Today is another gratitude post. I am so grateful to be a part of a wider world of poetry for children. Pomelo Books with NCTE Excellence in Poetry Winner Janet Wong along with her always enthusiastic poetry partner Sylvia Vardell were awarded Every Child a Reader Children’s Book Award for Hop to It. My poem Zen Tree is one of the 100 poems in this book. The award was for the best book of facts. For every poem, there is a side bar with factual information. I love that the facts next to Zen Tree include how trees communicate with each other through their root system. Congratulations to Janet and Sylvia and all of us jumping for Joy!
We are continuing daily gratitude poems in my classrooms. This week at both schools, there is a “Santa Store” set up in the library. Students can buy gifts for their families. There is such joy around buying gifts for others. My students and I expressed that joy in our poems this week.
As we quickly approach Christmas, I hope you are finding much to be grateful for. I am also grateful for you, my underground root system. Your support helps me to keep standing (and writing).
Reflections on the Teche 
I just realized that when we offer support, we “root” for someone! Branches are important, and for sure trunks and leaves are vital, but today let’s have three cheers for the roots!
Love this Mary Lee.
Love the gratitude poems, Margaret. And what a great surprise for HOP TO IT. I’m honored to be a part of it, too, and stand beside such talent.
How wonderful to combine two such powerful things — poetry and gratitude — with your students. They are lucky indeed!
I love the Hop To It & now this big award – fantastic. Closer to home, your gratitude poems make me smile, Margaret. The students must love adding to it!
I love hearing about your students and how you are celebrating poetry and embracing the holiday spirit!
Love the gratitude poems. And it’s such great news about HOP TO IT.
Congratulations! I love the zen tree poem. It’s a winner inside a winner! Yay! And, those messages about finding gifts for others makes my heart happy. Finding the just-right gift for someone else gives so much satisfaction…it really is the best part of Christmas for me.
You and I seem to be in the same space with our gratitude for this community. Thank you for the reminder of this poetry book. Congratulations on your poem joining the collection. I look forward to seeing it in print.
Wonderful news on the award for “HOP TO IT” congrats to all, and I love all these powerful connections created through roots! What a gratifying gift your student’s poems of gratitude are, thanks for sharing them!
Congrats! And love your tree!🎄 I still have our T’giving banner up, which reads “Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness” because I wasn’t ready to let it go!