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In 2008 Walnut Grove Elementary School in Franklin, Tennessee held their annual Rock-N-Roll Read-A-Thon on February 29th. Leap Day! The 650+ students were dressed for a sock hop in 1950’s costumes, and I was deeply impressed with the artwork on display by students. In fact, much of the artwork from Walnut Grove has found its … Continue reading
On February 20th my husband and I visited Willowbrook Elementary in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Willowbrook Library Media Specialist Danna Caudill (left) and Author/Illustrator Tammy Carter Bronson.
It was a great treat to visit a school so close to home, and I must thank the Library Media Specialist, Mrs. Danna Caudill, for making this visit possible. Her passion for literacy and exceptional organizational skills created an event that made a lasting impact not only on the students but on the community as well.
From left to right: Willowbrook Principal Cynthia Dewey, Author Tammy Carter Bronson, and Librarian Danna Caudill.
I met Mrs. Caudill at Oak Elementary in Bartlett, Tennessee during an author visit in November 2008. My program at Oak Elementary was a great success, and when Mrs. Caudill moved to Bentonville and took a position at Willowbrook, she encouraged the Principal, Cynthia Dewey, to choose Tiny Snail for the One School, One Book program which is designed to create a shared reading experience within a single elementary school community. In January every child at Willowbrook received a copy of Tiny Snail, and over the course of a month teachers integrated the book into the curriculum.
Author’s Tea and Breakfast at Willowbrook Elementary.
Our visit began bright and early at 7:00 am on February 20th with an “Author’s Tea.” Teachers, staff and community leaders were on hand to meet and greet my husband and I in the school library.
From left to right: Author Tammy Carter Bronson, Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin, Cave Springs Mayor Larry Smith, and Author Matthew Shane Bronson.
The mayors of Bentonville and Cave Springs attended, as well as members of the Bentonville school board and the children’s librarian at the Bentonville Public Library.
Author Tammy Carter Bronson and the children’s librarian at the Bentonville Public Library, Sue Ann Pekel.
We set up for our program in the music room where we spoke to students one grade level at a time.
8:10 – 9:00 Fourth Grade
9:00 – 9:50 Third Grade
9:50 – 10:40 First Grade
10:40 – 11:30 Lunch in the Library
11:30 – 12:20 Kindergarten
12:20 – 1:10 Kindergarten
1:10 – 2:00 Second Grade
Around midday it started to snow, but thankfully the precipitation quickly melted from the sidewalks and roads.
At 2:00 o’clock we toured the school. Nearly every hallway in the school was covered with student projects relating to Tiny Snail, and I took so many pictures (over 160) that I can’t share everything in one blog post. More pictures of student art and activities are forthcoming in the following posts:
Student Art at Willowbrook
Kindergarten Projects at Willowbrook
1st Grade Projects at Willowbrook
2nd Grade Projects at Willowbrook
3rd and 4th Grade Projects at Willowbrook
More related posts include:
Mrs. Caudill at Oak Elementary
Using Kaleidonotes in the Classroom
Translating Polliwog Into Spanish
Every student at Willowbrook is an author and illustrator. Congratulations Willowbrook students, and Happy Author Celebration Day!
Willowbrook Elementary: Where Every Student is an Author!
I visited Christ Community Lutheran School in Webster Groves, Missouri yesterday (Friday, 2/1/2013). I spoke with students in grades Kindergarten through 4th, and afterward we took a tour of the school. The teachers designed amazing bulletin boards inspired by my books, and the students did a fantastic job creating the art and writing stories.
Our tour guide and the primary organizer of our author visit was the 1st grade teacher, Ann Schmidt. Her bulletin board featured the students’ favorite book, TINY SNAIL (above).
Arrival and set-up: 9:15 – 9:35 am.
Kindergarten 9:50 – 10:15
1st and 2nd grades 10:30 – 11:15
Lunch and Book Signing 11:15 – 1:00
3rd and 4th grades 1:00 – 1:45 pm
Tour 2:00 – 3:00 PM
Designed by Mrs. Dittmer’s kindergarten class, this bulletin board based on POLLIWOG illustrated the pond above and below the water.
Below, many students wrote stories, and a trail of brightly colored snails marched up and around the bulletin boards.
The “Polliwog Pond” below was created by Mrs. Belsha’s kindergarten class. This bulletin board was covered with tadpoles made from balloons. The tadpoles were at various stages of their transformation. They even created frog eggs from bubble wrap!
The “Surf Shack” was the reading specialist’s room, and the entrance featured a table highlighting my books as this week’s feature.
