Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach

Kansas Summer Reading Workshops – Wichita, Thursday, February 24, 2011

by Dianne on February 24, 2011

2-24-11 Crafts from the CLSP One World, Many Stories Summer Reading Manual 2011

Friends:

Ah, Kansas! In February, the weather can change at the drop of a hat, and it did today. All week long, I had beautiful weather with clear skies. This morning I woke up to sleet and ice and a dangerous start to the day. My hostess, Julie Tomlianovich, picked me up at my hotel and we had to drive about 45 minutes to Wichita. Because many people were coming to Wichita for the workshop from great distances, we decided to end the workshop early to allow for a safer commute in the bad weather. So I began trimming my workshop!

We started with the creativity exercise of making a self-portrait from items in your purse, wallet or pockets. There were a lot of good faces but I like this one because of the chocolate mouth, the blingy earrings, and the comb for the hair! My kind of gal!

2-24-11 A workshop participant's self-portrait with items from her purse

The workshop began with draw and tell tales. I showed them “The Emperor’s Dragon” and “Catching a Pest in 7 Steps.” I even taught them a little Chinese!

2-24-11 The Emperor's Dragon, a draw and tell tale from Handmade Tales

Then they learned “Joseph Had a Little Overcoat” cut and tell story. We were all laughing at how funny the cutting can be. Here, everyone has an overcoat and they pretty much look the same. By the end of the story, it was a different story! LOL

2-24-11 Librarians do the cut and tell story of Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

I taught them “Bandana Man” and boy, were they cute! Look at the old women in the story, especially the middle one. :)

2-24-11 Look at these cute librarians! Awwww.

Some librarians automatically have style, like these ladies. Just look at their Bandana Men!

2-24-11 These librarians took a walk on the wild side, rockin their animal print Bandana Men!

I didn’t have time to teach them the full string story of “The Stubborn Turnip” or even “Papa’s Teepee,” where they make snowflakes out of coffee filters but I did manager to teach them all how to make a string figure star!

2-24-11 These librarians are stars, for sure!

We worked very fast, doing Handmade Tales in two hours. Then it was on to Tangram Tales. After I showed them how to cut Tangrams without a pattern, I challenged them to a contest to “invent a Tangram.” This librarian won for her turtle Tangram. Wow! It really looks like a turtle.

2-24-11 This librarian won the Invent-A-Tangram contest! It's a turtle!! Too cute.

They performed a Tangram story theater – “Tiger’s Tale, Anansi’s Stories.” The storytellers, Tangram artists, and the story chorus worked well together to create their Tangram story theater masterpiece!

2-24-11 Librarians perform a Tangram story theater - Tiger's Tale, Anansi's story

I breezed through my picture book make and takes but told the entire story of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach. It was sooo funny! Look at these roaches!

2-24-11 Workshop participants are such good sports to play dead roaches in the story, Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach!

I did have them do one picture book make and take – the accordion dragon from There’s a Dragon in the Library. While they didn’t have time to color the head and the tail, the dragon still looked adorable!

2-24-11 Large accordion dragons from There's a Dragon in the Library

I shaved 1.5 hours from my workshop!! Wow. All in all, I think the workshop came out great, considering how much time I had to shave. Everyone seemed to have and the immediate feedback from the workshop participants was overwhelmingly positive. Thanks for the love, Kansas. I can’t wait to return a the end of March to finish the rest of the state! A special thank you and shout out to Julia Tomlianovich for bringing me in and for being such a fabulous hostess. My Kansas visit was incredible!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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Kansas Summer Reading Workshop Tour – Manhattan, Wednesday, February 23, 2011

by Dianne on February 23, 2011

2-23-11 Manhattan, Kansas workshop participants wish my husband, Antonio, a Happy Birthday!

Friends:

Today I was in Manhattan, Kansas. They call themselves “The Little Apple” and even have a ball drop on New Year’s Eve, just like The Big Apple! It was the third day of my summer reading workshop tour. Today was also my husband, Antonio’s birthday. With the help of the wonderful librarians, we wished him a Happy Birthday! Thank you so much, ladies!

After the birthday wish, I began my workshop with a creativity exercise in which the workshop participants created a self-portrait with items from their purse. It’s so interesting to see what they use to create their faces!

