Author Visits
Monday- Poet: Joe Frey
What an eventful week! On Monday we had the honor to host our Poetry Cafe with poet Joe Frey. Our students presented their version of "Spring's Kiss," a sequel to Frey's "Winter Kiss" that the students studied and Frey read when he visited in the fall. Our class teamed up with the other 5th grade class to read their poems one by one in front of their peers, teachers, Frey, and their parents! They did AWESOME! The other 5th grade class decided to pick their favorite poem that they wrote this school year to present to Frey. Joe Frey opened the cafe by reading his poems, "Winter's Kiss," and "Mother's Day" (since Mother's Day was the day before and many parents joined our cafe). Then, the children read their poems one by one...boy were they nervous, but so excited. Once completed, each class presented their Poetry Anthology to Frey as a gift. At the end, they enjoyed some juice, doughnuts, and tea for the parents. :) What a wonderful way to enjoy a Monday morning!
Friday- Author: Daniel Kirk
Our students were in for a treat with another visit from an author all in one week! Our fantastic librarian lined up a local author, Daniel Kirk. Before his visit, as a class we visited his website to learn a little about him as an author as part of our author talks. He hosted three different sessions with our different grade levels. During our visit, Mr. Kirk sang some of his poems from his books, Dogs Rule! and Cat Power! The students loved it as they sang along. He then discussed his childhood and how he became a writer. This was great for our students to hear since we always discuss these topics as part of our author talks. He also spoke about how he presents his work to his editor and how often he has to make many changes before being published, if he actually gets the opportunity to be published. He then spoke about his series of Elf Realm and read an excerpt from the book. Finally, he discussed the book that he is currently finishing and wrapped it up with a Q & A. The kids absolutely enjoyed their morning and were able to make a lot of connections with Mr. Kirk and our work in Writer's Workshop! Once we were back in the classroom, the class took out their writer's notebooks and responded to their experience with a real life author! They all raised their hands when asked who'd like to read or hear Elf Realm read to them. I guess I better get started in order to finish it before the end of the year.
Visit his website: http://danielkirk.com/
