Ask Norman T Goldfish: What's Your Favorite Food?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Hey Kids! What are your favorite foods? Have you ever tasted fish food? Do you think you’d like to eat the same things Norman eats? To read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
Say kids: Did you know that goldfish do have teeth, but they are in their throats? And that goldfish will eat and eat and eat without every having full tummies—because they don’t have stomachs at all! WANT TO KNOW MORE?
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 #182-What Did One Blueberry Say to the Other Blueberry?
…Why don’t you popover later?
Today is National Blueberry Popover Day. Think of those blueberry pastries, steaming hot from the oven. Smell the sweet, blueberry steam. Bite into the flaky, buttery pastry. Is your mouth watering yet?
Poetry Challenge #182
What Did One Blueberry Say to the Other Blueberry?
Say it 3x fast: Blueberry Popover …Blueberry Popover …BLUEBERRY POPOVER …
Now think about the parts of the words: blue, berry, pop, over.
What happens if you change their order or which words go together? Write a poem where you do just that. (You can add other words as well.)
Play with the words.
Play with the rhythm of repeating those words in different orders.
Play with how they look on the page: will you make them BOLD? Big? Colorful?
Read your poem aloud and make it sound as good as blueberry popovers smell and taste. Mmmmmmmm!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
And now that’s you’re in a blueberry popover state of mind, here’s a recipe courtesy of thefoodiepatootie.com:
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1781 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.
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Ask Norman: How Slow Can You Swim?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Hey Kids! If you’re read his stories, you know Norman can swim so fast he leaps clear out of his fishbowl. That’s fast! But, how slow do you think he can swim? Scroll down to see Norman’s answer…
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
Say kids: What about backwards? And upside down? Yes, Norman! Yes, Norman! But not very well. WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Norman is a happy goldfish! He has a new fishbowl and 2 friends: Diver and Not (that’s what Dylan named the black fantail).
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 #181-Anthem in the Key of Life
March 3rd, 2021 marks the 90th birthday of our national anthem. Yep, although written by Frances Scott Key in 1814, and having been sung proudly—if off-key often— for than 100 years in between, it wasn’t until March 3, 1931, Pres. Hoover signed a congressional resolution officially declaring “The Star Spangled Banner” the official anthem of the USA.
And while we’ve been singing the anthem, and hearing it sung zillions of times—for sports enthusiasts I mean that literally, most recently by Lady Gaga at President Biden’s Inauguration: take a listen!—how often do we consider the words?
Poetry Challenge #181
Anthem in the Key of Life
In celebration of National Anthem Day, Let’s pick up where Frances Scott Key left off.
Choose a line of the Star Spangled Banner and use it as the first line of your poem.
Maybe the first:
Oh say can you see_________________
or the last:
…Home of the brave_____________
or any line in between.
…By the dawn’s early light______________
Let it begin a new anthem for yourself, the country, or the world.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
Oh, Say Can You…
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1777 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 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 . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
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 . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
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