2-23-11 A workshop participant creates a self-portrait from items in her purse

We began with a couple of draw and tell tales – “The Emperor’s Dragon” and “Catching a Pest in 7 Steps” from my Handmade Tales book. Then they did a cut and tell tale – “Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.” They really enjoyed it.

2-23-11 Librarians learn how to do a cut and tell of Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Then it was on to demonstrating a towel folding story of “The Ugly Duckling,” a fortune teller story round, and “Papa’s Teepee,” a story that turns a teepee into a snowflake out of a coffee filter. We create a “blizzard” of snowflakes – too cool!

2-23-11 Coffee filter snowflakes fly and create a snow blizzard

When I taught them how to create Russian nesting dolls out of paper, they loved it. Rachel, an innovative librarian, came up with the concept of nesting dino robots!! ROAR! Boys will love this one!

2-23-11 Rachel created Roar-tastic dinosaur robot nesting dolls!! Way to go, Rachel!

They loved the story of “Bandana Man,” a fun rendition of the Gingerbread Man. The librarians made such cute little old ladies!

2-23-11 Librarians are fabulous old women in the story, Bandana Man!

“Bandana Man” is always such a run-away hit! Hahahaha!

2-23-11 Run, run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm Bandana Man!

I love when they experience success in my workshops. Working with string figures can be very tricky. The story of “The Stubborn Turnip” takes practice to master. So I like to leave them with simpler string figure that is easier to make. Lo and behold, now they are all stars!

2-23-11 Starry-eyed sweet string success!

Then I taught them how to make paper stars with a single snip of the scissors. The excess paper is turned into a picture frame. Very cool…

2-23-11 You never know what kinds of stars you meet at the library!

After learning how to make the origami 6-page book from the story “The King’s Advisor” in Handmade Tales, we went to lunch. Can we say, “Pizza?!!!” After lunch, we dove right into Tangram Tales. I showed them how to cut a Tangram without a pattern and then they practiced making Tangram figures.

2-23-11 Call the rodeo! This librarian created a horse and rider Tangram!

I held an Invent-A-Tangram contest. This is the lucky (HILARIOUS) winner!

2-23-11 The winner of the Invent-a-Tangram contest - Squatting Samarai

After they were familiar with Tangrams, we created a Tangram story theater from the story, “Tiger’s Tale, Anansi’s Stories” in my Tangram Tales book. My storytellers were sooo animated, the Tangram tellers made perfect Tangrams, and the story chorus rocked it out! Can we say, “Awesome!!!?”

2-23-11 Librarians perform Tiger's Tale, Anansi's Stories Tangram Story Theater

After Tangrams, it was time for picture book make and takes. I performed an excerpt from The Cajun Cornbread Boy and they made Cajun Cornbread Boy puppets. C’est bon!

2-23-11 Oh my! Cajun Cornbread Boy is much too spicy for our story time!

I showed them book activities for Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach, The Gigantic Sweet Potato, and Mama’s Bayou.

2-23-11 Telling the story of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach. Fun!

They really LOVED the dragon accordion puppet from my book There’s a Dragon in the Library, illustrated by Marita Gentry. It was so much fun working with this group of librarians. We all had a blast together!

2-23-11 Taking pictures with some of my favorite people... librarians!!

I loved my whole day!! As I was being driven to my next location (Thanks, Ann!!), I saw this on my way out… Goodbye KS!!

2-23-11 Leaving Manhattan, Kansas, home of Kansas State University

It was a great day! Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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Kansas Summer Reading Workshops – Topeka, Kansas, February 22, 2011

by Dianne on February 22, 2011

2-22-11 Dianne's star cheerleaders in the front row!

Friends:

Today was the second day of my summer reading workshop tour in Kansas and today, I was in Topeka! It was a brisk 16 degrees when I was picked up from my hotel. Brrrr! But things quickly heated up once my workshop started. I had some sizzling librarians with warm hearts!

2-22-11 Librarians create a snow blizzard using a coffee filter to make a snowflake in the story, Papa's Teepee from Handmade Tales

I began with a creativity exercise in which the participants had to create a self portrait out of items from their purses, wallets or pockets. There were some very interesting self-portraits! I love this techie self-portrait. A cell phone for the hair, flash drives for the eyes… I soooo relate! Hahahaha!

