School Program Story by Tyrion Perkins Sandy brought props to show – a gong, which a couple of children got to hit, a Shakuhachi flute, and a Bokken which everyone thought was an actual sword until she said the penalty of touching the blade was death. It was a Bokken which was wooden for practice like the ones used by her characters in her Samurai Kids series, and also used by the Greatest swordsman in the world, Mitsuka Minamoto. She told us about her research into Japanese history and surprised the class with the fact that young Samurai students were expected to learn poetry and flower arranging along with fighting. Her love of Pokemon lead to the spirit animals of her series. She had known many disabled people and decided to make her character more interesting by him having only one leg. But what happens when you try to do a one-legged kick? The audience guessed right, except she fell forward and did a face plant. She went on to do sword fighting classes where her son stayed on the other side of the room so not to be embarrassed, and also did hands on research when she came to write “Polar Boy.” No, she didn’t go to the pole. She filled the bath with ice and sat in it! She gave tips on writing which included: close your eyes and notice other senses; be mean to your characters and make something awful happen, then something worse; use the best words ever; and practice lots. For more information http://www.sandyfussell.com/
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School Program Story by Tyrion Perkins The first thing you notice about Tanya is her amazing dresses. She also loves stories and came all the way from Waiheke Island, Aotearoa, New Zealand to share them with prep and year 1 students in Ipswich. She began with a song, getting the kids to copy her. She told her own story of how she first grew up in a caravan on the side of a mountain. At school she loved to dress up and do plays. Now she goes all over the world telling stories. She now lives with fruit trees which she fertilises with what she collects from her “princess poo tower” (see photo). She told a story from Mongolia and Siberia and had the children laughing at her funny voices and sound effects. The scary character made them jump in fright then scream in laughter. She then read from her book, “My Dad is a dragon Catcher.” Find out more about Tanya Batt - http://imagined-worlds.net/ School Program Story by Tyrion Perkins The final of the 2017 Reader’s Cup for year 5/6 was held on Wednesday evening as part of the Story Arts Festival in Ipswich.
Eighteen school teams battled it out. The teams of four, plus reserves, represented their regions from all over Queensland, and parents and teachers came to watch. The questions were taken from five books: “A most magical girl” by Karen Foxlee, Wombat Warriors” by Samantha Wheeler, “White Crane” by Sandy Fussell, “Quest of the Sunfish” by Mardi McConnochie, and “The Outcasts” by John Flanagan. They must have read them very thoroughly, because those questions, read by the authors of the first three, were extremely hard. After each round, the winners got to chose a book, and we saw video responses from the different teams to the books. They ranged from a dramatisation of “A most magical girl” to Lego “White Crane” characters, to the team members discussing what their favourite book was. After six rounds of five questions, that involved much deliberation, discussion, and straining to remember answers, St Andrew’s Catholic College from far north Queensland were declared the winners. For more information on The Reader's Cup - http://readerscup.org.au/ School Program Story by Tyrion Perkins Trace Balla, winner of the 2017 CBCA Book of the Year in the younger readers category for her latest book “Rockhopping,” took the class out into the park for her sessions. She showed them photos and drawings from her travels. She always took paper and notebook, as well as binoculars, books like bird identification books, and a magnifying glass for finding detail no one else sees. An advantage of drawing people instead of taking a photo, besides that some didn’t like to be photographed, was that they would often tell her about what they were doing, like how they make baskets. She could write the names of birds, languages, or the sounds things made down beside the image. When she had an experience like diving under a waterfall, she would draw it afterwards, and many of these images made their way into her books. She likes to remember it is Aboriginal country and always puts something into her book about the local people. The children sat spellbound as she went through the year long process of making a rough version of a book. She makes practice pictures before doing the final versions. The children spread out through the park with clipboards and magnifying glasses where they drew plants and birds, and had a go blending watercolour pencils. For more information about Trace: http://bookedout.com.au/find-a-speaker/author/trace-balla/ School Program Story by Karen Tyrrell WOW! Rebecca Johnson, children’s science author extraordinaire, presented engaging author talks at Story Arts Festival school program. Rebecca spoke to bus-loads of school kids, inspiring young readers to care for animals… and write about them too. Who is Rebecca Johnson? Rebecca is a Gold Coast award winning science teacher and children’s author of Juliet - Nearly a Vet series, Vet Cadet series, Steve Parish Story Book series featuring Australian wildlife, and the Insects series. In total, she’s published 105 books in the last 17 years, selling 3 million books!! http://rebeccajohnson.com.au/ How did Rebecca present her talks? Rebecca’s author talks were FUN, interactive and energetic, involving many props including stuffed toy animals, wigs and vet costumes. I especially liked her play when she invited three children to wear funny costumes and act out a scene as she narrated it. The audience created special effects. Rebecca presented her personal talk with a portable microphone whilst other speakers used power point. Rebecca explained how she didn’t like to rely on technology in case something went wrong. If you’re wanting to write about animals, I highly recommend you listen to Rebecca’s presentations. Blogger: Karen Tyrrell