A Visit With Grace Lin!

How lucky were we to have award winning author and illustrator, Grace Lin, spend two days with us at Memorial School! Grace spent some very special time with each of our kindergarten and grade 1 classes recently. To get ready for the visit, students were introduced to Grace's books (picture books, easy readers and in some cases, chapter books - yes, she does it all). We explored her website and even read a biography written about her. We talked about the major awards Grace has won: The (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Honor Award, for Ling and Ting, Not Exactly The Same and the Newbery Honor Award for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.

Students in Mrs. Pollock's 1st grade class made fabulous posters to welcome Grace:

                                      

                                  

There was an excitement in the building leading up to the visit.  And the kids knew exactly who she was as she walked down the hallway to the classroom she would be presenting in. BIG smiles, whispers and a few brave ones who came right up to say hello!

Grace read from her newest Ling and Ting book, Ling and Ting Share a Birthday.

She explained the process of having a book published. Did you know that at least 8 people work on each book that is published?

 

Grace also taught our students how to draw Chinese dragons and Chinese Tigers!

The week our visiting author comes is always a highlight of the year for all of our students and staff. It gets us even more excited about literacy, which is such an important part of what we do at Memorial. We cannot thank our CSA enough for supporting this program each year. Extra special thanks goes to CSA President and one of our Literacy Committee Chairs, Claire Shield, who made sure that every student who ordered a Grace Lin book, received one. Our young students were thrilled with their autographed books. What a very special treat!