Chris and I had SO MUCH FUN putting on the October Fire Truck vs. Dragon webinar (with about 50 classrooms from all over the country) that we immediately planned another!
We hope you’ll join us on November 12, 2020 at 10:00am EST for the 2nd go around! This time, I’ll be demonstrating how to draw Fire Truck, and of course we’ll be answering more of YOUR questions!
Here’s some feed back that we received from the first webinar:
“The webinar was amazing. My first grade class was mesmerized.” – Kara
“We loved your webinar!!!” – Lynn
“Offerings like this that let us easily combine art and library time are very truly just what we need. Thank you both for being creative, open-minded, and…cost-effective, to boot. We will be back for Fire Truck in November!” – Heather
We (Chris Barton and Shanda McCloskey) love hanging out with educators and their students, and welcome the opportunity to plan a special FIRE TRUCK VS. DRAGON visit for your whole school or individual class(es).
Build-Your-Own-Visit:
All visits start with a quick intro to the book and its creators (5 minutes) Choose 3 or 4 more sections to be included in your presentation:
– Live reading of FIRE TRUCK VS. DRAGON (10 minutes) – Let’s talk about “expectations” in/out of the book (10 minutes) – A peek behind the scenes of FT vs D (10 minutes) – Opposites! (10 minutes) – Dragon or Fire Truck drawing demo for kids to follow along (10 minutes) – Q&A session with prepared or on-the-spot questions (10 minutes)
Great for grades Pre-K all the way through 5th, as the presentations are tailored to the ages. If you can’t decide which parts to include, we can choose for you (based on our favorites) if you like.
Price: $450 (35-45 min). If your school is willing to promote a signed book sale (online), we are happy to take $50 off the visit!
“Friendly Opposites” Single-Day Writing Workshop:
In this single-day workshop, Chris will lead students through a collaborative process of creating their own “friendly opposites” story while Shanda illustrates it in real time! Best for small groups, grades 1st – 5th.
Price: $450 (45-55 min). If your school is willing to promote a signed book sale (online), we are happy to take $50 off the visit!
“Creating in a Team” Multi-Day Writing & Illustrating Workshop:
In this 3-day virtual workshop, students get to spend individual and combined time with Chris and Shanda, learn/practice storytelling techniques (in words and pictures), and get a taste of what it’s like to work on a story with others! Best for small groups in grades 3rd – 5th.
Price: $850 (3 sessions). If your school is willing to promote a signed book sale (online), we are happy to take $50 off the visit!
Day 1: Students will create a short piece of writing with author, Chris Barton. (45 min)
Day 2: With illustrator, Shanda McCloskey, students will create a single illustration for a fellow student’s writing from the previous day. (45 min)
Day 3: Shanda, Chris, and the class virtually gather to see some of the collaborations that students made and any last Q and A. (45 min)
Have you ever wanted to bring an author to your students, but didn’t know where to start or simply couldn’t afford it? Or maybe you’re just slammed with other priorities, and thoughts of organizing an author visit makes your head want to explode. Well, I’ve got a treat for you!…
I’m pumped to be partnering up with the incredible author, of Fire Truck vs. Dragon, Chris Barton, to bring you a LIVE, super affordable, accessible from anywhere, 2-for-1 punch awesome author visit webinar for YOUR students! It only costs $10 per classroom to attend, and will also be available as a recording afterward if you aren’t able to join the live event.
Chris (aka Fire Truck) and I (aka Dragon) will do a read-aloud, show you step-by-step how to draw dragon (so have paper and pencil handy), share insights into how we made our new book, and answer your “burning” questions.
Meet author-illustrator, Mika Song, and her agent, Erica Rand Silverman (of Stimola Literary Studio) and hear them talk about Mika’s early graphic novel, DONUT FEED THE SQUIRRELS, and their thoughts on the growing graphic novel scene! You’ll also get a peek into Mika’s creating process including her advice on writing/submitting a script for graphic novels and how she created a compelling plot with fewer words. In the Q & A following, the panelists will be happy to answer questions about writing and illustrating graphic novels, picture books, and more! This panel is for anyone interested in writing and illustrating for kids, and particularly those with an interest in learning industry scoop about writing and/or illustrating graphic novels.
BONUS: Mika and Erica are giving away (2) portfolio reviews to illustrator registrants, and there will be door prizes for writers too! The recording of this event will be available for 1 month afterward.
I’m so excited to be helping organize this event with my local chapter of SCBWI. See you there!
As I post this, we still have six months to go before Bedtime Ballet (written by Kallie George and illustrated by me) meets the world on January 19, 2021, but I’m so excited that I just had to go ahead and make these coloring sheets :) Click on any coloring page to download and print. Enjoy!
I guess you could say this was my “quarantine project” :) Thanks to my computer-guy-husband-producer (Ben McCloskey) and my up-for-just-about-anything-author-friend (Bonnie Clark) we started a project that is dear to my heart: the Author Visit Podcast! In this podcast, we talk about EVERYTHING there is to talk about regarding school visits for authors, illustrators, librarians, etc. Our goal is to demystify this art and business, and especially now as things look might different after Covid-19 came on the scene.
Our first three episodes are already up! Come learn with us and please send us feedback or comments on AuthorVisitPodcast.com. We’d love to hear from you and if the episodes are helpful. Definitely learning as we go, but having SO much fun on this new platform!
This Covid-19 pandemic is a historical happening, and it’s important to document the way we are feeling and dealing. Students must be feeling a myriad of emotions as their social and academic lives have been completely turned upside down. Journaling can help our minds organize our emotions onto different shelves instead of them all piled on one shelf about to break. So, I created three READ and WRITE journaling pages inspired by my books that I hope you’ll use to learn from and bring about some inner calm and understanding. If you enjoy these PDFs, please feel free to share :)
Since we’ve all been cooped up from the pandemic, let’s draw Fire Truck from my newest illustrated book, FIRE TRUCK VS. DRAGON (written by Chris Barton)!