2-22-11 A self-portait by a workshop participant using items from her purse

The first half of my workshop was dedicated to Handmade Tales. They learned some draw and tell tales and some cut and tell tales such as “Joseph Had an Overcoat.”

2-22-11 Librarians make Joseph's overcoat in the story, Joseph Had an Overcoat

They learned how to make a scroll story, how to create paper Russian nesting dolls, and how to cut magic stars. They learned the string story, “The Stubburn Turnip” and how to make a star string figure. A favorite is always “Bandana Man.” John and Jacob make such adorable little old women!

2-22-11 John and Jacob are old women in the story, Bandana Man, from Handmade Tales

I love how Bandana Man always makes my workshop participants sooo happy! Yes, he’s quite the cutie!

2-22-11 Workshop participants in Topeka, KS make Bandana Man

After an hour lunch, the second half of the workshop was dedicated to Tangram Tales and “Picture Book Makes and Takes.” First, they learned about Tangrams and cut out a Tangram set without a pattern. Then they began manipulating the Tangrams.

2-22-11 Workshop participants create Tangrams

Then I challenged them to a contest, requiring them to invent their own Tangram. This one was the winner – a plant in bloom by Jacob, AKA “Wonder Boy.” After he won the contest, he did a victory lap around the room and everyone did the wave for him. Hilarious!!

2-22-11 The winner of the Invent-a-Tangram contest - a blooming plant

Then it was time for the workshop participants to create their Tangram Story Theater. Everyone in the workshop performed “Tiger’s Tale, Anansi’s Stories.” It came out sooo cute!

2-22-11 Librarians perform a Tangram story theater - Tiger's Tale, Anansi's Stories from Tangram Tales

After finishing Tangram Tales, we moved on to “Picture Book Make and Takes,” where I showed them different book activities to go with all of my picture books. First, they made Cajun Cornbread Boy puppets. Ooh yeah, cher!

2-22-11 Spicy Cajun Cornbread Boy makes a librarian happy!

I told the story of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach with the help of some great librarians with a good sense of humor!

2-22-11 Workshop participants become dead roaches in the hilarious story of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach

My last story was There’s a Dragon in the Library. They loved all the activities that went with this story, especially the accordion dragon!

2-22-11 There's a Dragon in the Library large accordion puppet

It was a fantabulous day and I sooo enjoyed my time in Topeka! A very special thank you to my editor from ABC-Clio Libraries Unlimited, Sharon Coatney. She lives in Lawrence and made a special trip to attend my workshop. She is amazing and I love her! Thank you also to Mickey Coalwell, Teri, Brenda and all the staff of the Northeast Kansas Library System (NEKLS) for getting me from A to B and for executing a flawless workshop! You guys rock!

Thank you especially to all the wonderful librarians with whom I had the privilege of sharing my day. Keep doing the amazing work you do!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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Kansas Summer Reading Workshops, Iola – Monday, February 21, 2011

by Dianne on February 21, 2011

2-21-11 All librarians are stars!

Friends:

Today I had the great privilege of doing a summer reading workshop for Kansas children’s librarians in Iola, Kansas. The first part of the morning was dedicated to Handmade Tales. I began the workshop with a creativity activity to warm the participants up. They had to create a self-portrait from the contents of their purses or wallets. Fun!

2-21-11 Participants create a self portrait out of items in their purses or wallets

Then we started with draw and tell tales. First, they learned how to draw “The Emperor’s Dragon” from Handmade Tales.

2-21-11 The Emperor's Dragon from Handmade Tales

After a couple of draw and tell tales, I taught them “Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.” I demonstrated some of my other Handmade Tales such as making nesting dolls out of paper, doing the “Ugly Duckling” out of towels, and showing them a scroll story, “The Boy Who Drew Cats.” We did “Papa’s Teepee,” creating snowflakes and a snow blizzard out of coffee filter. So cool!

2-21-11 Creating a snow blizzard with coffee filters snowflakes from Papa's Teepee story

Then it was on to “Bandana Man,” a fun rendition of “the Gingerbread Man.”

