Author Visit at Ecole Bilingue, Berkeley, CA

Two weeks ago I made my annual visit to my granddaughter’s class at Ecole Bilingue in Berkeley, California. This year she is in fifth grade. Each year since she was in pre-kindergarten I have visited the school and talked with the children about my books and what it is like to be an author. Ecole Bilingue is a French immersion school and in the upper grades the students alternate French and English weeks. I do not speak French so I came during my granddaughter’s English week. I thank her teacher Luc De Armey for inviting me to the class and the students for their enthusiastic response and great questions.

Claude, albino alligator, California Academy of Sciences

Since my last visit I have published 10 new books, so there was a lot to talk about! The students were particularly interested in my book Albino Animals because many of them had visited the California Academy of Sciences museum in San Francisco and seen Claude, the albino alligator who is profiled in the book. On my visits to EB we often do a project or activity as well. All of the books in my new Caroline Arnold’s Habitat series have birds in them so we talked about wingspans. Every student in the class–and even the teacher–had a chance to measure their wingspan on my measuring tape. Most were about the size of a turkey vulture! I have enjoyed getting to know the children over the years and look forward to future visits.

Project: Measuring Your Wingspan

Do you sometimes wish you could fly like a bird?  Even if we had feathers all over our arms, we still couldn’t fly because we are too heavy.  But it is fun to imagine what it would be like to fly.  What kind of bird would YOU be if you could fly?
One of my favorite activities during my school visit presentations is measuring the “wingspans” of the students.  I ask them to spread out their arms as if they were flying and I use my wingspan measuring tape to identify what kind of bird they would be.  First graders are usually peregrine falcons.  Third graders are almost always red-tailed hawks.  Two students together make one bald eagle and two and half students are needed to measure the wingspan of a California condor, the largest flying bird in North America.Click here to find out how you can make your own wingspan measuring tape.
Learn about birds in Birds: Nature's Magnificent Flying Machines and many of my other books about birds.