Creating Young Authors One Child at a Time
Stephanie Guzman has been teaching 2nd grade for seven years. She is very comfortable in the classroom and interacting with children of all ages. You will not be disappointed with your author visit.
Stephanie Guzman is available to come to your school, library, or childcare center to share her book and the steps of the publishing process with your students. There are four different types of programs to choose from.
- Prek-2nd grade: This program lasts about 30-35 min. and is much more interactive with 50 children or less. The program uses the first book, The Adventures of Oliver the Clownfish: Invitation Slip-Up, and addresses the importance of making predictions before reading a story and confirming predictions afterwards. To begin the presentation, Stephanie introduces children to the idea of how to choose a topic to write about and why she decided to write about fish. She uses volunteers from the audience to help make predictions before reading the text. The text is read. After reading the text students go back to confirm their predictions. As closure to the presentation, the students sing along with Stephanie, the Oliver the Clownfish song. Stephanie will then discuss with students their ideas for their writing and how with hard work anything is possible. Finally a question and answer period will occur if time allows.
- 3rd - 5th grade: This program lasts about 50-60 min. and also works best with no more than 50 students at a time. The program uses the second book, The Adventures of Oliver the Clownfish: Acting Cool. This program addresses the importance of how to choose friends wisely and the multiply layers of the publishing process. To begin this presentation students work interactively with Stephanie to identify how to create a publishing company and why an ISBN number is needed. She discusses with students how to make good decisions when choosing friends. Next, the book is read. After the reading the text the students discuss the decision that Oliver had to make and relate it to their lives. Finally, Stephanie will continue the previous discussion on the publishing process and explain what is involved in self-publishing their work. If time allows, the students will sing the Oliver the Clownfish song with Stephanie and a question and answer period will occur.
- All Elementary Grade Levels: This program is designed for many children and can occur as an evening program. During this program, Stephanie will read the book of your choice and discuss her inspiration for writing children's books. There will be "under the sea" arts and crafts for children to participate in while a book signing takes place. During this time, parents can ask questions and receive important information in helping their child with reading and writing at home.
- Elementary Parents: This program last about 45 min. and is designed to address what parents can do to encourage a long time love for reading in the hearts of their children. Stephanie will go over a list of things to at home. Plus, parents will get to "make-and-take" a reading comprehension ball to help build their child's reading comprehension in a fun and exciting way at home.
To schedule your visit with Stephanie Guzman and receive pricing information, please contact her at stephanie@olivertheclownfish.com. Be one of the first 10 schools in Baltimore, Cecil or Harford County, Maryland to book a visit with Stephanie during the 2008-2009 school year, and she will come to your school at no charge and provide each school with one FREE book!!!
Here is a simple way to handle book sales/autographing. Prior to visiting your school, Stephanie will send samples of both of her books. You can then put the books on display so your students can read them and choose which one/s they want. Next, take orders for the books (Stephanie will send you a sample order form if you need one - just ask). When all the orders are in, please email the titles, children's names and teacher's names to stephanie@olivertheclownfish.com. She'll take the books out of her collection, sign each book and bring them with her when she comes to your school. You can distribute the books whenever you choose. This helps to eliminate the chaos that occurs on "author visit day" when kids are trying to pay for their books, get them signed, etc. You can also keep the sample books as Stephanie's gift.
If you prefer to handle book sales some other way, Stephanie will be happy to work with you. Just let her know what you have in mind.