A Visit with Robert Burleigh

"Writing is a way of attending to the world around you."  This was just one of many bits of advice our visiting author, Robert Burleigh, shared with our students last week.  We were very excited to host this award winning children's book author in our classrooms.  Burleigh has published over 40 books including such titles as: Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth, The Secret of the Great Houdini, Night Flight: Amelia Earhart Crosses the Atlantic, Pandora, One Giant Leap, and Stealing Home: Jackie Robinson Against All Odds.

Sixth and seventh grade students worked on publishing a piece of writing to be on display for a free community author's night. Most of them chose to write some form of poetry (found poems, 100%, fortunately/unfortunately, etc.) During this time, Mr. Burleigh spoke with families and community members about "One Writer's Journey."

  

During his classroom sessions, Mr. Burleigh connected with the students by asking, "Who wants to become a writer some day?" He said at their age he was more interested in sports, but sometimes "a book or a poem can change your life." He said that's what happened when he read Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." He said it felt like "a homerun with words." He shared where he gets his subjects for writing: from his reading, from his life, and from his imagination.

He explained that he writes a small part of a person's life, for example, Amelia Earhart's flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He wants to give the reader a "feeling of being in the person's head." He narrows his focus to a small event, like in his book Home Run. This book describes only one of Babe's at-bats.  As is always the case with an author visit, hearing the stories behind their books makes them all that more interesting!

Mr. Burleigh shared with the students how he keeps a writer's notebook. This is a place to keep ideas or noticings safe. He also uses a little notebook that he can carry wherever he goes. He quoted Langston Hughes by saying, "Poems are like rainbows, you gotta catch them before they're gone." He emphasized the importance of keeping an idea list. 

We were able to provide each 6th & 7th grader with a copy of one of Robert Burleigh's books. He was gracious enough to personalize and sign each one.  Several students were also selected to participate in a "Meet the Author" lunch and eat lunch with Burleigh.

Sara Holbrook!

Our poetry project began this year by purchasing a copy of the anthology Seeing the Blue Between by Paul B. Janeczko for all of our 7th grade language arts students. Every week we've been focusing on a specific poet/writer's advice and selected poem. Our students have been soaking in poems everyday. Last week we were honored to host visiting poet, author, performer, and educator Sara Holbrook!

Sara worked with 7th graders on Tuesday crafting poems using extended metaphor, personification, and similes. She guided them through the art of performance poetry and prepared them for performing their poetry for family night. It was refreshing to see Sara not only share her poems, but also help students craft their own. She worked alongside them and helped them understand the "why" of poetry. We also selected 10 students to eat lunch with Sara. The students were hesistant to talk at first, but it didn't take them long to warm up and chat away! Our art teacher spent time over the past couple of weeks helping our students make paper and use it to make covers of handcrafted books. Students used these books to create collections of poems they've written all year. We were able to disply these at the family night event. We loved watching students share these special collections with their family and friends.

Wednesday morning, Sara presented vocabulary instruction to middle school teachers using her newest book High Definition. The rest of the day, she worked with 6th & 8th graders in their content area. Sixth graders used their upcoming social studies vocabulary words to write and present poems to reinforce learning in an authentic, meaningful way. Eighth graders wrote poems in their science class and presented them in class.

Favorite quotes of Sara's visit:

"words don't just lay down on the paper and behave themselves"

"the more you write, the more ideas will come up off the page"
"hear what others write... build a community of writers"
"as the boss of your own poem you get to decide how it is said"
"poetry gets us thinking about bigger ideas"
"ideas bubble up off the page as your pen flies across it"

Sara backed up everything we teach our students about writing everyday. It was a joy & honor to have her in our school for two days.

Blue skies, treats from Blackbird Bakery, Bridge to Terabithia at the Paramount...what could be better? How about Katherine Paterson herself coming on stage while the actors are taking their bows, wiping the tears in her eyes, to applaud the characters? Amazing evening. Her talk on the theme that holds her books together was both touching and inspirational. It's always a joy to hear authors speak with such love about the worlds they've created. What a gracious lady. To complete the evening...book signing and pictures with her. She left us with a bit of wonder and the responsibilty to share her words with others. She writes the words, we are to be the flesh that brings those words to life with our students.

Mandy has always held a special place in her heart for Bridge to Terabithia, as she remembers it from 4th grade as one of the first novels a teacher shared as a read aloud. She was delighted to purchase a copy for that teacher and have Katherine Paterson sign it. She's planning on sending it to her with a note telling how special she made that book.
Cheryl purchased Bread and Roses, Too, about a family during the industrial revolution at the turn of the century in America. Owners of textile mills needed laborers, to they went abroad to recruit families to work for very low wages.

 

Snow day, part 2!

We've had the past SIX school days as snow days.  Wow!  Needless to say, I've done lots of cleaning, organizing, & reading.  I took a bagful of books to trade at the used book store today, and only came home with Silly Street by Jeff Foxworthy ($1), Or Give Me Death by Ann Rinaldi ($1.75), & Incantation by Alice Hoffman ($2).  I was happy!  I started Or Give Me Death right away & immediately wished for another snow day so I could finish!  All my other new books I want to read I took to school to share with my classes, and then it snowed (& snowed & snowed...).

Cheryl and I have a busy few weeks coming up filled with author goodness!
Next Wednesday: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley begins the first of five visits to school and works with the 4th & 5th graders
January 29th: King College stage production of Bridge to Terabithia and Katherine Paterson lecture afterwards
March 1 & 2: Sara Holbrook visits 6th, 7th, & 8th graders

Jerry Pinkney

Tuesday evening we had the amazing opportunity to hear the award-winning Jerry Pinkney speak at Saint Anne Catholic School in Bristol, Virginia. This marked the third time we've been able to hear an author speak in conjunction with the school's Judith Rosenfeld Memorial Author's Day Program. Mr. Pinkney began his presentation by sharing the role art played in his early life. While sharing about growing up in a small house with a large family he talked about how his "private space became the space of a sketchpad." He went on to share that he enjoys talking walks and looking for inspiration (an idea Mandy has recently been reading about in poemcrazy by Susan G. Wooldridge).

We both enjoyed hearing about the process of story from an illustrator's perspective. He shared how he always strives to suggest emotion and invite the reader into the action. "To capture feeling and emotion is a different investment than action." Do we not try to share these same ideas with our students and their writing?

We can't wait to share his personal stories about his art with our students.