Ted and Betsy Lewin Author / Illustrator Visit



Patricia Polacco

Author / Illustrator Visit

This application requests funding assistance for a five-day author visit to the Sycamore Community School District by Patricia Polacco, a nationally renowned author and illustrator of children’s books, in October, 2006. Past experience has demonstrated that visits by authors and illustrators to our schools enrich students by promoting reading, inspiring writing, encouraging creativity, and broadening students’ horizons. During her stay, Ms. Polacco will make a total of fifteen presentations for students at Blue Ash, Maple Dale, Montgomery, Symmes Elementary and Greene Intermediate Schools. In addition Ms. Polacco will autograph books, attend luncheons with staff and parents, meet with small groups of students, and make a community presentation at the Symmes Township Public Library - all together impacting an estimated 3,500 Sycamore students, teachers and staff members.

Patricia Polacco has written and illustrated more than fifty books, each filled with her vibrant folkart and wonderfully warm, deep and uplifting wisdom. Patricia’s outstanding contributions to children’s literature have been recognized with awards from the American Library Association, The Association of Jewish Libraries, the Children’s Book Council, and PBS’ Reading Rainbow. With works that range from alphabet books to stories about the miracles of everyday life to books that take on the weighty issues of social injustice, slavery, and bullying, Patricia’s books appeal to children of all ages and can be read and enjoyed again and again on various levels. Many of Patricia’s books revolve around her Ukrainian heritage, rich family traditions and loving intergenerational relationships, while other books very simply and honestly show how people from different races, religions, beliefs and national origins discover that commonality of human spirit and forge enduring friendships.

Patricia Polacco visited Sycamore Schools fifteen years ago during the “Year of the Author”. Those who have heard her, describe her as an inspirational and dynamic speaker and spellbinding storyteller. In her hour-long presentations to students, Patricia will not only discuss her books, but she will also tell about her learning disabilities, her family, heroic teachers in her life, and the pain she suffered from teasing. At the end of her presentation students are invited to say “hi” and shake her hand (the hand that shook the hand… from Pink and Say) or they may touch a piece of a meteor that landed on her grandparents’ Michigan farm (Meteor!) and make a wish. But all wishes must meet these criteria 1) You cannot wish for money, 2) You cannot wish to change a person (however by treating them differently, they may change), and 3) You cannot wish for possessions like toys (things that money can buy). We feel very fortunate to have engaged Patricia Polacco for the ‘2006-07 school year. Additional information about Patricia including video clips is available online at: and .

Sycamore’s 2006 Patricia Polacco author/illustrator visit will be planned and executed in a manner similar to the 2005 Lewin author visit. It will be a coordinated, collaborative effort among the five schools’ administrators, teachers, media specialists, staff, PTO and volunteer parents. The Volunteer Author Visit Program Manager will serve as a liaison between the schools and Ms. Polacco while overseeing the work of the five author visit committees: Curriculum Ideas, Book Sales, Hospitality, Publicity, and Media Center Coordinator. Each school has appointed representatives whose job it will be to disseminate information at the school level to families, staff, and classroom teachers and to coordinate and facilitate author visit activities at each school.

Timeline for Polacco Author Visit:

Jan ’05 Contacted Polacco’s Babusha Press office and requested District-wide school visits.

Oct. ’05 Notified that Patricia Polacco would be able to visit our schools during the week of Oct. 16th, 2006.

Sycamore Visiting Author Committee met and began planning Polacco visit

Fall ‘05 - Winter ’06

▪ Apply for Sycamore Schools Foundation grant

▪ Secure additional project funding from the community

Spring ’06

▪ Notify staff, students, and families of upcoming Polacco author visit in October

▪ Talk with teachers about their ideas for curriculum tie-ins with Polacco books

▪ Request the pricing and availability of books from publishers

▪ Order Polacco books for the media centers of each school

▪ Send home summer reading list of Polacco books for each grade level

Summer ’06

▪ Prepare book order form with descriptions and price of each book that families may opt to purchase

▪ Coordinate with the Public Library for publicity for community presentation

▪ Order public library collections of Polacco books for use in classrooms

▪ Set up in-school displays. Students begin reading books and creating related projects

Oct 7 Patricia Polacco Community Presentation at Symmes Township Public Library and two other libraries

Oct. 16-20 Patricia Polacco visits Sycamore Schools spending one full-day at each of the five

participating schools

October ’06 forward

▪ Prepare newspaper article about the visit. Write thank-you to Ms. Polacco & after-action report.

▪ Use the information gained from the author visit in classroom learning throughout the year.

Outcomes:

Encourage Reading: Ms. Polacco’s visit will certainly encourage reading! Her first and primary advice to students is to “READ, READ, READ”. Before the author/illustrator visit, teachers will read and discuss many of Patricia’s books with students. Throughout the year media specialists will incorporate and highlight her books in lessons for all students. Our school media centers currently have more than thirty Polacco titles, and additional books will be procured. As with the Lewin author visit, the Symmes Township and Blue Ash Public Libraries will display Polacco books for families to borrow and read together. Families will be provided the opportunity to purchase books which will serve as a reminder of the visit and promote further reading at home. After meeting and hearing the author, children will enjoy re-reading the author’s books with new insights. Children identify with authors they have studied and met, therefore they will search for further books by Patricia Polacco and seek out new releases, continuing their reading growth.

