Road to a Successful Author Visit - Part 1

Today I hosted an author/illustrator visit with Hannah E. Harrison with Pre-K, Kindergarten and 1st Grades.  The build up for this event started about three weeks ago when I began meeting with 1st grade classes.  To introduce the author I began with her book, My Friend Maggie, along with two books with similar themes; Your Alien by Tammi Sauer and Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman.



 

Prior to reading these books I asked students to try to identify what all of the books have in common.  As we read through them, the classes easily identified that they were all about friendships.  I would read Boy + Bot first, followed by Your Alien.  After reading Your Alien I integrated a movement activity by using Emily Arrow's, Your Alien.


We ended this session by singing "Will You Be A Friend of Mine," to the tune of "Mary Had A Little Lamb", which I used every time I met with the classes and on the day of the author visit:

Will you be a friend of mine,

friend of mine,

friend of mine?

Will you be a friend of mine

and tap your nose with me?

I would use this song as a way to review the books we just read.  I found it very useful throughout the time as a call back.   For example, after reading Extraordinary Jane I would insert the motions; be graceful like Jane's mom, be strong like Jane's dad, be daring like Jane's brothers and so on.  This song served as a way to unify each session I met with the classes.

For these grade levels I found this introduction to the author/illustrator paired with the activities provided a solid way to begin the author/illustrator study.  Following posts will discuss activities, building anticipation and the day of the visit. 

An Accidental Librarian

Hi.  My name is Stacy.  You might know me as @MrFordReads.  You might not care.  Either way, I think I should warn you outright that I am An Accidental Librarian.  All that you read here will be my own personal experiences or an enhanced version of the truth to make for good storytelling and interesting reading.  So for now I'm going to leave you with my Top Ten reasons for being a school librarian.

10.  Those three years and countless weekends I spent working at Y-Camp have finally paid off.....I get to play camp games and sing silly songs all day long.

9. I got to know Mrs. Dowdel.  She once said that the problem with turning the cheek is once you've done it four times you don't have any cheeks left to turn.  How could you not love that?!

8.  I get to see Kindergarten kiddos smile every week when we play "Open Them, Shut Them."

7. Reading old favorites and finding new ones. (Yes you Gary Paulsen, Sara Pennypacker, Suzanne Collins, Richard Peck...)

6.  I get to make trees in my library.

5.  I get to work with everyone and see kids through their entire elementary journey, not just one year.

4. The Tweeters I follow keep me informed and challenge me.

3. I get to help kids find information they didn't know.

2. I get to buy thousands of dollars of books a year for kids to read.

1.  Kids tell me they love the library and it is their favorite place in the school.