Ten Tips for Developing Passionate Writers!

Last week I had the honor of presenting with my dear friends and colleagues, Tracy Ferguson and Kate Lamoureux, for the Voyager Sopris webinar series.  

We had so much fun sharing Ten Tips for Developing Passionate Writers!   

Here is a little about our webinar...

Join these three experienced educators as they share what works when it comes to getting young learners to enjoy writing -- and helping them learn to do it well! With an emphasis on advancing literacy and getting kids to love all kinds of writing, 

Shannon McClintock Miller, 

Tracy Ferguson, 

and Kate Lamoureux will share what they’ve learned over the years, including strategies, apps, best practices, and proven resources to transform unengaged K-4th graders into motivated and excited learners who love to write.
I not only enjoyed sharing lots of ideas and ways we develop and inspire passionate writers in the library and through collaboration with teachers and students, I loved hearing about and learning all kinds of things from these two wonderful teachers too.  

You can watch our webinar too by registering on this page.  It is a free one and part of the amazing webinar series Voyager brings to all of us throughout the year. 

We hope you enjoy the webinar and join Voyager for future webinars too! 

Doll-E & Shandra McCloskey Visit The Van Meter 2nd Graders!

Today, we had a very special Skype with our new friend, author and illustrator, 

 Shanda McCloskey and our 2nd graders in the library. 

Shanda is the amazing author and illustrator of one of our favorite books of 2018....Doll-E 1.0!  

 In fact, this is Shandra's debut book...

 ... and we loved listening to her read it to us. As she read, she shared fun little things about the characters and happenings throughout the book. 

 When she was done reading, Shandra drew Bluetooth,

 and Doll-E.

You will find the directions on how to draw Doll-E and Blutooth here...

... on her site to share with your kids so they can draw them. 

When she was done with the first two characters, one of the boys came up and asked her to draw...

...Charolette too! 

She is adorable and one cool girl! 

And Shanda, super cool too.  :)   Thank you so much for Skyping into Van Meter, Iowa from your home.  We all loved having you visit to share your book, upcoming projects and your "why" as an author.  It was fascinating, inspiring and lots of fun. 

We hope you come back soon! 

You can read more about DOLL-E 1.0 in my post, A STEM-Friendly Tale of a Girl and Her Doll....Doll-E 1.0 here. 

Michael Dahl, Author & Storyteller, Is Coming To Van Meter For Our WRAD Celebration!

We are very excited to share that our friend, author and storyteller, Michael Dahl, is coming to Van Meter Community School on February 1, 2019 to help us celebrate World Read Aloud Day!

He will be sharing his newest Capstone picture book, Family is a Superpower, Cave of the Bookworms and several others with the students and teachers, and a few friends and libraries we will be connecting with online as we celebrate WRAD on that day. 

Here is Michael's schedule for the day and all of the special activities we have planned.  

We hope you follow along on our library Instagram and Twitter @vmlibraryvoice and on our Facebook Page, The Library Voice, throughout the day.