Recently got a peek at my new book, Feb 2011 release: IF YOU’RE HOPPY, illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic, published by Greenwillow. It’s humorous fiction, a read aloud for the very youngest and fun for preschool/K story hour.  Jackie and Greenwillow did an amazing job producing this book; it just feels yummy in some essential way. I’m thrilled.

Monday April 26th, 2-3 p.m. Signing at Henry Holt booth

Tuesday April 27th, 9-10 a.m. Signing at Charlesbridge booth

Thank you to Isabel Baker at the Book Vine, who hosted me at DVAEYC, the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children, where I spoke last week. (Philadelphia was awesome!) Isabel specializes in children’s books perfect for the youngest students and the educators who work with them. Her business is in Illinois but she ships far and wide.

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It was recently featured as a book of the week at the wonderful CCBC, Cooperature Children’s Book Center. Hurray!

This quote is from Chrissy Larson, the teacher Balsam of the Nuts about Nature Preschool run by the   Portland Environmental Education Department. She wrote to me this week. Below are some photos she took of her activities.1) The teachers and kids create some appropriately gooey looking “carrion”

2) The kids make vulture shapes and attach them to paper airplanes.

3) They practice soaring like vultures. Notice the proper vulture wing posture of the kids in the photo! (See first photo.)

April Pulley Sayre

Grades K-8, Writing structure, skills, and creative nonfiction

(NL-ENG.K-12.4 Communication Skills; NL-ENG.K-12.5 Communication Strategies; NL-ENG.K-12.6 Applying Knowledge; NL-ENG.K-12.7 Evaluating Data; NL-ENG.K-12.8 Developing Research Skills, NL-Eng.K-12.11 Participating in Society; NL-ENG.k-12.12 Applying Language Skills)

Ecosystems, life cycles, environments, and science in the field

(NS.K-4.3 Life Science; NS.K-4.4 Earth and Space Science; NSK-4.6 Personal and Social Perspectives; NS.5-8.1 Science as Inquiry; NS.5-8.3 Life Science)

Geography (NSS-G.K-12.2 Places and Regions; NSS-G.K-12.3 Physical Systems;

NSS-G.K-12.5)

(This is not the a/v program given during author visits. It is a discussion session so students should have some questions prepared. If you prefer to connect via skype, I can do that as well.)

Honorarium:

$625  for 3 one-hour long chats over the course of a day

$450  for 2 one-hour long chats over the course of a day

$250 for 1 one-hour long chat

I am be happy to autograph bookplates before or after the chat. Please send bookplates and the autograph list.

Wow. This is the largest young author event I have seen. Over the course of 4 days, about 3,000 students from surrounding school districts were brought to Northern Michigan University. Students rotated from my talk to speakers including a musician, an Arctic explorer, and an expert on a local trout restoration program. Some students were given outdoor nature and journaling time, too.

The audiences were enthusiastic, thanks to the local educators. My programs were introduced by creative chants, memorized poetry readings, and even a full performance of Splish, Splash, Animal Baths, complete with orchestra and animal costumes/dance. (Thank you, Ms. Asplund and Ishpeming Strings!)

Of course what makes this event special was that each student had written a book. I was there to celebrate them! Teachers who choose to attend bring their entire class. Every student in the class writes a book. This is folded into the curriculum. 

Students learn by doing. They had so many insightful questions about writing and nonfiction. You could tell they were really digging into the writing process. The conference is a yearlong goal and makes their writing come alive.

Just look at what students are doing in a classroom I visited. (They won me in a raffle. But after meeting the teacher and kids, I felt like I was the one who won.) They made bags for all the writing they did in class that year. I love the message on their wall.

The young author conference  was cohesive and so well run. I wish I had photos of the huge, overstuffed notebook of instructions that is passed on from committee to committee, year after year. That helps make it work.  Committee members carry over so that not all the conference coordinators are new each year. The event features a banquet/gathering of local literacy educators and reading supporters—basically the dynamic, creative folks of the community. I could have talked to them all night!

Lisa Gravedoni and the rest of the committee made my visit a joy. They sure know hospitality. Thanks to them, kind of fell in love with the people and landscape of Marquette. The beautiful lake. The beautiful trees. The outdoorsy, positive attitudes of the people up there.  They make the best of snow by skiing, snowshoeing, dogsledding—doing just about everything you can imagine. It’s a climate not without its hardships, yet the people seem to embrace life, even hug the stuffing out of it.  

If it weren’t for my tropic-loving, southern blood, I’d move on up there for life. I liked it that much. They have a yummy thai restaurant and a cozy local bookstore, Snowbound Books. The bookstore name gives me pause. But I understand that being snowbound does give you time to do crafts . . .

On the drive home from the U.P., way down in the L.P., a huge black bear crossed the highway in front of us. Was that a sign? Should we return to the U.P.?  I’m thinking . . .

INK blog

A tiara was involved. Need I say more?

One focus was graphing. Students researched a topic and then graphed what they learned. Sometimes it was the part of an animal’s body. Sometimes it was a fact related to the animal. Some students did this work after reading Ant, Ant, Ant: an Insect Chant.

Another strategy used by literacy coach Lee Motley at Red Bank Elementary is to have young students, right after reading, talk/write/draw about what they remember from a book. This solidifies what they have learned. It carries it from past memory into future understanding.

Still other students and one brilliant teacher took facts from The Bumblebee Queen and leapt into their own creative ABCs of bees. Beautiful! Reorganizing what you have learned solidifies it, as well.

My thanks to the teachers and librarians at the Lexington Elementary Schools.

Honk, Honk, Goose: Canada Geese Start a Family

Reviews have already been terrific. We are excited. Honk! Honk! Honk! So I am making noise. So are the geese. They  have returned to nest here.