Thursday, May 01, 2014

ALSC Institute: Poetry and Science

One more science + poetry plug!
The 2014 ALSC National Institute is scheduled for September 18 - 20, 2014 in Oakland, California and I'll be making the trek there to present with a fantastic panel of poets. Our focus? Science and poetry, of course! Here's the lowdown:

The Science of Poetry and the Poetry of Science: Helping Children Make Connections

Presenters:
Margarita Engle
Susan Blackaby
Janet Wong
Sylvia Vardell

Description:
This session will present poetry that incorporates science content plus practical strategies for implementation. Poetry offers the special language, imagery, and conciseness that introduces or reinforces important science concepts and terminology. We can encourage children to think like a poet and a scientist in carefully observing the world around them using all their senses, maintaining an avid curiosity about how things work, and gathering “big words” and key vocabulary in their reading and their writing. 

We'll be presenting TWICE:
Thursday, Sept. 18 at 10:45-11:45am
and 
Saturday, Sept. 20 at 9:15-10:15am

We'll be talking about a variety of science-themed poetry books and instructional strategies and will provide a poetry bibliography and plenty of freebies! Mark your calendar and plan to attend.

1 comment:

Janet Wong said...

This will be a real treat! Everyone loves Margarita Engle, and her new SILVER PEOPLE is getting such great (and well deserved) buzz . . . but more people NEED to know our other panelist Susan Blackaby. She is a master of poetic techniques and form, with the careful eye of both a poet and scientist. And she's able to take a difficult topic like recycling or the scientific processes and find just the right thing to say about it. Please SIGN UP for this conference if you're able--we want to see you there!!!