Eavesdropping on Elephants

I had the privilege of hosting Patricia Newman at two schools as a guest author for grades 3-6. She did four completely different presentations, each one interactive and engaging. She adapted the presentations for the specific audience, thereby insuring that she was able to meet each group of students and cater to their specific abilities.

The presentations were content rich, interactive and enjoyable. I look forward to hosting her again.

If Patricia were the pebble that skipped across the water’s surface, the ripples of her work are being felt throughout our educational community. Students and staff were mesmerized as Patricia Newman brought them along on her journey of research and discovery in her many books. Each of the various presentations brought out newfound awareness and the urge to make changes in our own lives for our shared world. What an incredible impact Patricia is making on the world around us!

Words cannot express my gratitude for the energy and passion that Patricia brought to our school. Our students will forever be changed by her visit and her books. Our students were very fortunate to have a local author right here in our own community come and share with us her experience as an author. This was a one-of-a-kind experience that Patricia brought to our students. I know that her visit will be a memory that will last their lifetimes. Patricia Newman did 3 assemblies, and our students were very excited and engaged the entire time! Thank you, Patricia Newman!!!

“Words cannot express my gratitude for the energy and passion you brought to our campus. We will forever be changed by your books. Thank you so much for the work you have done and will continue to do in our community.”

Thank you, Patrcia, for your awesome work in bringing awareness to others over the importance of taking care of our world. I really enjoyed your presentation it was very informative and engaging. Our students had fun while they learned and took home some awareness! I look forwards to reading more of your work and creating another PBL based on your books.

The pleasure was all ours!  You’re so talented.  Thanks so much for helping us learn how to use our STEM eyes! Your presentation has inspired [CCRA] to start connecting STEM concepts with quality fictional books!

Patricia Newman’s presentations are engaging, interactive and highly informative. Kids are encouraged to ask questions and make connections as they think about their world and their impact on it. They will gain insight into both the career of a scientist and the career of a writer.

Teachers were very grateful that Patricia Newman shared her engrossing books with eager learners. Through TeachingBooks. net they heard her voice introduce her science books, and they were intrigued by the ecological topics. Patricia knew her audience. The enthused third and fourth grade students of Washington asked intelligent questions and made plans for their future world, choosing animals over plastic.

We look forward to more author visits with Patricia Newman! Her interactive presentations had students actively analyzing data, re-enacting food chains and oceanic pollution, and considering their roles as stewards of our planet. Days later, the kids are still talking about it!

Your presentations were so wonderful to see – the kids were very engaged, and you made the science come alive for them.  In fact, that night my own 4th grader asked if we could return to the Elkhorn Slough, to see the otters. It’s always a pleasure to host an author that knows how to hold an audience, and is truly interested in hearing what the students think – AND you helped them understand some pretty complex science.  Well done.

Not only did Patricia Newman teach our students a life lesson about the importance of being persistent and following their dreams, she also kept them thoroughly entertained and involved throughout her whole presentation! Thank you for showing our students that dreams really can come true!

“Patricia captivated all of our elementary students with the stories and the experiences that she shared. Students enjoyed participating during the assembly, writer’s workshop, and during the question and answer session. Our students have a lifelong memory of the time that they spent with this special author.”

“Patricia Newman’s books and assemblies gave our students a global awareness that we had not experienced before. By participating in her “Authors for Earth Day” program, students were given the opportunity to vote for the research organization they wanted Patricia to donate part of her honorarium toward. We had reviewed her nonfiction books, watched her informative book trailers (she has an awesome website!) and talked about how she needed information from the different research organizations to write her books. Our students felt like they were making a difference for planet Earth! Thank you Patricia for your passion to make the world a better place and to empower the next generation that it’s possible!”

We are so grateful to you for your flexibility and enthusiasm during yesterday’s school visit.  I’ve never seen someone make such a dramatic pivot between presentations–what a sensitive, accommodating read of your audience!