2-21-11 Anita creates Bandana Man from Handmade Tales

I taught them “The Stubborn Turnip” out of string and they loved the string figures! I also taught them how to make stars!

2-21-11 String figure stars!

After lunch, it was time for a fun game. Since the theme is “One World, Many Stories,” I taught them a game that I learned from children in Singapore called “Pluck the Pearl.” Game players face each other and try to “pluck” the pearl from the open oyster. The oyster snaps closed and if the “plucker” gets snapped, she loses. It’s a lot of fun and takes a bit of speed and coordination.

2-21-11 Leah and her partner play Pluck the Pearl, a game from Singapore

Afterward, it was time for Tangram Tales. First, I had them create a Tangram set and work with Tangrams.

2-21-11 Amanda creates a bucking horse Tangram

Then they invented their own Tangrams. I made it a contest and here is the winner!

2-21-11 Wendy invents a humming bird feeder Tangram and wins the contest!

Then it was time for the creation of a Tangram story theater. They practiced and performed “Tiger’s Tale, Anansi’ Stories,” a tale from the West Indies. It came out so cute, especially the story chorus!

2-21-11 Participants perform Tiger's Tale, Anansi's Stories from Tangram Tales

After Tangram Tales, it was time for Picture Book Make and Takes. First, I told an excerpt of The Cajun Cornbread Boy. Then they made Cajun Cornbread Boy stick puppets.

2-21-11 Workshop participants create The Cajun Cornbread Boy puppets

Then I performed Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach with the help of the audience members. Rachel, thanks for playing the part of Monsieur Roach!

2-21-11 Dianne de Las Casas performs Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach with Rachel as Monsieur Roach

The roaches in the story were soooo funny! Love them!

2-21-11 Hilarious! Kansas children's librarians play like dead roaches in Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach

It was a spectacular day and I had a ton of fun!! Special thanks to Sandy Wilkerson for coordinating this portion of my Kansas tour. I felt so much love and sunshine from the Sunflower State!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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Louisiana PreK/K Conference – Wednesday, January 26, 2011

by Dianne on January 29, 2011

1-26-11 Teachers do the cut and tell tale, Joseph Had a Little Overcoat at Dianne's Handmade Tales session at the Louisiana PreK-K Conference

Friends:

On Wednesday, January 26, 2011, I presented two professional development sessions at the Louisiana Pre-K/Kindergarten conference sponsored by the Louisiana Department of Education. My first session was “Handmade Tales: Stories to Make and Take” full of simple cut and tell and draw and tell tales. I began with “Joseph Had an Overcoat” (pictured above). Then I taught the teachers how to do a couple of draw and tell tales: “How to Catch a Pest in 7 steps” and “The Emperor’s Dragon.”

1-26-11 The Emperor's Dragon, a draw and tell tale from Dianne's Handmade Tales session at the Louisiana PreK-K Conference

They really loved making the snowflakes out of coffee flakes in the story, “Papa’s Teepee.”

1-26-11 A snow blizzard by PreK & K teachers in Dianne's Handmade Tales session

I ended the workshop with the story, “The Magic Star” for all of those “teaching stars” in the room.

1-26-11 Teaching stars in Dianne's Handmade Tales session

It was so much fun and the teachers really enjoyed the session. In fact, it was overfull; people were sitting on the floor and they had to close the session. My next session was just as full. There were 50 people waiting outside the door before it began! My second session was “Louisiana Picture Book Make and Takes.” I told excerpts of my books and showed them some fun accompanying book activities perfect for PreK and Kindergarten students. I featured activities for my books, Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach, Mama’s Bayou, The Gigantic Sweet Potato, and The Cajun Cornbread Boy. Holly Stone-Barker, illustrator of Mama’s Bayou was on hand to help out and sign books. She is such an amazing artist!

1-26-11 Teachers make Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach story shakers in Dianne's Louisiana Picture Book Make and Take session

After my session, I signed books and there was quite a line. Thank you to all the patient teachers!! A special thank you to Holly and her friend, Kathy, for all their help. I would never have been able to do it by myself. Kathy was a spectacular salesperson!

