Welcome, Liesl Shurtliff!

Today we were so fortunate to welcome the gracious and talented Liesl Shurtliff - author of Jack - to our school. We focused on this book since the beginning of the year and had such a rich experience as we tackled vocabulary, sketched and wrote every day about Jack. 

That time of reading, sketching and writing gave my students an opportunity to respond to literature and answer questions in such an authentic way. And I know their ability to write at such length now can be attributed to all that daily practice. Plus - their journals? They're works of art.

I hope my students remember this day forever, since Jack sparked a real love of reading in so many of my kids!

The theme of hunger in Jack was tied to a focus of sharing and giving. Remember our field trip packing food at the Children's Hunger Fund? Amazing! I am personally so lucky to have such generous students. My students also gave up their Halloween candy to donate to our troops and they saved their own money to donate to the Children's Hunger Fund. Here they are giving their money boxes to the CHF representative. 

It was really illuminating to hear about Ms. Shurtliff's process as a writer and to hear her encouraging words for our students.

Dream BIG!