With you chain of rejection letters, your writing workshop emphasized perseverance, and I loved your point that science is just as much a function of your failures as it is your successes.  Writing, editing, and research come into play across the curriculum, and we especially appreciated how you worked to connect the students’ creative musings to their current classroom work!

You had the second two cohorts puzzling through college-level science concepts with smiles and laughter as they problem-solved an environmental mystery, complete with props that would’ve made a theatre department proud!  We appreciated the students’ thoughtful questions and engaged connection to your presentation, and that you made the information accessible to a range of learning styles by offering auditory and visual elements from elephant recordings to yankable zip-ties. This is not to mention the opportunity to stage a physical reenactment of trophic cascade by re-ordering their classmates as a food chain!

We are so grateful to you for volunteering your time and sharing your knowledge, and for your support of local readers through An Open Book.  We know those readers will enjoy their copies of Sea Otter Heroes, and we hope last night’s Green Earth Award ceremony was a smashing success!

“I would strongly recommend Patricia as a speaker and to lead a writers’ workshop. Her message was perfectly customized for each group of students (K-2nd and 3rd-5th), and was thought provoking, spirited, engaging, entertaining, and motivational. Teachers and students alike let me know how much they enjoyed her books and the thoughtful things she had to say as a speaker.”

“The children were totally engaged as you presented your wonderful book, Plastic, Ahoy! Saturday morning. The two hundred people who attended were mesmerized, and so were we!”

“Pioneer School had a wonderful author visit with Patricia Newman! Her assemblies were innovative, interacting, and fun for the students! Her small group lesson was informative and challenged the students to be creative in new ways! Thank you Patricia!”

Patricia Newman presented a passionate, educational, and inspirational Author Day for our students in grades TK-6.  Through her innovative hands-on demonstration of the affect of population growth and accompanying pollutants on our ocean’s health, to her use of a microphone ball to encourage student participation, she taught us all about the importance of learning about our environment, how everything is inter-connected and how each person can make a positive change.  Her message of tenacity and always moving forward and believing in oneself was very inspiring.  We were very lucky to have been able to spend the day with her.

Our students loved hearing about Patricia Newman’s books and experiences as an author.  She tailored each assembly to the grade levels so the content was engaging and appropriate.  Our middle school students truly enjoyed their question and answer session with her which fueled their enthusiasm for writing.

Before we leave for the summer I wanted to send along another thank you for your wonderful presentations.

The presentations aligned perfectly with both the goals and the curriculum of our Ocean Guardian school, and were very engaging for the students. They loved the audience participation, and I’m sure they’ll also remember the overall theme of your message: to give up single-use plastic in order to preserve the ocean for their future!

Thanks again for your visit,

Abbi and Annie

It was a great honor having Patricia Newman at our very first Standiford Literacy Night. Her presentation captured our audience of grandparents, parents, and students. Our students were especially excited to be able to talk to Patricia following her presentation, have her sign copies of her books, and have their pictures taken with her. Patricia even took the time to read the work of two of our students, something which they are still talking about. Patricia’s presence certainly insured that our first Standiford Literacy Night was a success.

Thank you so much for taking the time to make a difference in the students’ lives at RSF School. I appreciate your dedication to writing nonfiction, especially about the plastic problem! Students are still talking about you and refer to the words you spoke. You are an amazing presenter! I appreciate you!

Everyone at Desert Knolls really enjoyed your presentation and many of the students were encouraged to put their thoughts down on paper. Your writing workshop got their imaginations flowing.

Thank you for your lively, informative presentations.  The primary  kids loved being participants, while learning about trains and some of their history.   In keeping with science standards, the older kids enjoyed learning a lot about pollutants through your interactive presentation. It made the subject more concrete as wells as emphasizing the magnitude of the problem.

Ms. Newman’s visit to Lakeview Elementary was a real hit with students and teachers alike.  Her presentations were both captivating and informative.  She adapted to each group according to their ages and interests and engaged students with demonstrations, acting and Q & A.  I highly recommend her for any school author visit.