1-26-11 Dianne signing books for teachers at the Louisiana PreK-K Conference in Baton Rouge

It was a fantastic day and I had a wonderful time! A special thank you to Loren Barrios, Nicholy Johnson, and all the staff from the Department of Education, Early Childhood Division. Another special thank you to some amazing teachers: Tina Champagne, Katie Tilly, Joyce Muller and Alecia Rabalais!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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Bissonet Plaza Elementary Twisted Tales Residency Day 8 – Wednesday, December 15, 2010

by Dianne on December 15, 2010

Friends:

Today was Day 8 of my Twisted Tales residency at Bissonet Plaza Elementary in Metairie, Louisiana. The school librarian, Ellen Miller, brings me in each year on a grant administered through the Arts Council of Louisiana as part of the Decentralized Arts Funding through Louisiana Culture, Recreation and Tourism.

My day began in Ms. Mora’s 4th grade class. I enjoyed being in the class. The students were so productive and really did a great job working on their fractured fairytales. Their class was assigned “Henny Penny” and they had such creative ideas. The standout story of the class was “The Foxy Corvette” by Dakota, Carrington, Qossay, Joycelyn A. and Patrick C. I also loved the story of “Froggy Loggy” by Sierra, Jade’, Eligha, Bobby and Ramiroon. The entire class did a wonderful job and I am very proud of them!

12-15-10 Dianne de Las Casas with Ms. Mora's 4th grade class

There was a scheduling snafu with third grade because they had Christmas play practice. After working it out with Pre-K, I was able to re-arrange and see Mr. Boone’s third grade class. As the students worked on their stories (the original story was “Goldilocks”), I helped a group with their story, “Monkeylocks.” It turned out so cute!

12-15-10 Dianne works with students from Mr. Boone's 3rd grade class on their story, Monkeylocks

My next class was Ms. Vizzini’s second grade class. Oh what fun we had with Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach!

12-15-10 Monsieur Roach from Ms. Vizzini's second grade class

After the story, Ms. Vizzini’s class made their story shakers. Love those creative second graders!

12-15-10 Ms. Vizzini's second graders and their story shakers

After a wonderful lunch of Thai food with Ms. Ellen Miller, the school librarian (Thank you, Ms. Miller!), it was time for Ms. Lemoine’s happy first graders.

12-15-10 Dianne de Las Casas with Ms. Lemoine's first grade class and their story shakers

I told the story of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach to raucous laughter. They loved seeing Madame Poulet slurp up the roach!

12-15-10 Madame Poulet eats up Monsieur Roach in Ms. Lemoine's first grade class

After the students created their story shakers, Ms. Lemoine had them shake them to music. It was so much fun! She also printed one of my book activities so that later the students could do a writing activity (writing a letter to me).

12-15-10 Telling Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach to Ms. Lemoine's first graders

I ended my day in Pre-K. Because of the scheduling conflicts with the Christmas play practice, the Pre-K teachers graciously allowed me to combine them and see them at the same time. I had Ms. Muller’s and Ms. Joy’s Pre-K classes together in Ms. Joy’s room.

12-15-10 Telling Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach to Pre-K

The two Pre-K classes did very well together. They loved the story and cracked up laughing!

12-15-10 Madame Poulet comes after Monsieur Roach in PK

On Thursday, December 16, the 5th graders are performing the fractured fairytales that I rewrote and turned into story theater scripts. On Friday, December 16, the 3rd and 4th graders will perform the story theater scripts from their fractured fairytales. It’s going to be so much fun! I better start getting those scripts ready!!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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Bissonet Plaza Elementary Twisted Tales Residency Day 7 – Tuesday, December 14, 2010

by Dianne on December 15, 2010

12-14-10 Telling Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach to Ms. Anchissi's Kindergarten class

Friends:

Today was the 7th day of my “Twisted Tales: Spinning Stories into Fractured Funnies” residency at Bissonet Plaza Elementary in Metairie, Louisiana. I started the day signing books in the Teacher’s Lounge for all the students who ordered books. My first class was Ms. Anchissi’s kindergarten class. We had a lot of fun with Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach. They loved the story and enjoyed making their story shakers.