The most elaborate design was based on SEA HORSE, RUN! and created by three classes of 2nd grade students (Mrs. Ladd, Mrs. Brown, and Mrs. Leet). The display gave the illusion of walking through a glass tunnel at an aquarium. The walls and ceiling were covered in a cloth that mimicked water, and the collage of sea creatures were designed to scale by the students.
Mrs. Karen Brown (left) and Mrs. Marcia Ladd (right) are pictured below.
Mrs. Daniel’s 4th grade class at Nolan Elementary (Signal Mountain, Tennessee) gave me a wonderful set of pictures based on my books. Here is a sample of their work and answers to their questions.
Keegan drew the above picture of Sea Horse. His question on the back of the picture reads: “How did sea horse hear coral, a plant, singing to him?”
Great question, Keegan! Coral is not a plant. Coral looks like a plant, but she is actually a group of tiny animals. A choir or chorus is an organized group of singers, and since Coral is an organized cluster of tiny animals, I thought she ought to sing like a choir.
Learn more about why Coral sings in the story by reading Coral as Greek Chorus. You can also visit my other blog (seahorserun.com) or click on a question or link below to learn more about corals:
What is a coral polyp?
How do polyps eat?
How are corals named?
Why are corals important to sea horses?
Do coral polyps have eyes?
Preslee likes my jellyfish. I like Preslee’s jellies (above), too!
Nick also drew jellies (above). Nick asks, “Why did you pick jellyfish for the dedication page?”
Jellyfish can be a symbol for acceptance, so the appearance of jellyfish before the story even begins foreshadows or predicts that acceptance will be an important theme in the story. The poor Sea Dragon is misunderstood! Sea Horse learns to ignore gossip and accept Sea Dragon for who he really is.
Mae Mae says, “I love that you write about animals.” I love Mae Mae’s snail (above).
Emily asks, “How did a snail (or snails) inspire you to make TINY SNAIL?”
Scroll down for the answer (after the next picture).
Emily’s question is popular because Connor also wants to know, “Why did you pick a snail to be the subject of your story?”
I chose a snail because I wanted to write a story about perseverance which means continuing toward your goal even when you’re discouraged or experiencing hardship. Snails are a symbol of perseverance, and since I didn’t see many books about snails, I knew TINY SNAIL would be a great book!
Sara likes the characters in POLLIWOG so she drew them (above).
Jackson’s picture says, “I really like how you use the details in your drawings.” Jackson, I love your details, too! Your use of line and color is wonderful. I like how you filled in the water with blue lines and divided the water from the sky. This is a great picture.
Jack wants to know, “Why did Polliwog not like his legs?”
Polliwog was born a tadpole without legs. She used her tail to swim, and when she suddenly grew legs, she didn’t know what they were for. Her new legs scared her. Why would she need legs? Of course she would need them when she left the pond, but remember, Polliwog did not want to leave the pond. She wanted to stay in the pond forever.
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Many thanks to Mrs. Daniel’s 4th grade language arts class for drawing such wonderful pictures and asking great questions. I’m so glad you enjoyed the stories!
After more than a decade, over 18,000 copies of Tiny Snail are inching their way around the world. Many teachers wanted access to a video of the book for the classroom, so in March 2010 I posted videos of my books on YouTube. Polliwog and Kaleidonotes have been viewed a few hundred times, but in eighteen months the Tiny Snail video has been viewed 2,610 times! Tiny Snail is by far my most popular book, and last week she entered her 10th printing. Our shipment of books arrived Tuesday, October 25th. Unfortunately the truck did not have a lift, so we unloaded 53 boxes (4,300 copies) by hand.
Tiny Snail Boxes on the Truck
Although a couple of boxes were damaged, the books inside were unharmed.
24,786 copies of Tiny Snail are now in print!
| TINY SNAIL | Date | Soft cover | Hard cover |
| 1st Printing | 3/18/00 | 2200 | |
| 2nd Printing | 12/27/01 | 2200 | |
| 3rd Printing | 9/23/02 | 5495 | |
| 4th Printing | 12/16/04 | 2000 | |
| 5th Printing | 4/18/05 | 500 | |
| 6th Printing | 2/28/07 | 889 | |
| 7th Printing | 1/28/08 | 4376 | |
| 8th Printing | 10/25/08 | 950 | |
| 9th Printing | 10/19/10 | 1860 | |
| 10th Printing | 10/25/11 | 4300 | |
| TOTALS | 16371 | 8399 |
Go, Tiny, go!
Tammy Carter Bronson 