The Postcard

I have been discussing authors with students all year long, and we have been privileged in the last two years to have two wonderful Oklahoma authors visit: Tim Tingle this year, and Tammi Sauer last year. I tell my students that authors love to hear from readers of all ages, especially students, who love their books. Some students have taken on writing letters to their favorite authors, and today, one of my little girls received a postcard of Kate DiCamillo! We were all blown away! Here is the letter Rosalba wrote to her:

She even included a small purse to contain the letter - so sweet! 

Here is the postcard that Kate DiCamillo returned to Rosalba:

And here is the happy recipient! I presented the postcard to Rosalba in front of her whole class and teacher. She was so excited that she almost burst! We took a picture together with two of the books that are her favorites:

Kate, you'll never know how much happiness you have given to Rosalba. She will never forget how important she felt because you took the time to write her back. Thank you so much!

Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Winner

We had several classes and students who read the required number of books and were able to vote for their favorite Sequoyah nominee. Here is our voting booth:

Students were very excited to make their own choice! At our school there was a near tie between Saving Audie and this book, which won our school's vote:

Sadly for Kate Messner, her book didn't win the state vote this year. Since I had so many kids vote this year, we decided to celebrate the actual winner with a small celebration. I made an information slide show about him, and the students learned all about...

Dan Santat, and his book that won, Sidekicks! Here is a link to his wonderful website. He has written many different books and even done some work for the Disney companies!

We watched book trailers for Sidekicks and Beekle, as well as snacked on juice and cookies!

All of the students wanted to check out Sidekicks after the presentation, so we had a drawing and this kiddo won! He was so excited to be the next person to check out the book! Dan Santat even Tweeted his approval of our drawing with a fun comment for Alberto!

We are all ready for Dan Santat's new book, Beekle, to come out so we can read some more of his books. Congratulations, Dan Santat!

Tammi Sauer comes to visit!

Central Oak Elementary Library hosted auther, Tammi Sauer, on November 9th. She did four programs for our students and signed autographs in her books that students purchased.

 She taught the kids songs and had students participate in several different skits and performances during her presentations. Ms. Sloggett even played the part of Oprah in one of the skits!

Students were encouraged to dress in "cowboy gear" and many took the opportunity to do so.

 

 

Mr. Larry Miller, a CO Alumni purchased a copy of every one of Mrs. Sauer's books for the elementary library. Here he is with the purchased books and Mrs. Sauer:

 

Thank you so much Mr. Miller, for the wonderful new books!

 

Thank you very much to Tammi Sauer for doing such a wonderful job teaching our students about her job, sharing her job, and books with our students.

 

The library cannot keep her books on the shelves in the library since Mrs. Sauer's visit! The students check them out just minutes after someone else has returned them. That is a testament to having an author visit a school. Not only do students get exposed to books by the author, but they get to actually see how authors do their job. Mrs. Sauer shared with the students how she comes up with ideas for her books, how she writes them, and then how she gets them published. We are all looking forward to her new book, Nuggett & Fang, which comes out very soon. Look for that book to "float" into the library soon (It is about a shark!).