Sisbro Studios Blog » author visit

Jacob Wismer Elementary

laura — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 02:08:25 +0000

A welcome Sisbro board, with waving pirate flag at Jacob Wismer Elementary

Here’s a joke: What does a computer call its dad? Read the answer below, from a 3rd grade student, in this blog post.

We just had the most amazing time performing author visits at Jacob Wismer Elementary in Beaverton, Oregon! It began with an extraordinary school welcome, complete with a hand-painted Sisbro pirate flag in the entry way of the school. Then we proceeded to do four assemblies. When the first group (of third and fourth graders) arrived bright and early at 8:30am, most of them were wearing pirate hats, and some kids even sported eye patches. The students were so well-prepared for our visit that it made our job easy. The third grade even presented us with a banner they made (see below).

Welcome Sisbro Banner from Jacob Wismer Elementary Author Visit

Our assembly was called “Oceans, Writing and Pirates Ahoy!” in which we share how we made the underwater movie The Riddle in a Bottle, and the accompanying children’s book A Pirate’s Quest. It’s basically an author/filmmaker visit about the creative process. Both the book and movie have pirates in them, so it was a pirate-filled day. It was also a riddle-filled day.

The students at the school brought us more “riddles in bottles” than any other school before. Just like the riddle in our own movie, the kids wrote their own riddles, put them in decorated bottles . . . and then brought them to us to be solved.

Riddles in Bottles From Students at the Author Visit

So what does a computer call its dad?

Answer: Data (pronounced dada)

Here’s another riddle from a student: We are four in the mountain. We are in the South, not the North.

Answer: Mount Rushmore

Jane, Rob and Laura with their pirate hooks held high

We really had a great author visit, and a special thanks goes out to Jane, the media specialist who hosted us, who is a dynamic performer of her own. Below is a photo of us with Jane, full of energy after an entire day of programs.

A Hook Signing?

robert — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:23:31 +0000

We’d like to thank Bertha Holt Elementary in Eugene, Oregon for having us out for an awesome day. What a great school for an author visit! We shared our book A Pirate’s Quest, and the students and staff dressed the part. Nearly all the staff were clad in their finest pirate regalia. We even had entire classes show up wearing their own hand-made pirate hats. Of all our author visits around the country, this school ranks up with some of the best-dressed we’ve ever seen. Then a student asked for an autograph, but he didn’t want us to sign a piece of paper. He wanted us to sign his pirate hook. And so we wrote on the gray plastic curve, and we had our first official hook signing. Thanks for a great day!

Pirate clad staff of Bertha Holt Elementary during our author visit

Pirate clad students of Bertha Holt Elementary during our author visit

Posters About Reading

laura — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 06:25:30 +0000

A winning poster from Maire Elementary's poster contest to encourage reading

Ahoy all ye book lovers! We recently visited Lewis Maire Elementary in Michigan, who had a poster contest to raise awareness about reading. Every year, the school celebrates March is reading month by inviting an author to visit, and then the students read throughout the month (with pledges) to raise money toward the March of Dimes. Part of this year’s festivities included a challenge to create posters that encouraged reading, based on our children’s book A Pirate’s Quest and movie The Riddle in a Bottle. Why not use pirates and ocean creatures to encourage reading? Before each assembly, we were lucky enough to judge the posters and choose a few winners. I must say that I was very impressed – lots of great ocean creatures, like the octopus holding books in his tentacles. I particularly liked the student who created “book-head” sharks, which look like hammerhead sharks, but have books for heads. There were also many animated pirates hooked on books, with reading treasure, sailing to reading destinations . . . Here are a few of the students’ pirate and ocean reading masterpieces.

Laura and Robert Sams pose with reading-themed poster winners after the afternoon author assembly

A Book is a Treasure Poster

"Book Head" Sharks Encourage Reading

Grab a Good Book

Pirate Reading Poster called Read a Whale of a Tail

Rrrrrrrrread it Poster

A Pirate-themed Poster: Read a Book It's Better Than Treasure!

We didn’t get pictures of all the posters, but I think you can see there were some great, creative ideas, which were proudly displayed in the school’s halls after our assembly. Congratulations to all ye poster-making scalliwags!