales of winter’s end
Peek through darkening shadows
Spring’s silver linings

WRITING TIPS FROM BETTE

Discover more about how to write haiku and other poetry:

Tips for children and adults from Bette A. Stevens on writing poetry https://4writersandreaders.com/2016/10/19/have-fun-writing-haiku-get-the-kids-writing-too/

Find out more about author Bette A. Stevens and her books at http://viewauthor.at/BetteAStevens

[Explore Bette’s Blog]

Written

on 03/01/2018

Aside

Have an Amazing New Year! (+poem by Bette A. Stevens)

May your New Year be Amazing
as a Monarch Butterfly

May your days be blessed and beautiful

May your nights, sweet dreams supply

May your New Year be amazing

As a monarch butterfly

Wishing all of you and our amazing monarch butterflies…
“An Amazing New Year!”

~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author

All About Monarchs

Monarch butterflies offer an amazing view into the intricate nature of the wild. Their science name, Danaus Plexippus, Greek for “Sleepy Transformation,” gets part of the story right, but not the epic whole. International conservation efforts to protect and restore monarch habitat are ongoing. These efforts may help improve the near-endangered/endangered status of the species; but we, as ordinary citizens, can easily help the monarch butterfly recovery right in our own backyards and gardens. Find out more at the links below.

Find out more about our amazing monarch butterflies and discover how you can help this species recover at http://www.wildcenter.org/science/all-about-monarchs-2/
For kids, families, educators and gardeners: Download Bette’s FREE pdf “Fun & Learning with Monarch Butterflies” where you’ll find:
★Monarch Facts ★Coloring Pages ★Crafts ★Gardening
★Video: How to Make an Origami Butterfly
★Butterfly Teacher Guide and so much more…
★Find out how you can help protect our monarchs
https://4writersandreaders.com/fun-learning-with-monarchs-2/

[EXPLORE BETTE’S BLOG]

Written

on 12/30/2017

Aside

Celebrate the Holidays with AMAZING MATILDA: #kindle version only 99¢ from 11/25 thru 11/28

Looking for that perfect gift—one that keeps on giving—for the children in your life?

AMAZING MATILDA by Bette A. Stevens
This 5✰ award-winning children’s book about a Monarch butterfly inspires kids to be all they can be.
ONLY 99¢ at YOUR AMAZON http://bit.ly/19Qr3Y0 through November 28, 2016

Readers and listeners (age 4–11) simply adore Matilda. Adults are sure to fall in love with this amazing Monarch butterfly too.
Friendship, patience and persistence are among the lessons learned in this gem of a tale featuring AMAZING MATILDA. This award-winning picture book adventure follows the Monarch’s life cycle as caterpillar Matilda embarks on a quest to make her dream of flying come true.

Book Summary

When Matilda emerges from her egg on a milkweed leaf, she stretches and yawns and wants to fly. Sparrow tells her to follow her dreams. Toad and Rabbit laugh at a creature without wings who wants to fly. You’ll be just as amazed as Toad and Rabbit are when you follow Matilda’s adventure from egg to imago. Science, art and wise lessons for children—they’re all wrapped up in a tale the kids will want to read/hear again and again!

And there’s more

As a BONUS, don’t forget to visit the author’s website to download a #free copy of AMAZING MATILDA Finger Puppets and have fun “Talking Books” with the kids in your life. Download them today at https://4writersandreaders.com/amazing-matilda-finger-puppets-free-download/

AMAZING MATILDA by Bette A. Stevens is also available in paperback ($9.49). If you order the paperback from Amazon, the Kindle version is always free via “Matchbook”

About the author

Inspired by nature and human nature, author Bette A. Stevens is a retired elementary and middle school teacher, a wife, mother of two and grandmother of five. Stevens lives in Central Maine with her husband on their 37-acre farmstead where she enjoys reading, writing, gardening, walking and reveling in the beauty of nature. She advocates for children and families, for childhood literacy and for the conservation of Monarch butterflies—an endangered species (and for milkweed, the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat).

Stevens is the author of AMAZING MATILDA, an award-winning picture book; The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too!, a home/school resource incorporating hands-on math and writing; and PURE TRASH, the short story prequel to her début novel, DOG BONE SOUP, a Boomer’s coming-of-age story set in 1950s and 60s New England.

Find out more about the author and her books at http://viewauthor.at/BetteAStevens

[Explore Bette’s Blog]

Save

Written

on 11/25/2016

Aside

Have Fun Writing Haiku & Get the Kids Writing Too!

