Category — Teaching and Learning

Now my kids are in school and we are all done with travel for a while, I’m ready to swing my visiting author visit activities into high gear! I’m actively looking for schools to visit over the next couple of months – this is only day 2 of school back in session in our lovely state of NC and I’m already missing the kids. Since quitting the Day Job I don’t miss a lot of things about school, but I sure miss the children! And reading out loud. I really miss reading out loud!

That said, I have been meaning to write up a list of grants that North Carolina teachers, media specialists, and PTSA folks can apply for to get visiting authors, illustrators, and storytellers to come to their schools. I worked for 15 years in public schools in NC and elsewhere and I had a number of folks visit – all of which I paid using grant money. I literally cringe when people tell me they can’t afford to have an author visit their school. It simply isn’t true.  A couple of years ago I was working at a Title 1 school and I wrote grants for visitors that was roughly 2x my total library budget for the year.

Really, there’s no excuse.

Here are several grants that NC educators can apply for which should cover author visits. My particular visits are on the less-expensive side, so for sure you can afford me! But if you are looking to get someone uber-famous come you may have to combine grant-giving possiblities.

• Target Arts Grants. If you don’t have a Target in your town, contact them to make sure you’re in their giving area. I wrote a successful grant application to Target from a school about 50 miles from an actual store, so I’m confident they use pretty broad guidelines to determine geographical area. This is a very easy grant application to fill out and it’s for $2000. You have to do it in the spring, however, so put it on your calendar.
• Walmart Store Grants. At our local Walmart all you have to do to apply for this grant is to talk to the manager. Easy. The actual $ guidelines aren’t on the website but I know that a couple of years ago it was around $500.
• Donorschoose is an excellent source for grants for teachers/schools. If a teacher has already written and received several grants through Donorschoose he/she can write a grant proposal for something outside of the Donorschoose stores.
• Kiwanis clubs have literacy and reading for children as part of their mission. It’s possible that the local Kiwanis Club would sponsor an author visit.
• Bright Ideas Grants. You can’t be a teacher in North Carolina and not know about the Bright Ideas grants, sponsored through the local electric cooperatives. Every Bright Ideas Grant I applied for, I got. Not saying it’s an automatic thing, but they really want to give the money to worthwhile projects. Plus, they have a nice reception if you get the grant!
• NCETA Classroom Project Grants. I don’t know very much about this grant or if it could reasonably include author visits, but it seems as though an author visit would qualify as long as it was embedded in a larger project. Which actually is how it should be – authors are valuable visitors precisely b/c of what they bring to the curriculum, not just as pure entertainment. I welcome any feedback on this grant from those of you who’ve been there, done that
• Arts in Education Grants You need to apply for these grants in the spring, but they are specifically for author, illustrator, and other visiting artists, so I say: go for it!
• Artist Residency Grants This grant, alas, could not be used for a visit from me, since I am not on their artist roster – but wow! look at the amazing artists and writers who are!
• Barnes and Noble local Sponsorship program I’ve never applied for this, but it looks very promising. They seem to want to work with people who could do in-store events and school events. Makes sense, if you’re B+N!
• Local grant possibilities. There are many. Check with your local Arts Council for grant possibilities and look to civic groups and clubs. Your school’s PTSA is an obvious source for funds, as is your school’s Cultural Arts committee.

And finally, if you need more ideas of how to pay for author visits, please see this post: 13 ways to pay for school visits.

Ciao!

I’ve been talking to someone who wants me to come visit the South Carolina Lowcountry area ( Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties), probably in the fall. One cool thing about that section of SC is that I have relatives who live on Daufuskie, so as long as the school’s schedule jives with their schedule (they’re busy, traveling, retired grandparent types) I wouldn’t have to charge for a hotel stay.

The person who wants me to visit is not a school system employee, simply a friend of a friend, but she’s mentioned that she doesn’t think the school she’s connected to has any discretionary funds for an author visit.

This is what I’ve told her: in 15 years of working in schools, and many, many visits by authors and storytellers, I never used any school funds for an author visit! I always wrote grants to pay for visitors at my school. 

