Author Visits

We have had several author visits at Parkdale. Vera B. Williams and Steven Kellogg were two of my favorites. Arranging for author visits usually costs thousands of dollars, takes months of planning and involves the PTO, teachers, administration and lots of work.

However, for the past two years, my class has had the privilege of having a private author visit from Jan Siebold, the author of...



Last year after Jan's visit, my students ramped up their writing and published about 100 books before the end of the year. Students loved calling themselves "local authors", conferring with classmates to make their books better and shining as they shared their books with the class.

I sense that this year will be no different. Already 2 boys have finished their first book and several others are fired up.

Taking it all in!!

You might be wondering how I managed to arrange for Jan to visit my classroom. We are blessed to have Jan as our school librarian. I can't tell you how many times she has found me just the right book for a unit or lesson. I am always amazed at the quality of our new book choices each year. Not only is she our librarian ~ she is my friend.