12-14-10 A row of chicken story shakers from Ms. Anchissi's Kindergarten class

My next class was Ms. Frechette’s third grade class. They were assigned the story, “The Gingerbread Man” to fracture. While each group had fantastic stories (“Easy as Pie,” “The Beignet Boy,” and “The Rat Race”), the stand-out story was “Easy as Pie.” Since the students had finished their stories, we worked on a final of “Easy as Pie,” with me typing the story on my iPad. The students were so amazed and watched on the Smart Board as I demonstrated my iPad using the Elmo. The refrain in the story is so cute: “Roll, roll, roll as easy as pie. You can’t catch me, I’m the pie guy!” Adorable! Needless to say, I chose this story to turn into a story theater script that the students will perform on Thursday. Phenomenal work, Ms. Frechette’s class! Woo hoo for you!

12-14-10 Easy as Pie by Ms. Frechette's third grade class

Next, I headed to Ms. Morrow’s fourth grade class. They had not progressed as quickly as I had hoped but they certainly worked hard while I was in class! The stand-out story of the class was by Jasmine, Dairon, Bennett and Madison. It is titled, “The Big Yellow Lion,” a fractured version of “The Little Red Hen.” I loved how the story was set in the jungle with a big yellow lion making a mud pie (chocolate mud pie, that is) and included a cute refrain: “Me oh my, a mud pie? I won’t help you, no, not I!” It will be so much fun to perform as a story theater!

12-14-10 The Big Yellow Lion from Ms. Morrow's 4th grade class

After 4th grade, it was on to Ms. Chieffo’s 2nd grade class. As soon as I walked into the room, they cheered for me. And it cheered me up because I had been feeling under the weather all morning. Ms. Chieffo asked me to quickly show them how to fold their “Ma Farmer’s Down Home Cookbook.” They are cute little recipe books made into an origami 6-page book using a single sheet of 8 1/2 X 11″ paper. After performing a rousing rendition of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach, they made their stylish story shakers. It was such a pleasure to be in their class because they were so well-behaved.

12-14-10 Second graders from Ms. Chieffo's class with their story shakers

I spent my lunch in the teachers lounge again, signing books for all the classroom teachers I have working with during my residency. After lunch, I went to Ms. Tonguis’ 1st grade class. She asked me to share Mama’s Bayou and I happily obliged. Afterward, I performed Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach, and the students created their fanciful story shakers. Ms. Tonguis is so much fun to be around! She even acted out the part of Monsieur Roach, complete with lying on the ground with her “legs up” to simulate a roach’s early demise. Too funny!

12-14-10 Showing Mama's Bayou to Ms. Tongui's first graders

My last class was Ms. Dagneault’s 5th grade class. The students worked in their groups, completing their fractured fairytales. They were assigned “Cinderella” and turned it into “Cinder Man,” “Raparella,” “Cinderella Gone Bad,” and “Minirella.” Phenomenal creativity flowed in this class!

12-14-10 Ms. Dagneault's 5th graders work on their fractured fairytale

It was such a wonderful day at school (except for the part about me being under the weather). This year, I have not written one behavior report. I haven’t had to counsel any students on their behavior and all the students have been super polite and helpful. Thank you so much, Bissonet students, for being so terrific! A special shout-out and thank you to Destiny in 5th grade, who helps carry my bag down the stairs every day! Ms. Easley, if you are reading… YAY for Bissonet!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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Bissonet Plaza Elementary Twisted Tales Residency Day 6 – Monday, December 13, 2010

by Dianne on December 13, 2010

12-13-10 Dianne tells Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach to Ms. Johnson's kindergarten class

Friends:

Today was the sixth day of my ten-day Twisted Tales residency at Bissonet Plaza Elementary in Metairie, Louisiana. My day began in Ms. Naugle’s 4th grade class. The students worked hard on writing their fractured fairytales. “Little Red Riding Hood” was the assigned original tale and it was fractured many ways by different groups in the class: “Code Red,” with Little Red Riding Hood as a spy, “Little Red Riding,” with Little Red driving a red corvette, and “Petite Rouge” with Little Red in the bayou meeting a grinning gator.