Stimulate an Increased Interest in Writing: “As far as writing”, Ms. Polacco says, “keep your stories close to your heart. Write about what you know to be true.” These words echo and reinforce the messages of other authors who have visited our schools. When students are exposed first-hand to an author, they have time to ask questions about the writing process. Authors also share their experiences about what inspires them to write, the publishing process, and the successes and rejections they face. Authors encourage children to persevere and to practice writing. Students will realize that they are all writers, and they will understand the importance of improving their writing skills, so vital for academic success and for effective communication throughout their lives. After meeting an author like Ms. Polacco, who is passionate about writing and sharing her stories, some students may even consider writing as a profession.

Encourage Creativity and Self Expression: By exploring Patricia Polacco’s books, reading her texts, examining her illustrations, and then by listening to her speak, students will engage their critical thinking skills to develop strategies that they can then use to relate stories and feelings close to their hearts through creative and cultural arts. These projects may be done in the regular classroom, art class, or independently at home. Ms. Pollaco’s dynamic presentation style will model effective communication techniques for students helping them to understand and master the oral communication skills of the Ohio Academic Content Standards for English Language Arts.

Broadening Student Horizons: The Polacco Author Visit will broaden student horizons from a local to a global perspective. In her works, Polacco draws heavily from her family’s Ukrainian, Russian, and Irish backgrounds. Students will be interested in learning about the people and customs of these areas. Ms. Polacco masterfully weaves multicultural stories allowing the reader to experience diverse belief systems, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and races. She believes that we are all citizens of the world and that we must search for our commonality – the universality of the human spirit – and then from there, celebrate our differences. Such ideas will help students appreciate cultural diversity and realize their place in our world.

Evaluation:

After the author visit, teachers will expect to see students spending more time reading and getting greater enjoyment from their reading. Students are more likely to borrow books from the school and public library which were written by Ms. Polocco or books that are in related series.

Students will show a heightened interest in creating their own books with both text and illustrations.

Students’ oral communication will improve as students incorporate and practice speaking techniques that Ms. Polacco demonstrated in her presentations.

Creative projects produced in connection with Patricia Polacco’s visit will be displayed in school hallways and in the public library instilling pride in the students.

As a result of Ms. Polacco’s anti-bullying message of no more teasing, students will treat each other with more respect, reducing the number of incidents at school, on the playground, and on the bus.

Children will gain a greater sense of appreciation and pride for their own family heritage and more enthusiastically embrace their own family traditions.

There will be increased community awareness of and appreciation for the outstanding programs and opportunities offered by the Sycamore Schools, making it easier to garner additional financial support for the schools and school-related programs.

Budget for the Polacco Author / Illustrator Visit – October 2006

Blue Ash PTA, Greene PTO, Maple Dale PTO, Montgomery PTO, and Symmes PTO have each committed $1,000 to the Patricia Polacco 2006 Author / Illustrator Visit. Based on past author visits, $500 profit from book sales per school is projected. Each participating school will seek a community sponsor to contribute $500 toward this project – some possible sources include biggs, car dealerships, bookstores, banks, businesses of school families. Because of our ongoing partnership, the Cincinnati Public Library will host Ms. Polacco on Saturday, October 7th . She will speak at the Symmes Township Library and two other branches. To reach full funding, contributions will be solicited from local civic organizations including Montgomery Woman’s Club and Blue Ash Rotary Club. The sponsoring groups and businesses will be recognized in Author/Illustrator Visit publicity articles, school newsletters, and they will be thanked during the local library program. Community partners may be invited to read the Polacco books in the classrooms and to participate in other activities pertaining to the author/illustrator visits, thus strengthening the relationship between the schools and our community.

We are requesting a grant from the Sycamore Schools Foundation in the amount of $5,000 ($1,000 per school) to help fund the 2006 Patricia Polacco Author/Illustrator Visit. Our vision is to be able to continue to invite prominent authors, illustrators and poets to our school district in the future. We appreciate your consideration of this request. Please contact me with any questions. We believe that this author/illustrator visit will be an exceptional learning experience for the students of Sycamore and one that will provide the foundation for future success and learning experiences.

* Ms. Polacco requires a full-service hotel and travels by train.

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Expenses

Author Presentations

$2,500/ day $12,500.00

Travel – Train fare 400.00

Lodging @ $225 / day * 1,800.00

Food @ $100 / day 800.00

Books for Media Centers 600.00

Total Expenses $16,100.00

Income

School PTO/PTA Donations

$1,000 per school $5,000.00

Book Sales Revenue

$500 per school 2,500.00

Community Sponsors

$500 per school 2,500.00

Other Contributions 6,100.00

Total Income $16,100.00

Patricia Polacco

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