We’re back from the spring tour and now the new season begins: Gradmother Solth and how she got her smile.  Grandmother Sloth is already published.  I have to work on Grandmother Sloth activity book we give the teachers when Miss Jeanne and I do a reading.  The activities are coloring pages, puzzles, and classification for the pre-K thru 1; Comprehension, Same and Different, and Inquiry activities for Grades 1 thru 6.  My favorite activity is Same and Different .  The activity defines the niche (job or role) of the rainforest animal in the story and explores to see if there are any animals in the eastern forests of the United States that have a similar niche.  It’s important for elementary students to understand niche, or the role animals have in the environment.      Mr. Tom, 7.15.10

I’ll talk more about stories later.  I’m going to sign off from now on like I introduce myself when I do a reading.         Mr. Tom, 7.8.10

I was excited like a child on Christmas Eve.  We only got about a half-a-mile when we heard thunder.  It was at that point I looked to my right and saw a tree with a frightful lighting strike (see picture). I looked at Jeanne and we turned back, disappointed, but doing the right thing.  We came across some other people on their way up and exchanged greetings.  Back at the trail-head there were three women sitting on the wall of a stone bridge crossing the creek.  Another lady was sitting in her wheelchair.  They asked Jeanne to take their picture.  I asked them where they were from.  They got my attention when two of the ladies said they lived in Cherokee.  We exchanged names and I asked one on the ladies, Francine, if the Qualla area had their own schools or did the children go to public schools.  She said they had their own schools.  I told Francine I would be an honor to read my stories in her elementary school because stories are important to Native Peoples.  I hope this works out and I read Grandmother Sloth to the Cherokee children next May.  What do you think?  Was it coincidence thunder caused us to turn back or was I suppose to meet the Cherokee women?

A sidebar.  Remember the people we met on the trail, we saw them in the parking lot and they were excited.  “Did you see it?” one of the men asked.

“See what?” I asked.

“The rattlesnake.  It was only a few yards up the trail where we saw you.”

“I didn’t see him or hear him rattle.”

The gentleman had a look of amazement on his face.

Jeanne almost had her first encounter with a big ole timber rattler.  But, why didn’t we have an encounter?  Another mystery.     Thomas Sandusky  7.5.10

The preschool class at Paley didn’t waste any time…upon our arrival we were greeted with not only a class of excited students but they had also prepared a list of 25 questions to ask Tom. Now that’s what we called “Being Prepared!”

And even though the Paley School is a preschool, the children’s questions were very insightful and showed their eagerness to learn.  The students took no time and jumped right in asking Tom their questions. And Tom, answered them…one after the other, giving them the rainforest lesson of the day.

To show their graditude, the class gave him a stuffed paper spider monkey which they had made themselves along with a thank you note that they all signed.  We especially want to thank Sarah Cohen, a teacher at the school, for arranging this visit.

A Celebration of Writing

Since it was a celebration of writing most of the questions were on the writing process.  Tom told them that if they like to write and they start now, that they can call themselves writers.  They all loved that comment – so did the teachers.  They like the encouragement that Tom gave them for writing and they were pleased that they could call themselves writers.  He told them that it takes about a year to complete the writing process – from the first idea to getting the printed book.  He also told them about Kathy and how she rhymes the story and then Gretchen illustrates the story.  He then sends it to the publisher who then sends it on to the printer.  He told them that he writes about the rainforest because he loves it so much.  He’s never gotten writer’s block and he feels he hasn’t had writer’s block because he writes about what he loves and what he knows.  The inspiration for Spidy was the page where they are walking hand in tail.  He saw this once in Costa Rica.  A little boy walking along the side of the road with his spider monkey walking beside him – hand in tail.  This stayed in his mind and when it was time to write Spidy, the Spider Monkey, this was his inspiration and the story grew around it.

They wanted to know his writing system.  First he writes his ideas on 4×6 cards and then arranges and re-arranges these ideas on a board. This is called a Storyboard. Then he writes the story on the computer.