We loved Patricia! She did a seminar for our K-2nd graders and a different seminar for our 3rd-5th graders. They were both very interesting and grade appropriate. She also taught several writing workshops and a writing Q & A session. The words teachers used to describe her workshops were, “phenomenal” and “fantastic.” We had a wonderful day and Patricia was delightful to work with. I would enthusiastically recommend her to any school searching to host an Author Day.

Wonderful books to use for teaching students literary devices. Also ideas for helping students’ expository writing.

A great reminder to use some pizzazz in our information writing.

Excellent list of nonfiction books to use to teach and make expository writing more interesting and engaging.

Patricia Newman was wonderful as our featured author for the Placer Area Reading Council’s Young Writers Celebration – 2015.  Her educational presentation taught students all about the process authors go through as they write a book.  She was diverse enough in her program to include something for everyone, from kindergarten to adults.  She even stayed after to autograph books for the students! We highly recommend her!

“Dear Patricia Newman, I LOVED the assembly with you. You’re so much fun. You taught us so much like how the train gets steam from the water. My favorite part of the book was when the bull  kicked a man off the train and into the river. I do not like to write that much, but I do appreciate your writing thoughts. I look forward to your next book. Sincerely, Jack”

I enjoyed listening to her interact with the students and seeing her excitement (and theirs!) about her books. I thought her presentation was fabulous…and so on target to our writing program such as adding detail, voice, revising…that I think the students were able to make meaningful connections to her, her books and her message.

The staff and students had an incredible time last Friday, and I am so happy that I was able to meet you. The principal was impressed, and students were left with a sense of “never giving up” when it comes to writing. On Monday, I was also amazed at how much my class had remembered from the assembly.

Our staff was very, very impressed.

Thank you so much for your wonderful lesson with the class. You put a great deal of thought into your presentation. I know the class (including me) learned a LOT from your expert perspective. I already see the results in their writing—more feelings, more action, reworking the beginning of the story.

“Dear Patricia Newman, Thank you for coming to Ottomon so we could learn about trains and you. I was glad to see you when I walked in the door. My favorite part of the book was when the guy was kicking hobos off the train. When you called people to be your helpers, I was one of them. I was a passenger train with my friend. I hope I can make a book just like you. Thank you once more for coming.”

“Newman’s rapport and style puts kids at ease. They can see immediately this is an adult who sees a kid’s perspective.”

“Patricia Newman connected warmly with my students. She. . .encouraged them to share her love of language and writing.”

Thank you again for a wonderful visit! The kids are still talking about it and I’ve already received three books that my students have made and would like me to pass on to you.

“Thank you for coming to our school Bridgeway Island. I loved your story Mrs. Newman it was funny and it was the best time of my life and thank you for telling me about trains.”

Just wanted to drop you a quick thank you for all the time you spent with our kids. It was such an enthusiastic presentation. What a great model for all South Burlington students! You have a gift for sure! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Kids are attracted to [Patricia Newman’s] warm likable manner; she makes it easy for others to latch on to her enthusiasm for reading.

Thank you for your wonderful one-of-a-kind multimedia story time presentation at Northridge Elementary School on behalf of their fundraiser with us. Everyone–the principal, PTA, parents, and children raved about your dual story time, “how-to-write” approach, and of course your delightful book, Jingle the Brass. I look forward to promoting more story time visits with you to all the other schools I work with.

A fun, enthusiastic, kid-friendly person, Patti gave two fantastic assemblies, specially designed for our different age levels. Her interactive presentations got the kids excited about her books and the writing process. She was a pleasure to work with, helpful, kind and friendly, and the kids loved her! Thank you, Patricia Newman, for making our Author Day a rousing success!

During the planning for our author visit, we found Patricia to be everything we needed: professional, friendly, responsive, full of good ideas. And the event itself was even better. Since then I’ve heard nothing but positive comments from students, teachers and staff, and parents. Even yesterday, nearly a month afterward, I got reports that people are still talking about it at meetings. You can’t go wrong with this author. Great personality, wonderful website, fantastic books, and presentations that rock. Brava!