Katie McEnaney
@katiemcenaney.bsky.social
2.3K followers 2.5K following 900 posts
Teacher. Writer. Lover of words and history. One-time archaeologist. Nonfiction Ninja mentee. SCBWI. 12x12. #amquerying #5thgrade She/her. https://katiemcenaney.com/ and https://www.thelogonauts.com/ for book rec's
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#50PreciousWords is my all-time favorite writing contest! You can read my entry, First Playdate Fears: a reverso poem, here on @viviankirkfield.bsky.social 's site. Enter by end-of-day tomorrow! #kidlit #amquerying

viviankirkfield.com/2025/03/02/5...

Please reply and share yours!
First Playdate Fears: a reverso poem

50 Precious Words 2025
By: Katie McEnaney


Playdate time?

Nervous,
Not
Excited.

Let’s imagine:
He’s in my room.

Laughing at my books.

Collapses 
My fort.

He climbs around
While I worry.

Knock
Knock

While I worry,
He climbs around
My fort.

Collapses
Laughing at my books.

He’s in my room.
“Let’s imagine!”

Excited,
Not
Nervous:

Playdate time!



[Includes a drawing of a blanket fort piled with books that I drew.]
Reposted by Katie McEnaney
🎉 Book news! 🎉 Two of my poems were published in this year’s CAW anthology — check it out! #AmWriting #BookNews
book cover “the crow speaks” with an ink drawing of a crow sitting on an open book Table of contents for The Crow Speaks, volume 3
One of my 5th graders has an amazing T-shirt with the tiger that just says DERPY. 🤣
When you and your library are in sync about upcoming book preorders... 🤣♥️ #ThisisNotaSleepyBearBook by @briangehrlein.bsky.social

Kids and parents alike will love this twist on a bedtime book! For fans of MOTHER BRUCE and SNAPPSY THE ALLIGATOR. 🧸🦉
Cover for This is Not a Sleepy Bear Book along with the response to my library purchase request, "Hi Katie,

It looks like we have the book, This is Not a Sleepy Bear Book, in a cart for our November orders. I'll place a hold for you when it has a catalog record. 

Thanks for reaching out"
I learned this the hard way skipping the opening in THE LIFE OF PI ... 🐯🛶
My then 5yo liked the Mercy Watson audiobooks. They aren't very long, though.
Aww, thanks Jilanne. It was definitely an exciting series!
Reposted by Katie McEnaney
Every thread tells a story. In Woven of the World by Katey Howes, weaving connects us to ancestors, traditions, and one another.
What crafts, recipes, or rituals have been “woven” through YOUR family’s generations?

#WovenOfTheWorld #KateyHowes
We heard the great horned owls in our neighborhood! ♥️🦉
Yes! We had like a good stretch of bath times at ~4yo that were all OK Go videos. He loved the car one and The Writing on the Wall especially.
And it holds up! Needing exact count is frustrating, but the kids loved it. ♥️
My 5th graders played The Royal Game of Ur last week! They were blown away by the idea that people had been playing this 1000s of years ago - and that the rules seem a lot like Trouble. 🤔😆

#archaeology4kids 🏺
The Royal Game of Ur is the world’s oldest playable boardgame!

Played by Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia about 4,500 years ago!

It is a two-player race game, the rules of which have been deciphered from a cuneiform tablet.

Game from the Royal Cemetery of Ur. 📷 British Museum

#Archaeology
British Museum photo showing a two-player board game with gaming counters known as the Royal Game of Ur. Dated c. 2,500 BC.

The game board is composed of a hollow box made of wood adorned with shell plaques. There is a drawer at one end for storing game pieces and dice. The top of the board is covered with twenty square-shaped off-white shell plaques, each bordered with dark-blue lapis lazuli. The shell squares are intricately decorated with blue inlaid patterns including dots inside circles and eye-shapes. Five squares are inlaid with flower-shaped rosettes with red limestone and blue lapis lazuli petals.

The game board is roughly rectangular in shape. Viewed from above in the photo, on the  left side of the board is a block of 12 squares made up of 4 across by 3 down. On the right side of the board is a block of 6 squares made up of 2 across by 3 down. The two blocks are joined by two squares extending between the second square down on the end row of the left block and the second square down on the first row of the second block.  

Dimensions H: 2.40 cm,  L: 30.10 cm, W: 11 cm, (W 5.70 cm at narrowest part)

Beneath the board are 14 disc-shaped gaming counters. On the left are 7 white pieces, inlaid with 5 spots of blue lapis lazuli. On the right are 7 black pieces inlaid with five white spots.

Between the game pieces are three tetrahedron-shaped dice. L to R: Dark blue, brown, cream.
Put a 6 on the front and a 7 on the back. Then you can be ... 6/7!
Reposted by Katie McEnaney
This roundtable is 🔥! Join me at NCTE Denver. Learn how books build design thinking, inclusivity, critical thinking, respectful communication & resilience. Walk away with ready-to-use lesson ideas. Nov 21 @ 12:30 PM. #NCTE2025 #STEMeducation #TeacherLife #kidlit
"Promotional graphic for NCTE Denver 2025 roundtable session featuring headshots of five authors - Vicky Fang, Kirsten Larson, Jen Malia, Lindsay H. Metcalf, and Colleen Paeff - discussing activating future dreams with STEM books, scheduled for Friday, November 21 at 12:30pm"
Reposted by Katie McEnaney
Teachers! Librarians!
Nonfiction Mentors Texts to Guide Revision of Informational Writing
tinyurl.com/44z8w4er/
@katiemcenaney.bsky.social @ellenbunn3.bsky.social #TLsky #Skybrarian #SchoolLibrarians #edusky #kidlit
@jessicalanan.bsky.social @kirstenwlarson.bsky.social @diannaaston.bsky.social
I know. It just made me smile. Her sculpting details were incredible!
For the record, the nerd in me needs to point out that there was no lava at Pompeii. A pyroclastic surge of superheated mud after a day of raining stones would actually have been chocolate colored to begin with! 🌋🪨🤣
Reposted by Katie McEnaney
Just confirmed I'm one of the author victims of the blood sucking company Anthropic that stole my book to train it's LLM. I filed a claim and it felt really good. If you're an author who may have been victimized, you can find out here:

secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup/?_gl=...
Submit a Claim
secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com