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Amherst Cooperative Nursery School |
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I had the pleasure of visiting the Amherst Cooperative Nursery School recently. The four-year-old group was in the midst of their dinosaur unit, and thought I would share my one-hour author visit.
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It began with introducing them to my songbook, Dig A Dinosaur. As we sang the first page together, I shared a little bit about my dinosaur dig in Bozeman, Montana. The dig site was located in the Badlands, so I had to stay in one of the Blackfoot tepees to the left of my hat in the photo. Daytime temperatures averaged about 100˚, so I had to wear a hat to help protect me from dehydration.
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A common activity I use with Pre-K through
first grade is dramatizing the song. I have found that interactive text helps support emergent readers and ESL students. The children learned that digging for dinosaur bones takes a lot of time and patience. Sometimes the paleontologist will use a rock hammer and chisel, but most of the time a dental pick, brush and epoxy are most helpful. (The little actress in the photo is using a toy hammer and chisel to tap out the beat of the song.)
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For the pages that deal with the nest of eggs, I have found that a puppet works well. The actress used the action word, hatch as her cue. Have you ever thought of using a songbook like this when you’re students are learning about “eggs and spring time babies? Most paleontologists believe that dinosaurs were oviparous beings. So, now you know that chickens aren’t the only ones.
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The next part of the song deals with most children’s favorite dinosaur, T-Rex. The student with the plastic megaphone roared when it got to his key word in the text.
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A “magic” game of reaching into a bag and differentiating between a fossilized horse tooth (plant eater) and a tooth cast from T-Rex (meat eater) helped reinforce vocabulary such as: triangle, sharp and pointed.
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The next performer in the Dig A Dinosaur show included the actor with the full sized T-Rex puppet. He bit a smaller stuffed dinosaur three times to the beat of meat-meat-meat. The final two performers acted out the eating of plants, and the meteor hitting the earth by clashing small cymbals. It was definitely a Dino-mite visit!
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What Primary Teachers Said About My Presentation:
“What Hatches From An Egg?”
(Ledgeview Elementary School, Clarence, NY- Spring 2008)
“It was wonderful to see Norma in action, since we read and sing all of her books. Now we can all put a face to her many talents. Loved the theme, “If you care, you’ll leave them there” for her Earth Day presentation. Very Kindergarten appropriate!” (Maria Gugliuzza, kindergarten teacher)
“I loved the presentation very much and so did my students. Keeping 100 first graders engaged for that length of time is no simple task, and she did it beautifully!” (Megan Ward, first grade teacher)
“Excellent control of the students! You can tell that she has worked with young children. Great visuals and devices were used to keep the children focused and interested.” (Janet Glor, second grade teacher)
What Librarians Are Saying About My Conference Presentation
(SLAWNY- School Librarians’ Assoc. of WNY- “Spring Sharing”-2008)
Norma covered every aspect of a school’s curriculum and connections to the library.
I appreciated the concrete examples of how each book could be used.
Norma was a great speaker! She was motivated and kept everyone engaged.
I loved the Bear Facts writing activity! I will do it with the kindergarten researchers at my school.
What Kids Are Saying About My Author Presentations
(John Pound Elementary
5th Graders, Lockport, NY)
"I learned that making music is harder than it looks. I also learned that published books take longer to make than they say."
"I learned that you can make a song anywhere and anytime. I also learned that no matter what grade you’re in, you can make books. Your presentation inspired at least the 1st graders, kindergartners and 2nd graders."
"We learned that if you put a “c” with a circle around it, nobody can steal your ideas. That is called a copyright. Another thing I learned was that you have to make sure your facts are straight before you write a book."
"Thank you for bringing your books in to show us and also teaching us how to write a singing story."
"I really enjoyed it when you jumped like a frog, so do it often. It gets the kids’ attention."
"I learned that books that look like first grade books can be educational. I would like to find one of your books and read it."
"You were amazing! It’s hard to believe you really wrote those songs."
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