Elaine Marie Alphin at your school

Don't be surprised when last minute plans to book an author fall through - advance planning makes for successful school visits. Prepare your students for an author visit by having them read the books or by reading the books aloud to them. Here are some activities to help your students get involved in the world of my books.

Know what you're getting when you invite an author to your school. I'm very willing to work with teachers and media educators in advance to plan an author visit that is just right for your school's needs. Look at testimonials from teachers who have hosted successful visits from me.

Plan ahead to get the date you want and arrange for the necessary grants or fund raising to bring me to your school. Click here to see my rates. I am often booked a year in advance, so contact me as far in advance as you feel you can plan for an author visit.

 

Activities

• The Ghost Cadet
  • Have students keep a journal from Benjy's point of view. The entries might reflect his growing awareness of Hugh's identity, and of the Southern history around him.
  • Ask students about a grandparent, coach, mentor, or other adult who has exposed them to unfamiliar ideas and made them see the world differently, as Miss Leota does for Benjy. Have them write about the impact this person has had on their lives, and share these essays with the class.
  • Have students visit a cemetery (or take the class to a nearby cemetery if a class outing can be arranged). Let each student pick a tombstone and do a rubbing of it, like the rubbing at the frontispiece of the book. Have students research the period when the person died and write a story about what that person's life might have been like, and what he or she might have left undone based on historical events around his death.
  • Based on the description of the town of New Market in the book, have students draw a map, labeling the streets and buildings Benjy sees.
  • Have students write about something they treasure because it connects them with their family. If there were a flood coming, for example, and they could only take one object with them, what would it be? Why would they choose that item?
• Ghost Soldier
  • Have students write letters from Alexander to his mother. He might express his frustration with her leaving him and his father, and might also write to her about Rich's family, and explore what it might be like to have a family that stuck together.
  • Ask students to imagine they had to leave their home immediately, without warning, the way Louise did. Have them write a note to their best friend, or to a brother or sister who's away (perhaps at college, perhaps on a trip) saying goodbye. Ask them to choose an item they would leave for this person, and explain why they chose it.
  • Have students do genealogy research on their own family. They might ask parents or grandparents questions about previous generations and create a family tree, or do genealogy research in your local public library, or online. If they can't find out information at home or at the library, they might do an internet search for people with the same family names, the way Alexander and Rich do.
  • If you have a local history museum, see if you can plan a class outing to visit it, or suggest that students go by themselves or with their families. What items of local interest will they find?
• A Bear for Miguel
  • Ask students if they have a favorite teddy bear or other stuffed animal. Have them draw the toy and tell the class about it.
  • Have students make a grocery list of what their family gets at the store every week. Have them compare what Maria's family gets with what they buy.
  • Let students make a mural of the market, showing the different things people might have to trade, and the different wagons, handcarts, or baskets or bundles they might use to bring things to the marketplace.
  • Using the dialogue in the book, have students act out a play of Maria's day in the market.
• Dinosaur Hunter
  • Ask students what dinosaur they like best. Have them draw a picture of that type of dinosaur and tell the class why they like it.
  • Let the class make a mural of the triceratops skeleton that Ned finds, showing how the bones are still partly buried in the sand.
  • Have the class make a list of the sort of chores their parents ask them to do. What would they rather be doing with their time? Is there a way they can do what they want to do while they do their chores, the way Ned searches for fossils while he checks the fences?
  • If possible, plan a class trip to a natural history museum to see the way paleontologists assemble dinosaur skeletons.
• Counterfeit Son
  • Have students keep a secret journal from Cameron's point of view, starting before the book begins. The entries might reflect how hard he's trying to be someone else, before Pop's death as well as after he enters the Lacey family.
  • Have students write a poem about the feeling of sailing free. This could come from their experiences sailing, flying, in-line skating, skiing or biking.
  • Have students read about John Paul Jones. Why did Cameron shout out "I have not yet begun to fight" and take courage from the quote?
  • Ask students if they've ever made up a story that they even believed themselves, because the truth was too hard to face up to - perhaps something they felt guilty about, like Cameron. Have them write about this memory.
• Picture Perfect
  • Have students make a list of the cruel things Ian's father says about different characters in the book. Ask them to remember a time someone said something like that about them, or they said something like that to someone else. Have them write about this memory, and how words can hurt.
  • Have students keep a journal from Luke's point of view. The entries might express his concern for Ian, his fear of Ian's father, and his desperation to make Ian see the truth.
  • Discuss Ian's feelings about the redwoods and, if possible, show the class photographs or a video of the redwoods. Have students write a poem about the way the redwoods make them feel. Do the gigantic trees make them feel small? Do they make them feel safe? Do they frighten them? Do they make them feel awed? Why do they think they feel that way?
