I know it is not Tuesday, but I HAD to share with you some exciting news. Have you ever been to a conference where you sing to get the party started? Yep! We had an audience full of adults singing, “Oh, Lets Go Fly a Kite…”. Today, I went to the Orange County Reading Association Spring Conference to hear Alexis O’Neill, author of the well known children’s picture book, The Recess Queen. What a joy to listen to her explain and guide teachers in Common Core Writing. Today, I learned the following:
1. Alexis O’Neill is a hilarious and wonderful speaker.
2. A new genre term (for me): —Fictionalized Biographies
3. To help students with their writing, have them research pictures. (great for report writing) Asking questions based on observations will build vocabulary for writing.
4. Students can use narrative guiding questions to help write non-fiction text.
5. Instead of asking students “What would it be like if you were Abraham Lincoln?”, change the question to a place. “What would it be like to be (at) Mount Rushmore?”
My afternoon gets better! So! During her presentation, she talked about fictionalized biographies, stories using real events with fictional aspects, and referred to Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence. This is a big deal because just on Monday I guest blogged at Ideas with Jivey talking about that EXACT book. #authorsandramonarecommendsthinkalike!
She read aloud her newest picture book entitled, “The Kite that Bridged Two Nations”. What a great experience to hear an author read her own book. She shared with us how she researched for the book. It was really inspiring. I enjoyed listening about all of the different avenues she utilizes to write.
After the conference, I purchased 3 of her picture books. Reviews to come (BELOW). Alexis was such a gracious author and personally signed all of my books. I was even brave enough to ask for a picture with her. She graciously accepted. Eeek! I told her about my blog Ramona Recommends. Alexis, if you are reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart for stopping by! I hope to meet again! Love, Courtney
Teachers! The next three books are MUSTS in your classroom. Alexis O’Neill’s word choice is like eating ice cream all day. You just want more and more.