With the launch of If You’re Hoppy, I’ve been keeping my eye on bunny news. Check this out…the world’s largest rabbit was 26.4 pounds. It lived 3-5 million years ago and did NOT hop!

Recently I became familiar with author Mem Fox’s website and found some wonderful articles there—articles about reading aloud and about teaching kids to read. Here’s one of them:

http://www.memfox.com/like-mud-not-fireworks.html

ALA librarians called on collective wisdom to assemble a list of books great for use with autistic students, in this case, 7th graders. The list included Ant, Ant, Ant: An Insect Chant (illus by Park) ; Trout, Trout, Trout: a Fish Chant (illus by Park) , and Bird, Bird, Bird: a Chirping Chant (illus by Locke).   The list is here:  http://connect.ala.org/node/93738

Here is a site for K-12 grants that may help with literary activities. 

http://www.k12grants.org/Grants/grant-index.htm

One of the highlights of my life as an author was my visit to Harrison School in South Bend, Indiana in March, 2008. Wow! It was a celebration.

The creative educators of this school had taken every opportunity to prepare the students with art activities, writing activities, geography exploration, critical thinking work, and math. 

This is a public school in which many students do not have the economic advantages of other student bodies. But they sure have excellent staff and teachers who form a school that challenges and lifts all the students to excellence. It was clear in the way the students interacted with me. They were creative thinkers and were ready to brainstorm and embrace new concepts. They had critically read my books and were ready with insightful questions.

Each classroom did activities. I took lots of photos; many are sprinkled throughout this site.  

I enjoyed a terrific luncheon with students who had won a “lunch with the author” essay contest. Each received a signed book, special placemat and a place of honor at the table. I so enjoyed visiting with all of them. It was a truly special time for me. I have their essays, bound in a book. 

My thanks to Judy Wilson and the crew at Harrison School! 

I had such fun at this school near Berne. Just look at a few images of what they did with ONE IS A SNAIL, THE BUMBLEBEE QUEEN, and PUT ON SOME ANTLERS AND WALK LIKE A MOOSE.

WOW!

One of the things I love about school visits is meeting the extraordinary media specialists who help bring books into children’s lives. A school library, well supported, can be the heart of a school. In schools with great media specialists, where libraries are appreciated, the library is not only a resource for knowledge, it’s an engine that feeds joy, natural curiosity, and a love of learning. The supportive, welcoming atmosphere created by a great library/media specialist spills out of the library, enriching the whole school. The same is true of public library media specialists, whose influence soaks into the surrounding community.
Here is a gallery of some of the creative things media specialists do to celebrate author visits and spice up book talks.

Debbie Maddox, Pelham Road Elementary, SC
spent a lot of time sharing my books before my visit.

Pam Rone, of Niagara Elementary in KY, sponsored a pasta art contest and an Italian banquet to celebrate with the winners. Wow!

Principals get into the act, too, at Boone Grove Elementary in Indiana!

Michele Kolodij of Trumansburg Elementary School, NY has an awesome discovery center, connected to the library, where kids study science in a hands-on way. They studied turtles before my visit. Fantastic!