Debra Kempf Shumaker
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Debra Kempf Shumaker
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Author Visits

Author Visits

I love excit­ing kids about sci­ence and writ­ing! As a for­mer cor­po­rate train­er, I know the impor­tance of bring­ing ener­gy to a pre­sen­ta­tion, espe­cial­ly to an ele­men­tary school audience.

I offer both vir­tu­al and in-per­son author visits.

Down­load­able Author Vis­it Brochure

Virtual School Visits*

Full Day (Three Full Pre­sen­ta­tions from list below + Sim­ple Sto­ry Time and book sale/signing, if desired): $500

Indi­vid­ual Pre­sen­ta­tion (from Full Pre­sen­ta­tion List below and book sale/signing, if desired): $200

Sim­ple Sto­ry Time with brief Q&A: $100

In-Person School Visits*

Full Day (Three Full Pre­sen­ta­tions from list below+ 1 Sim­ple Sto­ry Time and Author Lunch Bunch & book sale/signing, if desired):

  • $1000 PLUS trav­el expens­es if 40+ miles from Ster­ling, VA. (Schools are encour­aged to book vis­its togeth­er to share trav­el expenses.)

Half Day (One Full Pre­sen­ta­tion from list below + Sim­ple Sto­ry Time and book sale/signing, if desired):

  • Only for schools with­in 20 miles of Ster­ling, VA: $500

Programs Offered

for grades K‑1:

Sim­ple Sto­ry Time:

  • An inter­ac­tive read-aloud of one of my books plus a song or two
  • Q&A from teachers
  • About 20 minutes

Ani­mal Adaptations

  • Brief intro on com­mon fea­tures of fish or primates
  • Brief dis­cus­sion of adaptations/habitats
  • Inter­ac­tive read­ing of Freaky, Funky Fish or Pecu­liar Primates
  • Q&A (teacher select­ed ques­tions preferred)
  • About 30 — 45 minutes

for grades 2–3 and 4–5+ (programs are similar but go a bit deeper for grades 4–5+)

Ani­mal Adaptations

  • Brief intro on com­mon fea­tures of fish or primates 
  • Read­ing of Freaky, Funky Fish or Pecu­liar Pri­mates 
  • Inter­ac­tive dis­cus­sion of var­i­ous adaptations
  • High-lev­el dis­cus­sion of research and revi­sion process in writing
  • Q&A with students
  • 45 — 60 minutes
 
Metaphor and Mete­o­rol­o­gy Madness:
  • Dis­cus­sion of how metaphors help with under­stand­ing abstract concepts
  • Read­ing of Wind Is a Dance
  • Dis­cus­sion of sci­ence of var­i­ous winds and oth­er weather
  • Brain­storm new metaphors for weather
  • Q&A with students
  • 45 — 60 minutes 

Is It a Book Yet? From Idea to Pub­lished Book:

Best for Grade 4+. Fun, inter­ac­tive pre­sen­ta­tion using exam­ples from my books on:

  • Brain­storm­ing and record­ing ideas
  • Research for non­fic­tion, his­tor­i­cal, or infor­ma­tion­al fiction
  • Draft­ing
  • Revis­ing and mak­ing your words sing
  • Get­ting published
  • Q&A with students
  • 45 — 60 minutes

Non­fic­tion Writing:

Best for Grade 4+. Fun, inter­ac­tive pre­sen­ta­tion using exam­ples from my books on:

  • Dif­fer­ent types of nonfiction
  • Research
  • Weav­ing facts into stories
  • Ver­i­fy­ing facts
  • Get­ting published
  • Q&A with students
  • 45 — 60 minutes

 

*I am will­ing to personalize/adapt pro­grams and bud­get. Just reach out!

If bud­get con­straints are keep­ing you from book­ing an author vis­it, this Pay­ing for an Author Vis­it pdf can help you find ways to fund a vis­it. Author vis­its are a great way to moti­vate stu­dents to read and write more!

Book signings

For all visits—virtual or in-person—we can do book sign­ings, if desired. There are sev­er­al ways to do this. We can:

  • order books through my local book­store. I will sign them and have them shipped to your school.
  • your class/school can order through a local book­store near your school and I can mail you signed book plates if vir­tu­al, or when I arrive in in-person.
  • or we can use authorvisitcentral.com.

Testimonials

“I love how Debra talked about the sci­ence and research behind mak­ing her book and the writ­ing that goes with it. I am look­ing for­ward to ref­er­enc­ing her vis­it through­out my teaching.”

-Beth Krae­mer, Kinder­garten Teacher, Van Hise Ele­men­tary School, Madi­son, WI

“My sec­ond grade stu­dents were engaged in learn­ing odd facts the entire time… on the last day of vir­tu­al school! Thank you for mak­ing learn­ing inter­ac­tive and fun. But most of all, thank you for inspir­ing my stu­dents to keep learn­ing, and to work hard at what­ev­er they are pas­sion­ate about.”

-Con­nie Rabe, 2nd Grade Teacher, Rod Kel­ley School, Gilroy, CA.

“Debra was extreme­ly easy to work with and will­ing to adapt her pre­sen­ta­tions to meet the needs of our school. She was engag­ing and did a great job inter­act­ing with our students.”

-Read­ing Spe­cial­ist, Ziela­nis Ele­men­tary School, Kiel, WI.

“Our stu­dents were very excit­ed to meet an author and the pre­sen­ta­tion aligned with sci­ence content.”

-Jes­si­ca Nel­son, Librar­i­an, Marum­sco Hills Ele­men­tary School, Wood­bridge, VA

 

Library Programs

I offer sto­ry times for preschool and ele­men­tary school audiences—doing an inter­ac­tive read-aloud, singing a song with the kids, and doing a craft. (About 45 min­utes — 1 hour)

For teens and adults, I offer a series of writ­ing pro­grams on writ­ing pic­ture books—from writ­ing in rhyme, pic­ture book basics, to revi­sion strate­gies, to query­ing for tra­di­tion­al pub­li­ca­tion. (About 1 hour each)

I am also avail­able to present as a mem­ber of a pan­el, writ­ing con­fer­ences, or lit­er­a­cy events and can cus­tomize my pro­grams for var­i­ous needs. Just reach out to me and we can chat about your needs and pricing.

Con­tact me with any ques­tions or to book a vis­it! I look for­ward to hear­ing from you!

 

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