  • Ask students if they've ever remembered some event one way, only to have a friend or a parent they shared it with remember the same event differently. If they had a photograph of the event, would it show the truth more clearly than memory? Have the class discuss the way perception colors reality.
  • Discuss the idea of propaganda with your students. Have students either write a piece of propaganda, the way Ian and his classmates do, or have them bring in an example of propaganda from the newspaper or a book. You might ask students to read Steinbeck's The Moon Is Down.
• Simon Says
  • Have students choose one of Charles's paintings or sketches, and draw or paint it in art class.
  • Play Ravel's String Quartet in F Major in class. Have students draw, sketch or write their personal expression of how the music makes them feel.
  • Ask students what they would like to do with their lives. Have them write an essay explaining why this career appeals to them, and why they would feel unfulfilled if they had to do something else.
  • Have students write a "Simon Says" memory journal about playing Simon Says in their lives. Each entry should recall a time someone asked them to live up to their expectations - a parent teaching behavior, a teacher, a camp counselor, a coach, a friend, etc. Have them write whether or not they did what they were expected to do, and why. Have them discuss how to decide when it can be wise to conform to people's expectations, and when it is a mistake.
• Tournament of Time
  • Give students a map of England. Have them fill in the important places that Jess and her brothers visit as they try to solve the mystery.
  • Have students write about a time they were accused of something they didn't do. How did it feel? How did did they prove their innocence?
  • Let students design their own stained glass windows. Have them plan it on drawing paper, then transfer it to tracing paper and color with magic markers. Cover the class windows with student designs and see how the sunlight shines through the colored tracing paper.
  • Have older students read more about the murder of the Princes in the Tower. Select students to stage a trial in which one side tries to convince a jury of students that Richard murdered his nephews while the other side tries to convince the jury of Henry's guilt.
• The Proving Ground
  • Have students keep a journal from Kevin's point of view. The entries might reflect his growing understanding of Hadley and his worries about his father and his suspicions of Duane, as well as his feelings for Charley.
  • Have students write a letter from Charley to Kevin, telling why she blames him for what happened to her great-great-grandfather. Make it clear in her letter that she is passionate about justice, to set up her decision to help Kevin at the end.
  • Ask students whether they have pets. Discuss why using a helpless pet is one way to spur someone to be braver than he might want to be. Have students write about rescuing the pet they have, or a pet they wish they had.
  • Bring in a mold during the winter. Have students fill it with water and put it in the refrigerator in the teacher's lounge. Check periodically to see how long it takes to freeze solid (plan on leaving it overnight). Place it outside the class window the next morning. See how long it takes the ice to melt to figure out how long Kevin has to make it back to the frozen grenade.
• Time Travel Trap
  • Have students write a paragraph from Kelley's point of view describing her feelings about Ryan when the book begins, and then write a paragraph describing her feelings about Ryan at the end of the book. Then have them do the same from Ryan's point of view about Kelley. Discuss how and why our feelings about people we know change.
  • Have students read about the extinction of dinosaurs. Discuss different theories as to why dinosaurs became extinct. Discuss ways that scientists study dinosaurs today in order to keep them "alive" in our minds.
  • Ask students which dinosaur they would like to see come to life. Have them draw a picture of it and tell the class something about that dinosaur and why they would like to see one for real.
  • Based on the description of the dig that Ryan and Kelley visit, ask students to draw a picture of a dig site, showing the roped-off grid and tools. Discuss how scientists and students search for fossils. If there is room in your school yard (or even your classroom), use a cardboard box filled with sand to construct a dig site with rocks and plaster of paris or paper mache fossils buried inside.
• Germ Hunter and John Paul Jones
  • Discuss the different ways in which Louis Pasteur reacted when other scientists told him he was wrong. Have students write about which way they think was most effective. If they wanted to convince someone who disagreed with them that they were right, which way would they choose?
  • Discuss what it means to be esteemed, and ask students why they think John Paul Jones needed to be esteemed so badly. Have students write about something they can do well, and explain why they deserve to be esteemed because of it.
• Dwight Eisenhower and Davy Crockett
  • Discuss the different ways in which Dwight Eisenhower tried to control his temper. Have students share ideas about how to fight for something they think is right.
  • Discuss what it means to love and serve your country. Ask students to list ways Dwight Eisenhower served his country, both in the military and in politics. Have students suggest ways they could start to serve their country right now.
  • Discuss tall tales with students. Have them identify the tall tales David Crockett made up to impress people, and the real things he actually did. Have students write a tall tale about themselves that has its basis in something they really did but exaggerates the accomplishment.
• Vacuum Cleaners, Toasters, Irons and Telephones
  • Have students do the activities in the back of the books.
  • Discuss the idea of inventions with the class. Break the class into groups, and have each group come up with an invention kids need. Have them justify the need for this invention, then brainstorm ideas of how to make it. If possible, let them build it and demonstrate it to the class.