Author Visit-Part 2

Come On In..and welcome to my second blog post about Crystal Bowman, the well-known children's author.

As I promised you in an earlier post, I mentioned that I would share the details about Crystal Bowman's visit to our school, and I'm happy to announce that her visit was a huge success! Throughout the day she held assemblies for students from PreK-5th grade. The assemblies were broken down into different times for various grade levels. First, she spoke to the 3rd-5th graders, next 1st-2nd, then PreK-K, and lastly she held a special writing workshop for students in the fourth grade. 
I attended the assembly with my very excited first grade class! My students were mesmerized as they listened to Mrs. Bowman read poetry from her book, Cracks in the Sidewalk. She told us that she wrote this book to tell about the adventures of growing up and the joy of being a child.

Then we watched as 12 students were selected to use props to act out her book, The House In the Middle of Town. This picture book shares the story of a community joining together to assist a neighbor in need.  

   

 

Author Crystal Bowman reads her book, The House in the Middle of Town, while first and second grade students use props to act out the story.

Mrs. Bowman shared that she became an author at the age of 40, and that most of her story and poetry ideas come from real life experiences. Interestingly, she shared that the ideas for her first chapter book, Ivan and the Dynamos, came from her son's hockey team experiences. However, she rewrote it 10 times, and that it took 3 years before it was  published. Wow, now that's perseverance!  At the end of the assembly, Crystal Bowman took time to answer a few questions. One question that came from a bright-eyed first grader was, "How many books have you written?" and Mrs. Bowman responded by saying, "I have written 80 books!"  

Author Crystal Bowman takes time to answer a few questions
from some very excited students!

Later in the day, we attended the Crystal Bowman book signing in the Elementary Library Media Center, where we took pictures and purchased a book for our class from the I Can Read! Series. What a meaningful experience not only for my students, but for myself as well. I must say that author visits not only motivate students to read, but to also write. I can still hear Crystal Bowman reminding our students that,"Writing is all about practice, the more you practice, the better you get!"  
I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and I'll leave you with a picture from the book signing. So, between now and next time....Ya'll come back you hear!

 At the book signing with Author Crystal Bowman
and a few of my happy first grade students!