Tuesday, May 5

**This is a post from my class wiki about my activities and experiences at the International Reading Association Annual Convention.

I thought we'd start today with some pictures that I finally got uploaded to my computer. :)

This picture is the stage at the convention center. This is where we had the Awards Ceremony and where the speaker was on the first day.

The theme, as you can probably tell, is Beyond the Horizon.

This picture is of my bags - completely full of books and posters! And this is just what I got on MONDAY!

Here I am with author, Julie Danneberg, and the very first-ever-purchased copy of her newest book, Family Reminders.

This is the advance copy (also called a galley) of Andrew Clement's newest book. He wasn't at this conference, though.

No, this was not at the conference! This is a picture I took at the Mall of America at Lego-land. I'd never been to a lego store before, and I was amazed by what they could make with legos!

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Tuesday

Now that we're caught up with pictures, let me tell you about what I did today!

1. Breakfast meeting: The breakfast I went to was very nice. Not only was the food good, but the program was nice, too! There were six people on a panel who talked about ways teachers can help kids be better readers.

2. Symposium: When this convention talks about a symposium, they are mean that there will be several people who all speak, but about one central topic, and it usually lasts for more than 2 hours. The symposium I attended was a group of authors who all talked about touching the hearts and minds of students. The authors were all so good! They clearly enjoyed visiting together and listening to each other.

• First was Annie Barrows, who writes the Ivy and Bean books. i'm not sure if you guys know those books or not. I know I have the first of the series, but they're mostly written for kids who are probably 2nd or 3rd grade. They're pretty funny books, though!
• Next was Ashley Bryan, who is a poet and illustrator. I have one of his books, I think in the poetry tub, called Shine On. He is such a wonderful speaker! I saw him once last year, as well, and he always recites poetry with his audience. He says a line, and then the audience would say it back to him. Some of the poetry he recited with us was by Langston Hughes. He talked a lot about students finding the voices of the poetry and the importance of reading poetry out loud.
• Katherine Paterson spoke next. She wrote Bridge to Terabithia, Same Stuff as Stars, The Great Gilly Hopkins, and many other books. She was wonderful! She spoke so eloquently about where she's gotten ideas for her books. She made us laugh and cry - just like in her books. I really enjoyed listening to her.
  
• The next person was a huge thrill for me - Seymour Simon! You know how much I love books by Seymour Simon! He used to be a science teacher, and said that in writing books, he is actually trying to explain things to himself. He explained how he tries to compare big things in ways that help people understand. Did you know that he has written more than 200 books! Wow! I actually got to see Seymour Simon yesterday, too, when I bought some of his books and had him autograph the books. :)
  
• Martin Sandler spoke last. I was unfamiliar with his books before today, but I sure am going to get familiar with them! His most recent book is about Abraham Lincoln, and it sounds so interesting! I went to buy it after the session was over, but by the time I got there, they were already sold out! I was so disappointed! I'm going to buy it when I get home, that's for sure!
  

After lunch, I went to a "Special Interest Group" meeting. This group of people work to promote quality literature for children. They put out a list each year called the "Notable Books for a Global Society." This is fancy-talk for books that help kids understand people and cultures in the world. Author Jacqueline Woodson spoke at the meeting. She has written chapter books like Locomotion as well as picture books like Show Way and The Other Side. I know I have Show Way in our classroom, and Mrs. Tutschulte has the other one in the library. Both of those books are really wonderful, and it was interesting to hear her talk about and quote from her books. Hearing an author read his or her book aloud to a group is really meaningful. At the end of the meeting there was a drawing for books, and I won a book! (Have I mentioned how much I love free books?) I chose a chapter book by Patricia McKissack about Negro League Baseball.

I did go back to the exhibits and bought more books and met more authors:

• Katherine Paterson
  
• Ashley Bryan
• Eileen Spinelli (she is the wife of the guy who wrote Maniac Magee and has written several picture books)
  
• Trinka Hakes Noble (this is a new author to me - I think we'll enjoy her book The Orange Shoes)
  
• Jane Yolen!!! (She wrote that picture book about the missing Roanoke Colony, Owl Moon, and many other books. I got to buy one they haven't even put in bookstores yet!)
  
• And many more...
  

I went to dinner with my friend, Dr. Susan Knell. We went to a family-owned Italian restaurant, and had a nice dinner. We were so tired this evening that we decided not to go out and try to do anything. We want to be all rested for tomorrow, because there is lots to do tomorrow! Tomorrow I have another breakfast to attend, and three sessions I want to attend. I'm really going to try to be financially responsible tomorrow and not spend too much money in the exhibits, so it is probably good that I have so many sessions to attend. That will leave me less time to go to the exhibits! I do need to go to the exhibits at some point, though, because I found a really neat thing I want to buy. It is called a "clearboard" and you use it kind of like a whiteboard. You use the same kind of markers that you use for a whiteboard, except that it is clear and you put a paper inside it, then answer the probalems right on the board - and erase them when you're finished! I have some other teacher-y kind of things I want to buy, too. The really fun thing tomorrow is the Poetry Olio. I went last year and got to hear lots of really great poets and enjoy a fun evening listening to them perform their works.

More tomorrow...