Author/Illustrator Signing

One of my favorite ideas to share with teachers, is the one shared with me by a children's librarian years ago....... When you have the opportunity to meet an author, or illustrator of a picture book, get your picture taken with them. THEN, develop the physical picture and mount it permanently inside the front cover of their book, right there on the end papers.

Then every time you have the opportunity to introduce the book to your students, you can share the picture of the two of you together. This extra little effort makes the author a 'real' person, cuz there you are as living proof that the author is 'real.' For very young children this is a HUGE reality check.... making authors real people -- which translates in their minds that: "I, too, can be an author. My words and stories have significance. My pictures could be collected into a book. That sounds like a fun job."

So these pictures are documenting that process, of excited teachers meeting a very eager author/illustrator. "Smile." Click. We ran out of copies of my book, again. Two events in a row. I seriously need to clean my crystal ball.

Sky Writing & Slant Dancing

Today's workshop was an integration of "Lyrics to Literacy" and the good ol' Debbie Clement originals, combined with the ZB brand new classics from "On the Road to Handwriting." Here we see the audience of participants engaged in the Sky Writing act of 'grab your crayon, grab it please, give your crayon the three finger squeeze.' The last three pics are of the slant dance fun. Think Chicken Dance meets Y.M.C.A. and get your body to capture the slants!! (You'll need a partner for the grand finale -- so plan ahead.)

The Workshop

Freezing and lions and piggies, oh my!!

"Go piggy: Go piggy. Go piggy: Go piggy.

Go, go, go piggy: Go, go, go piggy."

Some of you have heard me talk about my being a big fan of the 'big ending' and my Piggy Rap has an absolutely fantastic mogu-gogu BIG ending. My dear husband has long told me that my second CD is my biggest seller..... well, duh. It's the disc with both Lion Prowl AND Piggy Rap. And yes, I sold out of them today, even tho I brought twice as many of that title.

ALABAMA OSR: Fun!!

From the opening welcome address, by the Governor of Alabama to the keynote by Ella, the morning started off with fireworks. I wish that you could have seen Ella 'pop' up and ask the Gov if he had any 'child' left in him -- and promptly began playing a hand jive game of "Miss Mary Mack." What a hoot. The honorable one was really thrown for a loop, but played right along with Miss Ella. The audience just roared their approval.

Then I hurried back to the exhibit hall to the ZB (Zaner-Bloser) booth and got big hugs from my sponsoring rep, Jane Sharp and her very knowledgable associate Darlene. Do you just love that they dressed in the prerequisite black and white patterns?? We had so very much fun together -- including each of us 'teaching' the others, from our own unique platform and experience. Then it was off to my afternoon workshop. We had the airplane hanger exhibit hall -- due to such a large turnout in the registration ahead of time. This is a good challenge to face. They provided a good mic and I worked very hard to 'slow down' and ennunciate. There was so much enthusiasm, it was a fleeting 90 minutes that flashed by in the blink of an eye.

Ella Jenkins: Alabama

My happy rainbow travels continue.... with one amazing chapter following another. Today I've traveled cross country to Montgomery, Alabama to present tomorrow at their state's Office of School Readiness Pre-Kindergarten Conference. I navigated successfully thru two airports and a taxi ride to arrive safely @ the Renaissance Convention Center. Just as I'm about ready to find my way to my room, who should I spot but tomorrow's KEYnote speaker, Ella Jenkins. Yes, THE Ella Jenkins! Ella is nearly eighty-seven years old. Our paths have crossed several times in the past, but this was the first time I've had a camera along to document the amazing moment in time.

Ella is the grand dame of music for children. She is still traveling the globe, sharing her unique call and response songs with children of all cultures. She has come to this event by way of a tour thru Europe. The first time we met was in California, when I'd arrived at my very first NAEYC convention. At that point she was hovering near eighty and she had just been back and forth across India and was thinking of new songs resulting from that trek.

One of the very first songs I remember learning on the guitar was Ella's "You Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song." I was so excited when I had it mastered. A classic. I just need to keep traveling the country for another 35 years and then perhaps I'll be able to have some up and coming whipper-snapper blogging (what will the technology be like in 35 years??) about running into me in the lobby, in my 87th year on the planet. WOW. Things that make you go "wow".