school visits | VIVIAN KIRKFIELD – Writer for Children

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When I introduced the SHOW ME HOW Story-time Program to District 11, I had no idea how popular it would be.

But I guess when you combine picture books and young children and craft activities, you are bound to get positive results!

Yesterday morning found me at Edison School…just three minutes from my house. It was easy to find because I’d been there before…not to read or craft, but to vote. 🙂

The kindergarten children in Ms. Gustafson’s class were eager to hear about Frederick, the little mouse whose family is preparing for the winter by collecting corn, straw, wheat and nuts. Although it looks like Frederick is sleeping most of the time, he tells his family that he is busy…gathering the sun’s rays, colors and words. When winter comes and the mice have eaten most of the food and are cold and hungry, Frederick offers up the supplies he brought and warms his family with his words about the sun’s golden rays and brightens the gray winter day by talking about the colors of the flowers in the spring.

I was so impressed with the children’s level of attention…smiling faces and raised hands greeted every question I asked as we discussed the difference between the supplies Frederick gathered and those his family brought. They understood that even though food and shelter were important, the beauty that Frederick supplied was necessary for life also.

After the story and discussion, the children moved to their tables where they worked on creating a colorful flower picture. Many of the children added their own touches…some drew Frederick and his family…one boy raised the edges of the construction paper flowers so that they had depth, just like real flowers do.

I was touched when one student wanted to give me his picture to take home with me…what an honor! However, the teacher was going to hang all of the pictures on the wall outside the classroom, so I thanked him and told him that I would be able to enjoy seeing it again the next time I visited Edison School.

As the children put the finishing touches on their pictures, I thanked them for having me, said goodbye and walked down the hall to the other kindergarten where 15 smiling children waited to greet me and hear all about Frederick.

Based on my book for parents of preschoolers, the SHOW ME HOW Story-time Program helps encourage young children in school to become readers and lovers of books. If you’d like to have this unique resource available to you and your child, please visit my website where you can purchase a copy at 50% off the cover price. For just $22.50, you will have 100 story summaries, 100 simple craft projects and 100 easy healthful cooking activities right at your fingertips! And you can enter to win a selection of craft supplies for your preschooler.

I’m looking forward to April 12^th when this blog will be a stop on the book blog tour of Max the Dog Who Works. He is also in the People Telly Awards competition and the following is a message from him about a youtube video he made:

This competition and the People Telly Awards are chosen specifically by online voters. We are seeking your help to share and gain as many votes as possible to show support for Leader Dogs for the Blind. To vote, please visit the Link provided below and rate it using the ever famous thumbs up system. Videos that earn the most thumbs up win!

The more people you share this link with, the greater the chance of earning recognition for Leader Dogs.

Visit: http://www.youtube.com/tellyawards?x=TNRiC8lMBoU to cast your vote

Hugs and Licks:Max!

Leader Dogs for the Blind…a very worthwhile organization…please give your support by watching the video and voting for Max!

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St. Patrick’s Day was yesterday…and the luck of the Irish was definitely with me.

I had the most wonderful day!

Early morning found me at Taylor School again, visiting with the kindergarten children in back-to-back story presentations.

We read Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready For Bed?

When I walked into the first kindergarten room, I did a double-take! The children were dressed in pajamas! At first, I thought that the teacher had requested this because the picture book story is about a little pig who is getting ready for bed…and putting on his pajamas is one of his tasks.

It turns out that Thursday was Pancakes and Pajamas Day…and all of the kindergarten children were dressed in their favorite PJ’s. Some even had robes and slippers…I was definitely jealous…they looked so comfy.

So it was really the perfect setting to read a story about getting ready for bed…and the children did not disappoint…they were eager to discuss the story and knew right away how silly Cornelius was when he fed the gold fish his chocolate chip cookies. 🙂

After reading and discussing the story, the children were ready to move to their tables to construct a No Tick-Tock Clock with movable hands. I was impressed with their ability to write all of the numbers of the construction paper clock face and I know they will enjoy taking the clocks home and using them to help them get to bed “on-time”.

The second presentation differed a little because we ran out of time and were not able to do the craft project. The teacher found a wonderful alternative…she handed out small resin-board clocks to groups of three students each…and then drew a digital clock on the board. Each child had an opportunity to read the digital time and then use the numeral clock with movable hands to show the correct time.

Telling time is an important skill for young children to learn…and especially today, with digital clocks in most places, parents and teachers need to make sure that children know how to tell time “the old-fashioned” way.

Leaving Taylor School, I headed over to Columbia School, where I had an appointment to be interviewed by two students who had a job shadow assignment. As each of them aspires to be an author, they wanted to talk to someone who had published a book so that they could find out what was involved. I had brought the rough drafts of my SHOW ME HOW! book and also the original mock-up of one of the picture books I’ve written. That mock-up was written over 30 years ago…so it was interesting for them to see it and then to see the finished product with illustrations by my talented daughter-in-law.

The 4^th-graders had LOTS of questions…when did I know I wanted to be a writer…and what inspired me to write? What do I do in a normal day and do I use paper and pen or the computer? How did I contact a publisher? Does the author hire the illustrator or does the publisher handle that.

My advice to them was to follow their dream and never give up. It takes a lot of patience and hard work and perseverance to succeed at ANYTHING…and writing is no different. I encouraged them to have confidence in themselves and in what they hope to accomplish.

SHOW ME HOW! BUILD YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH READING, CRAFTING AND COOKING is all about instilling a sense of competence and confidence in your young children. Children with a positive self-image are more likely to take on new tasks and accept new challenges. Isn’t that what we want for our children?

Please visit my website to take advantage of the 50% OFF SALE PRICE on each copy. You can also enter to win a FREE Crafty Easter Basket which will be awarded on April 10^th. All you have to do is fill out the contact form.