Option A - 3 Interactive Assembly Programs – All 5 Grades plus K

1. Assembly Program for Grades K and 1

Read Baby Sea Otter or Penguin Chick (Power Point Presentation)

Give additional science facts

Photographs of these animals in their natural habitat

How an idea becomes a story and then a book

Discuss my other picture book briefly

What it’s like to be an author

Encourage children to go to the library often, to read and write/draw their own stories

Penguin activities – Walk like a penguin dad and “Penguin Chick says…”

Show photos of giant pandas, taken in China for my “next book”

2. Assembly Program for Grades 2 and 3

Same as above, but instead of penguin activities, and what it’s like to be an author,

the emphasis is on writing skills:

Writing stories, journal writing, re-writing and keeping an “idea file”

Discuss and read excerpts from two of my other books

Research in the library, on the Internet and on-site

Photos of my research in China on giant pandas

3. Assembly Program for Grades 4 and 5

Read Baby Sea Otter or Penguin Chick , use excerpts to discuss writing skill (build suspense,

show and don’t tell the reader, strong action verbs and re-writing to polish a “gem”)

Discuss the publishing process

Read a few excerpts and show photos from “How Animals….” books to illustrate how science

facts and writing skills combine to make exciting reading

Discuss research for fiction and nonfiction books

Read first page of “Danger by the Delaware,” a middle grade novel I am currently writing

Photos of my research in China on giant pandas

4. Customized Presentation for a Grade or Group

The fourth presentation can be a classroom visit on a science subject, a writing workshop

for 30 or less students, a presentation to one grade, focusing on my research (in libraries, on the Internet and on-site (penguins, sea otters, giant pandas in China, animals in Africa and

Revolutionary War history in Bucks County, PA) or students can present their “first page of a story” or poems to me for review and comments

5. For Schools with 8 grades

The highest three grades can be combined for a fourth assembly program instead of having a

            customized presentation after three assemblies

The emphasis for this group will be on the publishing process plus research and writing skills,

with photos (Power Point) of animal research I conducted in China and Africa.

After hearing the first page of “Danger by the Delaware,” students discuss: “beginnings” that

grab the reader, “seeding the plot,” developing believable characters, a strong sense of

 time and place and building suspense.

Option B – One or Two Grades Only

All of the children in one or two grades participate in an interactive age appropriate assembly program (similar to above), followed by three customized classroom visits or writing workshops.  Librarian/Teacher input is required to tailor presentations to the curriculum of that age group.

School Visit Costs

$800 per day plus mileage (4 presentations, lunch and book signing) – within 2 hours

of Holland, PA

$1,000 per day with one overnight stay plus travel costs, lodging and meals (same program)

         For visits requiring 2 overnight stays, special arrangements need to be made,

         (either multiple consecutive school visits booked or fee adjusted)

To discuss school visits call Betty Tatham at 215-860-5223 or e-mail btatham100@verizon.net