The December word and November Hall of Fame Poets are . . .

Congratulations to all of our poets who shared their “thanks” poems in November. Poems received after November 21 didn’t make the balloting but even so we had two great poems posted by Jackie Huppenthal and Jamie Adoff. Our thanks to you both for closing out the month in such style.

Time now to announce our November Hall of Fame Poet. In a very tight race, Liz Korba edged out Steven Withrow when the polls closed at 12:00 midnight CST to become our November Hall of Fame Poet. Marjie DeWilde placed third. Hundreds of visitors have dropped by to read everone’s poems so that certainly gives Steven and Marjie bragging rights too. Thanks to each of our fourteen poets for being good sports and joining in the fun. Althought Mimi Cross was not eligible to win again during this twelve month period, she still gathered the highest number of votes. Way to go, Mimi.

In our Young Poets’ division, Claire is our winner and November Hall of Fame Young Poet. Claire is in 7th grade at Monocacy Middle School in Frederick, Maryland. Claire will also be honored and rewarded by the YAAGroup on its website. Second place winner is Sophia, a 3rd grade student in Marjie DeWilde’s class in Springfield, Missouri. Third place winner Tasha Freed, is also a 7th grader at Monocacy Middle School. Claire’s and Tasha’s poems were posted by Linda Kulp. Our thanks and congratulations also go to Becky Kruger (Ray Miller Elementary School, Kirksville, Missouri), Jennifer Harrison (William Walker Elementary, Beaverton, Oregon) and Janet King (Joel E. Barber School, Lebanon, Missouri)! We are proud of your young poets who gave everyone such pleasure with their poems. Keep it up! The number of poems in November was eleven, up from one in October.

And now the word for December: BONE. I’m eager to see how many ways that one word will inspire our growing number of poets to create original poems to share with our readers. I hope to see more and more adults join in the monthly exercise and more teachers encourage their students to write their own bone poems. We’ve received student poems from three states. Let’s hear from the other 47!

Tomorrow I’ll post the schedule for this month’s poem postings and voting. I’ll also remind everyone how simple it is to post a poem or comment on my blog.

Onward and upward!

David

More about Young Poets’ WORD OF THE MONTH Poems

Yesterday I invited teachers to learn how this blog is designed to encourage students to join the word of the month poetry challenge. Some asked about the permission form so Kathy Temean created a form and posted it where you can find it easily once you click on Young Poets’ Word of the Month Poems.

We both want to make sure you understand that there is no fee involved in completing the parental permission to allow students to participate in my poetry challenge. We’re asking you to e-mail the form to YAAGroup (Young Authors and Artists Group) because they have a structure to keep track of such matters and it saves me from getting bogged down in record keeping. For that I am grateful!

There is a fee only if a teacher or parent decides to purchase a membership for a child in the YAAGroup itself. That agreement is at the bottom of the same permission form but is a separate issue from the top part. The YAAGroup provides great opportunities to help students develop their writing potential, and I recommend it, but Kathy and I want to make sure that everyone understands that we are talking about two different things on the form.

If you have questions about any of this, contact Kathy about the YAAGroup and me about this blog or anything else.

Thanks! Now back to writing those “thanks” poems!

David