To help her out, I did a quick search for grant possibilities to fund author visits in Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties, SC. I found many possibilities:

“I wish for a change and a friend,”

 says Little Pig, when he learns these three new words. And just like that, it happens. Simple, easy, wonderful!

Wish, Change, Friend, which is written by Ian Whybrow and illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke (and which seems to be, sadly, out of print) is a brilliant, charmingly illustrated picture book that tells the story of someone – Little Pig – who inspired to get outside of his box. Little Pig lives alone in the forest. He loves to read, and he has all the books and acorns and twigs that he needs. Until one day he finds three words in one of his books: wish, change, and friend.

The next morning, after making his wish for a change and a friend, he wakes up to find that it’

s snowed (a change). He makes a snowman, who comes alive (a friend). Little Pig decides he likes these new experiences, and so he and his snow friend take a journey. They meet a penguin, who himself has been reading and

 learning new words: pig and together. Well, what do you know? Pig is there! And he and his snow friend aretogether with the penguin! They ponder the fantasticness of this, and then decide that together is the best word of all. The end!

I read this book with kindergartners right before the holiday break (winter theme) and I was a tad worried that the book was too existential for them. But it wasn’t. They got it. They really did. Just like Little Pig, they make text to self connections all the time. And if you’

re going to believe a talking, reading pig whose snowman comes alive, the coincidence of wandering off and finding a talking, reading penguin who just happens to be learning new vocabulary about YOU makes total sense!

After I read it (twice) we did some really fun collage art, too!

There are some FABULOUS websites out there that you can use to read good quality picture books with kids – completely free! At school, I’ll often use these sites when I want to read a book I might not have in the library, or sometimes I have books about a certain topic in the library but I know the teachers want to use them (like when all of 1st grade is learning about the gingerbread man, for example), or I know kids want the books (like holiday books). I’ll also project books that we have in the library because sometimes it’s just fun to see them really, really big.

I probably use Lookybook the most, since it has a good search engine and the most possibilities, but Storyline will read the book to kids, which is great for a center activity, or for a tired teacher or librarian  It also makes the books more like a movie if someone else is reading it, which could make little ears a little more attentive. As a parent, I could see reading from these sites with my child in my lap, and as someone who often tries to get work done at home with my kids running around, I would use these sites as a way to include my child in whatever I was trying to get done on family time.

Here’s a list of sites where you can get full text picture books on-line:

International Children’s Digital Library
Storyline Online
Clifford Stories (English & Spanish)
Kids Corner (Classics)
Lil’ Fingers
Between the Lions
Room 108 Kids Stories
Big Universe

Each Thanksgiving I do a special activity in the library with the 1st grade as well as our self-contained EC class, where we create a “Thankful Tree.” Basically, we trace our hands, then write on our hands something we’re thankful for, then I tape them to a leafless tree I drag into the library. It is a fun little one-day project that is pretty successful, plus it gives us some holiday decor to liven up the library. I’m not sure where I came up with this activity, but it could be here, on the Family Fun website.

Anyway, before we make our Thankful Tree, we read a book. Last year I read a couple of non-fiction books about Thanksgiving, largely because the teachers had all our fiction out. But this year I didn’t want to do that, but I also wasn’t able to buy any more Thanksgiving books for this year since I have a terrible budget.

So, here’s what I’m going to do. We are going to listen to “Thanks a Lot,” which is a song on the CD Baby Beluga, by Raffi. It’s kind of a slow, nice song, and very simple:

Thanks a lot.

Thanks for the sun in the sky.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks for the clouds so high.

I typed the lyrics into a slideshow program and added pictures, and then I inserted the song into the background. Ta da! Instant music video! And because I’m only using it one time at school I am not violating copyright (and the CD I took the song from belongs to my school, so I didn’t even illegally download it).

Yes, I’m proud of myself. I think the kids will really like it, and we are all learning a new song. I, of course, will be singing it for the next two weeks after doing it with 7 classes, but whatever. It’ll be worth it.