writes empowering books to help kids live STRONG through humour and self-belief. She’s a passionate writing workshop presenter and interactive story teller wearing fun costumes. School Program Story by Karen Tyrrell Matt Stanton, the hilarious children’s author of ‘There’s a Monster under my Bed Who Farts’ sent kids into uncontrollable laughter at Story Arts Festival. School kids giggled and guffawed as Matt introduced his ridiculous characters, situations and stories. Who is Matt Stanton? Matt is a bestselling children's author, illustrator and book designer, with half a million books in print. He is the Sydney co-creator of nine bestselling picture books, including mega-hits, This Is a Ball. He launched his middle-grade series, Funny Kid, around the world in 2017. The first book in the series, Funny Kid for President, debuted as the #1 Australian kids' book. He lives in Sydney with his wife, bestselling picture book creator Beck Stanton, and their two young children. How did Matt present his talk? Matt Stanton performed, entertained and educated hundreds of school kids, inspiring them to read and write comedy. Matt taught kids how to combine two opposite ideas into a surprising, humorous story. He explained how ‘POOH’ isn’t funny by itself but needed a ridiculous situation to make it humorous. If you’re wanting to write comedy, I highly recommend you listen to Matt’s presentations. Blogger: Karen Tyrrell writes empowering books to help kids live STRONG through humour and self-belief. She’s a passionate writing workshop presenter and interactive story teller wearing fun costumes. School Program Story by Yvonne Mes Karen started her session with an amazing story of mystery and suspense with the children following right behind her, until ... She stopped! She left the spell-bound Year 5 and 6 students waiting to see what would happen next. Karen cleverly used this cliff-hanger of an unopened door to introduce her books. But she remembered to check in with the students later to hear what worlds they had created of their own. Karen schedules daily daydreaming as part of her work as an author, using this time to let her mind wander and let the ideas flow in. To help her visualise her setting and build her worlds, Karen draws her own maps or uses historical maps. She says: ‘Good writers are explorers and always keep adding details to their worlds’. Children asked question after question, showing their interest in world building, writing and publishing and soaked up her experience of many years as an author. School Program Story by Yvonne Mes Chris Collin is a full time author and publisher of whacky, rhyming, Australian children’s books such as Funky Chicken and Chooks in Space illustrated by Megan Kitchin. He is also an engaging presenter with a session that immerses children through story, music, and with the assistance of some amazing puppets. Throughout his session he cleverly weaves video snippets and songs. Children from prep to grade 2 went from utter concentration, when listening to the stories, to belly-laughing at a sleepy joke-telling possum and a funky chicken. Children got to dress up as the animal characters from the stories, sang songs, danced and acted. Dress-ups included giant spotty bottoms, astronauts, funky chickens and much more. Chris’ presentation was so infectious, even the grown-ups got up and danced! School Program Story by Yvonne Mes Megan Forward is an Australian illustrator and author with an extensive background in visual arts, specifically in print making. A Patch from Scratch was published in March 2016 (Penguin Random House) and Megan runs workshops for children around ideas about living sustainably in an urban setting. In November 2016 All I want for Christmas is Rain was, written by Cori Brooke and published (New Frontier), which was shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council Award 2017. During the school program Megan shared some of her childhood illustrations and stories. One of her childhood stories was even illustrated as a lift-the-flap. And later, during French classes she would add pictures to the French words making it easier to remember them. ‘All I Want for Christmas is Rain’ takes place during a drought. Megan had to find a way to create mud to paint with for the book. During the session she asked the children to help create a mud effect using some magical art materials in the form of condis crystals which turn from a vibrant purple to a muddy brown when dried. After listening to story, the children joined in a rain dance, and were able to see Megan’s original artwork for the story, her illustration process and sketches. School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey Picture Book author, Kim Toft, a former Prep teacher, had some 120 preps to year 2 following her every move. She uses silk painting to illustrate the preservation of our oceans and coastal habitats. Toft performed her cautionary tale ‘One Less Fish’ in song and dance. Her clever use of alliteration and counting had students call out the number of fish left unprotected. Students learned the jump, jiggle, be jolly and jostle dance where they acted out the ocean’s underwater world. Many hands flew up when she asked what letter the words started with, which represented an ocean creature often affected by plastic bags. Toft treated her students to a silk painting demonstration on an Angel fish Gold Gutta outline. She showed how the orange and yellow dyes didn’t run past the outline because the Resist acted as a barrier. Her books’ silk paintings illustrations can take up to 2 years, but her time-lapse video of one painting had students mesmerised as it sped up the process. Her ‘Coral Sea Dreaming’ is an educational resource for the whole of primary, with a picture book at the beginning, followed by an information text on Coral Reefs’ rich ecosystems which provide shelter and food for its marine life. Needless to say teachers and parents headed for the bookshop after her presentation. Toft left the students with this advice, ‘If you practise, practise, practise, one day you’ll be able to paint pictures and write stories too.’ www.kimtoft.com.au Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.com |
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