Did You Hear What I Heard? Poems about School
by Kay Winters (Author) and Patrice Barton (Illustrator)
Booktalk: This poetry collection covers an astonishing range of activities from the anticipated–dashing to the bus and science class discoveries–to the completely unexpected–losing a permission slip and seeing a teacher outside the classroom.
Snippet:
Guest Post by Kay Winters
As an only child and then as a teacher, Kay Winters loved school! She worked in schools for twenty nine years, in various capacities: a teacher, a reading specialist, a college instructor, and a language arts consultant for the American International Schools. But she always dreamed of writing children’s books. When her district offered early retirement, her resignation was on the Superintendent’s desk at 7am the next morning. And she started all over again. She took a class at the New School in New York on writing children’s books, and began writing and submitting. She joined SCBWI and went to writer’s conferences. Her first book was Did You See What I Saw? Poems about School, published by Viking in 1996.
Most of her 24 books are written in poetic prose, Did You See What I Saw? and the new one Did You Hear What I Heard? are the two poetry titles. And they are both about school!
Q. Describe your writing process.
A. I was a teacher for 29 years. But that was not yesterday. So, when my editor called and suggested I write a second school poetry book, (The first, Did You See What I Saw? Poems about School was published in 1996) I needed to go back to school. I do school visits on a regular basis. I talk about my books and offer activities which get students excited about reading and writing. However, when I am in a school, I am giving a presentation, in the auditorium or the gym. Before writing the book, I wanted to spend time in schools listening and looking. I went in classrooms, to the library, the gym, the playground, the teachers room, and the cafeteria. I talked to teachers, nurses, students, aides, secretaries, custodians, principals.
Some situations seemed to be timeless. Sadness about losing a best friend, excitement over the possibility of a snow day, learning opposites, coping with lice, working with clay, anxiety about being the new kid . . .
But some situations have changed. In some schools there is less recess. The playground no longer has see saws. The amount of tests has tripled. I saw students as young as pre-school and kindergarten filling in worksheets, learning to match the bubble with the “right answer.” Today, youngsters are more comfortable with technology, than paper and pencil, and both teachers and children depend on a screen for daily work.
Most students don’t walk to school. The school bus plays a major role, or delivery by parents. The teacher is still all important. And for many, story time is still the highlight of the school day.
Q: Tell us about your latest book.
A. In Did You Hear what I Heard? Poems about School there are 35 poems for students in K-3. The verses run the gamut from catching the bus, having a fire drill, feelings about math, learning to measure, delight in deleting, recess, science discoveries, hating to take tests, loving to read, the principal kissing a pig, getting the flu, and seeing the teacher at the grocery store.
The illustrator, Patrice Barton, sets the scene of each early school experience with her upbeat sketches of students from various ethnic backgrounds. Did You Hear What I Heard? Poems about School, depicts some of the daily ins and outs, the ups and downs, but most of all it is a celebration of the early school experience.
Thanks for sharing your new book, Kay!
Copyright © 2018 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.
