Author Visits

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Kindergartners singing Joe's State Fair Song 

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Author: Sharon Ellsberry does fun school programs and book store presentations that are entertaining and educational.

Author Visit Options:

For Pre-k-2nd grade
​“Twelve Months of Kindness” is a twenty-five minute program. Special features of the program include a puppet show, storytelling, and audience participation. The presentation will encourage and support learning and remembering the twelve months of the year and how we can do kind things for others. The program focuses on the positive character traits of kindness, sharing, good citizenship, and responsibility.​

For Pre-k-2nd grade
"Let’s Pretend" - is a thirty minute program with the State Fair book presented by the author in different character voices. The main characters in the story are introduced with a puppet show. The students participate by making all the sounds of the animals in the story. The children will also learn part of the original song found in the book and sing along as it comes up in the story. This is followed by an interactive discussion on using our ideas and our five senses to tell stories.

For 1st-2nd grade
"I Am Thankful Every Day"- Is a forty minute program. Special features of the program include a puppet show and storytelling with student participation in a skit of the Thanksgiving book. This is followed by an interactive discussion of the characters and reasons for their actions. We will also discuss many positive character traits found in the story including, thankfulness, responsibility, good citizenship, and sharing.

For 2nd- 3rd grade
"The Three Cs of Reading and Writing" (character, characterization, character traits) is a fifty minute program. The Pen Pal book is featured by presenting it in a skit format. Students are selected for the parts and provided with simple costumes. The balance of the students are the sound effects of the story and sing the original song found in the book. This is followed by an interactive discussion on the important elements of reading and writing; determining who the characters are, understanding and identifying their personalities through characterization, and exhibiting character traits. Some of the traits highlighted in the book are teamwork, leadership, and sharing. This program supports TEKS Objectives for English Language Arts and Reading.

For 4th and upper grades
"What Writers See" - is a one hour program. The author will do a highlight story tell of each of her books to give the students the basic action of each story. Then she will share her process of how an idea becomes a story from conception to completion. She also brings her writers notebook to share with the students how she gathers information to form her stories. She discusses how most authors see the action and ideas before they write and then they create their stories from these visual thoughts. Using that format, the students will create an improvisational story with the author as she helps them with image prompts, and character and plot development. All students will be encouraged to express their author voice.

For 4th and upper grades
"It’s a Mystery"- is a fifty minute program. The author will do a brief highlight of each of her books with more emphasis on her new mystery book. She will discuss elements and techniques she uses in her writing to create her unique author voice. The students will be encouraged to express their author voice through developing their characters and story. This is followed by an interactive skit called “Help Me Tell a Story” where the students and author create a unique mystery. Character development, and traits, along with utilizing the best adjectives, nouns, verbs, and adverbs will be the focus as the mystery unfolds. This program supports the TEKS reading and writing objectives.

Click here for a list of how these programs support the TEKS objectives for English Language Arts and Reading and the STAAR reading and writing objectives.

All Presentations use “Power Point” to project illustrations on a large screen.
The Spaniel Family's Special Year is for ages 4-8
​The Spaniel Family Goes to the State Fair is for ages 4-9
The Spaniel Family’s Pen Pal Adventure is for ages 5-10
The Mystery of the Spaniel Family’s Dog House is for ages 7-11
The Spaniel Family's Thanksgiving is for ages 4-9
The Spaniel Family’s Time Capsule Mystery is for ages 8-11

Accelerated Reader and Reading Counts tests are available by contacting the author.

To schedule a school or book store program contact the author sellsberry@yahoo.com
or call 800-317-4804