12-13-10 Ms. Naugle's 4th graders work on their fractured fairy tale, Little Red Riding

Next, it was on to Ms. Fury’s 3rd grade class. The students worked in their groups perfecting their fractured fairytales. Their assigned story was “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” There were many creative stories including “Who Dats Crossing My Bridge?” and “The Three Little Pelicans.”

12-13-10 Ms. Fury's 3rd graders collaborate on their fractured fairytale

My third class was Ms. Johnson’s Kindergarten class. The students absolutely LOVED the story of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach (Mrs. Chicken and Mr. Roach). After the story, the class made story shakers with Madame Poulet on one side and Monsieur Roach on the other side.

12-13-10 A student in Ms. Johnson's Kindergarten class shows his colored story shaker template

My fourth class was Ms. Leblanc’s second grade class. Ms. Easley, the acting principal, came by to observe and watched the story of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach come to life with the help of the students. It was so much fun.

12-13-10 Madame Poulet approaches Monsieur Roach in Ms. Leblanc's second grade class

After participating in the story, the students worked on their creative story shakers. Too soon after, it was time for lunch! How time flies when you’re having tons of fun!

12-13-10 Ms. Leblanc's second grade students show their shakers

During lunch, Cajun Cornbread Boy and I had a Skype visit with a Kindergarten class in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who wanted to know all about The Cajun Cornbread Boy book. Ms. Naugle, 4th grade teacher, was kind enough to allow me to Skype in her room with her students. It was a blast. The Kindergarten class showed me the puppets they made to act out the story, asked me a few questions, and even sang the refrain for me: “Run, cher, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I’m full of cayenne.” Ms. Heistand, their teacher, told me that they loved reading The Cajun Cornbread Boy! Yay! They told Ms. Naugle’s class that it snowed flurries that morning. It was a fantastic experience. Thank you, Ms. Heistand’s class!

12-13-10 Dianne de Las Casas Skypes with a Kindergarten class in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A special thank to Ms. Naugle for allowing me to Skype in her room with her students present. Ms. Naugle even Tweeted about it!

12-13-10 A student in Ms. Naugle's 4th grade class holds Cajun Cornbread Boy next to Ms. Naugle's Tweet

After lunch, it was off to Ms. Hadley’s first grade class. I told the story of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach to a very enthusiastic response. Over the weekend, Ms. Hadley even bought my book, The Gigantic Sweet Potato!

12-13-10 Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach in Ms. Hadley's first grade class

After the story, they made their story shakers and they danced all over the room with them! They LOVED shaking their homemade maracas!

12-13-10 Ms. Hadley's first graders hold up their Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach story shakers

My last class was Ms. Brumfield’s 5th grade class. The class was assigned the story, “Sleeping Beauty” to fracture. They had such clever stories: “Sleeping Ugly,” “Snoring Beauty,” and “Weeping Beauty.” I look forward to seeing them finished! Ms. Brumfield had to leave early and all the groups worked so nicely. I was so impressed with their cooperation and collaboration with each other!

12-13-10 Ms. Brumfield's 5th graders work on their fractured fairytale, Sleeping Ugly

It was a great day and I look forward to two more days in the classrooms. Days 9 and 10 will be spent with all the grades during their P.E. periods.

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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Book Signings: Little Laughter and Barnes & Noble Metairie – Saturday, December 11, 2010

by Dianne on December 13, 2010

12-11-10 Marita Gentry illustrates The Gigantic Sweet Potato as Dianne de Las Casas tells the story with help from kids in the audience

Friends:

It was such a busy weekend of book signings! On Saturday, I had two book signings: one in uptown New Orleans at a children’s boutique called Little Laughter. It is located next to Slice Pizza and Whole Foods Market on Magazine Street. I signed books with the incomparable Johnette Downing, award-winning children’s musician and author extraordinaire. She is one of my best friends and it was so much fun being able to sign books with her! We tag-teamed, selling each other’s books as the “Leading Ladies of Louisiana Kidlit,” a title bestowed upon us by our publisher, Pelican Publishing. :)

12-11-10 Johnette Downing and Dianne de Las Casas sign books at Little Laughter in New Orleans

After lunch with Johnette at Slice Pizza, I dashed off to Metairie for a book signing at Barnes & Noble. I was scheduled to perform and sign books at 3:00pm. Marita Gentry, my illustrator, had a terrible sinus infection and laryngitis so I did all the talking (not a problem for me! LOL). We performed The Gigantic Sweet Potato with Marita illustrating live as I told the story with interactive audience participation. Students and teachers from Bissonet Plaza Elementary were there to cheer me on! Yay!

