Every year, I make literary Valentines to pass out to my classes which accompany the books we are reading at the time.

Each day in the classroom is filled with beauty, and it is often difficult to decide what to write about. So, here is a little bit of everything from this week.

It is through discussion that we help children to access the most valuable part of poetry—the connection to real life.

By drawing connections between themes and characters to others within the same story, in different stories, and to our own experiences, we are practicing a skill that serves to bring those vivid images of lofty ideals and values to the forefront of our minds, giving us something to aspire towards in our everyday lives.

Poetry contains the heights of human joy, the depths of our sorrows, and every shade in between, distilled into language so sincere, so lovingly chosen, that nothing compares to the power of being able to summon it to your lips at will.

My students have a stockpile of verses memorized, which allows them to draw insightful comparisons at the drop of a hat, effortlessly quote lines in their own writing and during discussion, and most importantly, venture into the world with a soul strengthened by some of the most beautiful words ever strung together by mankind.

Slow, horses, slow, As through the wood we go. We would count the stars in heaven, hear the grasses grow.

Candy does not motivate children to learn. Candy motivates children to want candy.