Write a Halloween Haiku & Get the Kids Writing Too!

Midnight—my fabulous furry feline—inspired me to write BLACK CAT, a Halloween haiku (Haiku: a Japanese-inspired three-line: 5-7-5 syllable poetry form) and design a poster to go with the poem. Kids love illustrating their poetry.

What’s inspiring you this Halloween?
Brainstorm your list and get writing.
Have fun—don’t forget to get the kids writing too!

Here are some writer’s tricks (literary devices found in every writer’s toolbox) I used to create BLACK CAT. These tools can set a mood— they make writing and reading memorable and fun. Check them out and see if you can discover where I used them in my poem.

Read on to find out more about these literary devices.

Black cat waits, watches…
Stalking tricksters in their web.
Spiders are her treats!

Three Writer’s Tricks (Literary devices) used in writing poetry and prose

Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.

Consonance
Another literary device used by writers and poets is consonance. It is the repetition of the final consonant sounds, usually in the more important words or in the accented syllables.

The Scholastic Rhyming Dictionary by Sue Young
Webster’s Thesaurus for Students by Merriam-Webster

Happy Writing and Reading Haiku

& Happy Halloween!

~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator

[Explore Bette’s Blog]

Save

Written

on 10/19/2016

Aside

THE TANGRAM ZOO & WORD PUZZLES TOO!

The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too! was written and illustrated by Bette A. Stevens (1st Edition published by Windswept House, Mt. Desert, ME in 1997) as an educational resource to use in her classroom. Kids, teachers and families are still raving about this book.

“Awesome and Creative!” ~ S.B.

“These were fun, so I wish there had been more pages.”
~ Ocean Breeze

“The animal shapes are fun and the riddles are great too.
Don’t worry the answers are in the book so you will
not get stuck trying to figure them out.”
~ David M. Howard, author

“A great tutoring resource. I would highly recommend
it as a teaching aid for parents or tutors.“
~ Charles Bray, educator and author

For hours of creative learning at home
and in the classroom, visit
THE TANGRAM ZOO and WORD PUZZLES TOO!

Kids will learn how to make their own tangrams

Solve tangram puzzles
Solve rhyming riddles
Create their own creatures & riddles
to add to THE ZOO…

Get the kids out of that boredom slump with THE TANGRAM ZOO by Bette A. Stevens—a great resource for home or school. Puzzles, poetry, reading, research, writing & projects too! (ages 5–adult)
Looking for some Classroom or Family Fun with the kids or grandkids? Need some quality together time on a rainy or snowy day?
Solve 18 puzzles and riddles, make your own tangram puzzle pieces; then write your own riddles and add your creatures to THE ZOO!
Solutions and project ideas included.

Visit THE TANGRAM ZOO AND WORD PUZZLES TOO! written and illustrated by Maine author/illustrator. Paperback only $6.99 for hours of creative learning and hands-on fun. Get your copy at YOUR AMAZON today!

Find adventure books for everyone in the family at http://viewauthor.at/BetteAStevens

[Explore Bette’s Blog]

Written

on 10/28/2015

	Project WITH on 🎄 Christmas 🎄 ∞ A Music Video…
	Bette A. Stevens on Write a Summer Limerick &…
	Elliot on Write a Summer Limerick &…
	usfman on Celebrate the Seasons through…
	Bette A. Stevens on Celebrate the Seasons through…

A writer inspired by nature and human nature

Posts tagged ‘homeschooling resource’

Learn about Monarch Butterflies

Please share:

Like this:

Make writing a Family Affair!

Three 🎃Tricks from the Writer’s Toolbox (Literary devices) used in writing poetry and prose

Please share:

Like this:

Write a Halloween Haiku & Get the Kids Writing Too!

Three Writer’s Tricks (Literary devices) used in writing poetry and prose

Please share:

Like this:

Have an Amazing New Year!

Learn about Monarch Butterflies

Please share:

Like this:

Write a Halloween Haiku & Get the Kids Writing Too!

Three Writer’s Tricks (Literary devices used in writing poetry and prose)

Please share:

Like this:

Sky Stories

WRITING TIPS FROM BETTE

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May your New Year be Amazing as a Monarch Butterfly

All About Monarchs

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Book Summary

And there’s more

About the author

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Like this:

Write a Halloween Haiku & Get the Kids Writing Too!

Three Writer’s Tricks (Literary devices) used in writing poetry and prose

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WELCOME!

Bette A. Stevens

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May your New Year be Amazing
as a Monarch Butterfly