12-11-10 Marita Gentry illustrates The Gigantic Sweet Potato as Dianne de Las Casas tells the story with help from kids in the audience

After the performance, we had a nice crowd line up for autographs.

12-11-10 A big crowd lines up for autographs from Dianne & Marita at Barnes & Noble in Metairie, LA

My day ended at a friend’s Christmas party. It was a hectic but super fun day! Thank you to Kim Elms of Little Laughter, Jennifer Simon, CRM of Barnes & Noble, and the Barnes & Noble staff for your hospitality! Happy Holidays!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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Bissonet Plaza Elementary Twisted Tales Residency Day 5 – Friday, December 10, 2010

by Dianne on December 13, 2010

12-10-10 Telling Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach to Ms. Hahn's Kindergarten class

Friends:

On my 5th day at Bissonet, I began a second visit to the classrooms for this artist residency titled “Twisted Tales: Spinning Stories into Fractured Funnies.” My first visit was to Ms. Clement’s 4th grade class. They worked on their fractured fairytales and turning them into a full written story. Their assigned story was “The Princess and the Bean.” I love their fractured versions of “A Royal Pain” and “The Queen and the Bean Burrito!”

12-10-10 Ms. Clement's 4th graders collaborate on their fractured fairytale

In Ms. Arnett’s 3rd grade class, they also worked on writing their fractured fairytale based on the story of “The Three Little Pigs.” I simply love this group’s version: “The Three Little Fish and The Big Bad Shark.” They came up with such a clever refrain in the story. The Shark said, “Little Fish, Little Fish, let me in!” The fish answered, “Not by the scale of my finny fin fin!” I LOVE how creative and talented these students are!

12-10-10 Ms. Arnett's 3rd grade students collaborate on their twisted tale, The Three Little Fish and The Big Bad Shark

Then it was time to visit Ms. Hahn’s kindergarten class. I told the story of “Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach.” They loved it and had fun making their story shakers out of paper plates.

12-10-10 Ms. Hahn's kindergarteners make Madame Poulet & Monsieur Roach story shakers

Ms. Presser’s second grade class impressed me with their creative Sweet Potato Pals from my last visit to their class. They hung the completed Pals on the wall. Cute!

12-10-10 Ms. Presser's 2nd graders' finished Sweet Potato Pals!

I told the story of Madame Poulet and Monsieur roach to Ms. Presser’s second graders and they were so enthusiastic with their participation in the story that Ms. Presser had to settle them down.

12-10-10 Dianne de Las Casas is a mad Madame Poulet in Ms. Presser's 2nd grade class (photo taken by a second grade student)

After the story, they worked on their Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach story shakers.

12-10-10 A second grader in Ms. Presser's class works on his story shaker

My visit to Ms. Duhe’s second grade class yielded an equally enthusiastic response. When I walked in the door, they all yelled, “Ms. Dianne!” It’s nice to be so well-received! After telling the rockin’ story of Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach, they made story shakers out of paper plates filled with beans, folded in half, and glued closed.

12-10-10 Ms. Duhe's first graders and their Madame Poulet & Monsieur Roach story shakers

My last class of the day was Ms. McLeod’s 5th grade class. They had fun collaborating and writing their fractured fairytales. They were assigned “The Frog Prince” and the two stories that stood out were “The Camel and the Princess” and “The Gummi Frog and the Fruity Princess.” Such amazingly clever kids! I can’t wait to see how these stories turn out!

12-10-10 Students in Ms. McLeod's 5th grade class work on their fractured fairytale

After my last class, I had to hurry and leave to get to a book signing at Barnes & Noble Citiplace in Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, I lost my car keys and the whole school had to be searched! Fortunately, some students helped me find my keys and I only lost 20 minutes. I made it to my book signing on time! Whew!

I look forward to the next week, finished the residency at Bissonet Plaza Elementary.

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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