Reading+Encouragements

Dr Seuss outfit:

Funding author visits: In the replies to request for info on how to pay for an author's visit, someone mentioned the possibility of Skyping an Author. Here's the site which lists many authors: http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/

And here's my page on the site: http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/page/Darcy+Pattison

Other ways to fund an author visit: Sponsors in the community such as Kiwanas or Lion's Club or Pen Women

Artists In Education (which can include authors): http://www.arkansasarts.org/grants/aie_is.aspx

PTOs often budget for this; ask them to create a special fundraiser just for this purpose

Ask parents for in-kind donations: maybe a business man has frequent flyer miles to donate for the author's flight; does a parent own a local hotel or B&B. It's an in-kind tax deduction for them and helps with your costs.

2-4 schools in the area work together to collectively fund an author visit and the author visits each school. Or, ask for a weekly rate, instead of daily rate.

Offer to promote and sell books, in return for a reduced fee. Typically, authors sell to 5-10% of a school's population; but some promotion from a librarian can increase that amazingly. I once visited a school with 350 kids and they bought 300 books--at a discounted rate! It was a win-win, because when kids own their own books, they are more tied to reading than ever before. And it made the school visit affordable. Everyone won. (In other words--each parent paid about $10 for their child to be able to have an author visit, less than the price of a ticket to see a movie these days--and their child got a book out of it, too!)

Use professional development money. I have often done 3 presentations to kids, then an hour after school to teachers, all paid for with PD money. Departments may have PD money: I just did a school visit to talk about WISDOM, the MIDWAY ALBATROSS and teacher got PD hours for science, because this was science + literacy.

Hope that adds more options to the other answers.

Darcy

-- www.darcypattison.com NEW EBOOK: How to Write a Children's Picture Book Kindle, Nook and iBook. NEW: 11 Ways to Ruin a Photograph-- Winner of "The Help" Children's Story Contest www.11WaystoRuinaPhotograph.com

If you like this book. . .then you might want to read this one: Accelerated Reader BookFinder-- http://www.arbookfind.com (I think it would be most helpful to use the Advanced Search) Scholastic’s Book Wizard BookAlike --http://tinyurl.com/4zov8xb http://www.seemore.mi.org/booklists/fiction.html#Like http://www.fictiondb.com/author/ifyoulike.htm [] YALSA resources to promote top teen voted titles last teen read week: Accelerated Reader Ideas:

Reading Resources and Encouragements and Signs





AR Party Sock Hop for Primary age: After the performance, we played a game of "Freeze Dance" where the kids would dance while the music was going and then they'd freeze when we stopped it. We played current kids music, most songs from Radio Disney, and one Justin Beiber song that all the girls screamed over! We did play one 50's song, the Twist, and the kids danced the twist to that...it was so cute! They wore "crazy socks" today but because of the amount of students we had and the limited time frame, as well as my vision of slick socks on slick floors and the possible mishaps, we did not take our shoes off.