Hello friends! Here in north Georgia our school year has just begun! This past Monday, my girls started 7th grade and 3rd grade. I can barely believe it! Our Summer (full of broken bones, birthday parties, puppies, swimming, fireworks, and a friend from Hungary) swirled by like a twister! But now I am ready for Fall.Every Summer, I give my school visit materials a facelift. And depending on my experiences/feedback from the previous year, I might add, adjust, or even take away a presentation. Sometimes prices need to be adjusted or maybe I want to implement a new logistical strategy in my school visit workflow. Each year is different! |
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What’s New For My 2022-23 Visits? |
| For this new academic year I was inspired to add some writing workshops to my school visit program menu, partly because I love seeing students streeeetch their minds to create a completely unique story of their own, and partly because I got the “writing workshop scoop” from my author friend, Lola. (See podcast below) |
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Photo: 11-year-old young author and I at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, 2022, UAE. |
| Two New Writing Workshops! |
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Thank You Letter Writing Workshop Best for grades K-3rd (45 minute session) NEW! This workshop uses LITTLE RED AND THE BIG BAD EDITOR to model how to write a thank you letter (complete with punctuation, capital letters, finger spaces, as well as a greeting and closing)! Shanda will read the book, brainstorm with students about who they could write a thank you letter to, walk them through writing it, and encourage them to actually deliver it! |
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Cheesy Comics Writing Workshop Best for grades 3rd-5th (2 or 3 one hour sessions) NEW! This silly educational workshop (part 1) starts with students imagining, drawing, and creating a main character (that also happens to be a slice of cheese :) with unique wants, fears, histories, and problems. The next session (part 2) will focus on telling the character’s story by creating a short comic with the cheesy character pitted against its greatest fear, whatever that may be! A third session (part 3) may be added for students to give/receive constructive feedback using the “critique sandwich” method then revising their stories to be even better! |
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New Podcast Episode! |
Educators: If you’d like to know more about bringing an author to your school for a writer’s workshop (and possibly even earn some PD), check out this latest podcast episode where I interview my author friend, Lola Schaefer, about just that!Authors: If you’ve ever thought about doing writing workshops with kids, this episode is a must! |
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Go to the episode |
I can’t wait to start visiting schools this year :) Let me know if you’d like to set something up! Visit my school visit info page for all programs, pricing, and available dates.As always, thanks for reading! |
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For Teachers
Handwriting and Cursive Practice (Printable)
Legible handwriting is a basic communication tool. Cursive handwriting is also (and a signature can come in handy as well as the ability to read old letters and the Declaration of Independence). Practice writing in print and cursive with the printables below!
Critique Sandwich Graphic Organizer for Students (Printable)
Read LITTLE RED AND THE BIG BAD WOLF to your class, then challenge students to write their own versions of a fractured fairy tale! Afterward, have students trade stories and read them. Last, students can be much better editors than Wolf by making their peers a “critique sandwich”!
Tags: 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, critique sandwich, cute crituque sandwich, editing, elementary students, fifth grade, first grade, fourth grade, fractured fairy tales, free editing teaching tools, free teaching tools, graphic organizer, Kindergarten, peer editing, second grade, Teachers, twisted fairy tales, writing
How To Draw A Pencil
Learn to draw Wolf’s pencil from LITTLE RED AND THE BIG BAD EDITOR by following these 5 simple steps!
LITTLE RED AND THE BIG BAD EDITOR coloring sheets and comics!
Have fun coloring and creating your own dialogue for the comics with these printable pages…
Educator’s Guide for LITTLE RED AND THE BIG BAD EDITOR!!
Thanks for using LITTLE RED AND THE BIG BAD EDITOR in your classroom. Rebecca Kraft Rector and I (Shanda McCloskey) hope you will find something useful inside these activities to enrich learning for your students. This GUIDE includes …
Reading & Writing Activities (with Printables!!)
1, 2, 3! Sequencing!
Similes, Cool as Cucumbers
Story Predictions
Write a Thank You Letter
Fractured Fairy Tales – Compare & Contrast
Finish the Twisted Tale of “Slipping Beauty”
Write Your Own Fractured Fairy Tale
The Critique Sandwich
Complete the Comic (your way)
Artful Activities (with Printables!)
How To Draw a Pencil
Draw a Delicious Writing Snack
Handwriting Practice
Cursive Handwriting Practice
Make a Map of Red’s Journey
Coloring Pages
Graphic Novels: A Brain Workout
I didn’t grow up reading comics. I am a new lover of the comic medium. When I found stories AND informational books in comic form, I fell in love.
But it wasn’t super easy to read at first. My brain was used to reading prose, so it took me a minute each time I opened a graphic novel to recalibrate to this form of reading. Kids seem to read comics so effortlessly, but my adult brain can tell you that there’s a lot going on up there when you read a graphic novel!
Have you (grown ups) tried one yet? I’m telling you – it’s a great brain workout!
And I’m not just making this stuff up…
“Traditional text is limited to presenting the same information sequentially. But when we read comics, we simultaneously interpret a multitude of visual information such as setting, mood, time, emotion, dialogue, and action.” (Read the full article here.)
My Favorite Informational Comics:
My Favorite Story Comics:
Grownups, I hope you’ll try a graphic a graphic novel THIS summer! If you do, you’ll appear much cooler (than you already are) to the kids in your life!
If you are already a reader of graphic novels, what’s YOUR favorite one to date? Comment below! I’d love to know.
Reading Poster and Matching Coloring Page
With schools starting back in-person all over, I wanted to share a “Read and Recharge” poster (with character’s from my first book, DOLL-E 1.0) that’s FREE for printing, laminating, and decorating your classroom! AND there’s a free matching coloring sheet so your students can also make their own poster!
Print Poster
Print Coloring Page
As always, I’d LOVE to see photos of your using these in your classroom :)
All My Best,
Shanda
Ho-To-Draw Snuggle Bunny from Bedtime Ballet
I told you I was excited about this upcoming book! Here is a How-To-Draw Snuggle Bunny (the lovey toy that the main character carries with her all through the story in the pictures)! Click the image below to download and print. Happy drawing!
Let’s make zines! (printables)
Author-illustrators including myself, K-Fai Steel, Aram Kim, Mika Song, and Doug Salati teamed up with East Flagstaff Community Library and local schools in Flagstaff, Arizona to create a series of zines that align with some of our books! We call them QuaranZines because of when/why they were created. But now, they are available for everyone (even in Spanish)! So PRINT, FOLD, & have FUN!…
A New Pig (by K-Fai Steele) zines
No Kimchi For Me (by Aram Kim) zines
