Kids Can Be Helpful to Others Plus a Giveaway

I am excited to share an author with you today and she's going to send one person an autographed copy of her newest book.  Will it be you?

I had the real priviledge of meeting Michigan Author Maria Dismondy 
on a couple of occasions. 

But I really got to know her better when she came to my school and presented to our students. 

 I have seen many authors speak to our students. Many are very good writers or illustrators but lack speaking skills with young children.

However, Maria can do both and she can do them both very well. She held their attention and she kept it exciting. She knows when they need a break from sitting and she continuously gets them moving. AND she can get their attention back quickly when she needs that too. 

When she asked me to help with her book tour, I was more than willing to jump right in. Her books speak volumes to kids. We all have students like the characters in her books. 

She "gets" kids. She really does.

Click HERE to see more about her tour in Michigan.

Her newest book is called The Jelly Donut Difference. 

It's all about sharing kindness with the world. 

When I read it to a class of 2nd graders, they all could see themselves or others in this book. They admitted to acting just like the characters in the book. They could laugh at them, but also realize that their actions did affect other people. Being Kind is the theme of this book and it gives great examples of how kindness does affect others. 

I read this book to them on Fat Tuesday.

It was the perfect day to read about paczki. 

(pronounced POONCH-KEY)

We then did a character study with this book. 

(I have to apologize that I spelled Doughnut wrong on this sheet! WHOOPS!)

We discussed each character and listed good and bad traits to each one. 

It was clear to these students that the characters made some changes by the end of the book. We talked about how we, too can make changes after we do something wrong.

Then to bring the story more real to them they each got to eat a paczki. We had lemon, blueberry, and strawberry. 

Most of them agreed that they were very tasty. 

If you'd like to learn more about Maria, click HERE.

 You can also watch this quick trailer about the book. 

Click HERE to download a dropbox file filled with fun activities for you to do with this book.

Click HERE if you want to order a book from Amazon.

Maria even does real and virtual school visits.

 Click HERE to find out more.

 More books by Maria Dismondy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway