Engaging and interactive presentations perfect for grades K–5 fueled by 10+ years of teaching experience.
A read aloud is where the magic happens! Choose whichever story of mine you like and I will read and invite students to explore that world with me. Afterwards I will answer any and all questions kids might have about books or publishing.
I'll walk the class through how to build a story, using one of my books as an example. We'll discuss beginning, middle, and end story points. Together we'll work through a writing exercise that will produce a classroom book ready for individual illustrations and cover pages. We'll bind our books as a keepsake to always remember we are all creators! We'll end with a Q&A and optional book signing.
I'll read The Law of Birthdays and then lead the class in a discussion of choices and using your voice. We'll focus on the main character and how she used her voice against a powerful individual. We'll play a choice-based game to illustrate the power of choice. Students will participate in a writing activity about a time they used their voice — or maybe a time they wanted to and how it felt. We'll end with a Q&A and optional book signing.
I'll read one of my books as an example of voice and what it is. There are a million ways to write a story — my books are just one way. How would you do it? What about the story is important to you? Students will be given writing prompts and will write stories with their own spin, add their own illustrations, and marvel at how different everyone's stories are even with the same prompts. Students will leave seeing story ideas everywhere, energized to write their own masterpieces!
Let's talk about characters and why we love them or loathe them! Together we'll discuss our favorites and what makes them so compelling. Then we'll use what we've found to create our own characters ready to dive into whatever story is waiting for them. Each kid will leave with their own new creation!
I will read one of my books and walk students through how it was made — from idea stage, first draft, revisions, rejection, revisions again, and publication! We'll end with Q&A and optional book signing.
Where do you find brainstorms? How can you chase them? And what do you do when you catch them? We'll get to the bottom of these burning questions through several brainstorming activities aimed at energizing and inspiring kids to go out and write!
I work with Louise Campbell at The Booking Tree to handle all school visit scheduling. Louise is an expert on author visits and can answer every question — pricing, logistics, what to expect, all of it.
Reach out to Louise directly to get started:
email louise campbell