Author Visits With Our Youngest Learners
On Thursday morning, students from grades pre-kindergarten to 1 met author and illustrator Sam Wedelich, who discussed her new book, Chicken Little and the Big Bad Wolf. In the lead-up to the event, teachers read her books to the students and made various curricular connections. Ms. Oznick used Sam Wedelich’s Chicken Little books to demonstrate book features, such as text bubbles that indicate which character is speaking. She examined how the author chose to use different-colored text to distinguish between characters in the story.
In her presentation, Wedelich shared pictures of her artist studio with us and explained the process of creating a book. She showed examples from her work that illustrated the importance of collaborating with a team when making a book. She performed a live drawing demonstration so we could see how Chicken Little is composed of different shapes and offered tips, such as looking at your face in the mirror while expressing a certain emotion, allowing you to draw your character’s face in a similar way.
Students were so inspired by the author’s presentation that many created their own chickens. She even offered insight into how picture books work by explaining how she plans what pictures and text to include before every page turn to keep the reader wanting more. One kindergartner in Ms. Hartvigsen’s class asked the author whether she had won any awards. When she said she hadn’t, Ms. Hartvigsen’s class took it upon themselves to design some awards for her books because they thought she had earned them!
Both Chicken Little and the Big Bad Wolf, as well as her first book, Chicken Little: The Real and Totally True Tale, will be available in the Erskine Library collection for students to borrow. Also arriving this week is Petite Poulette, the French edition of her first book. Madame Pellenq is eager for it to arrive so she might use it with her students.
– Amy Sprung, school librarian
PE Update: Sunny Days Fuel Students’ Energy
According to science, increased thermal energy leads to kinetic energy. And so it was in PE, with the sunshine giving our students even more energy than normal, and allowing them to crush a wide range of obstacle courses and implements this week. They hustled and cooperated, played and competed, and did it with a smile, giving us a preview of all the excitement and energy we can expect this spring.
– The Physical Education Team
