School visits are back in full force and aside from the fun I have at assemblies, I love encouraging kids (and teachers and librarians!) to play with words. That's what writers do, after all, right?
Kids always ask me about "Writer's block." which I 
rarely get. My theory: whenever we stop playing with words and "get serious" about writing, writer's block happens. By serious I mean worries that the first draft must be perfect (ha!) or that I must follow my novel's plotmap to the T. By playing I mean getting the ideas out--making room for rhymes or ideas or characters who show up on the page unplanned, and plot twists even you didn't see coming. Like I tell students at school visits: This is what sloppy copies are
for!
These days, with required No-child-left-untested State Standards, a lot of the PLAY time gets cut. And yet when all is said and done, aren't the creative problem solvers, the ones who know how to play with ideas and words and think outside the box, the ones who pave the way?
So--enough talk--here's one of Erin's favorite ways to quiz or review with students (on any topic!)
and teach sentence structure (shhh--don't tell them!)
AND play with words at t
