Author Amy Sklansky conducts interactive videoconferences live from Cooperating School Districts for elementary classrooms. Learn more about her sessions here:

In Cooking a Book, she will put on a chef’s hat & coat to “cook” a book. Into her large cooking pot go inspiration, rough drafts, revisions, pencil sketches, and more as she explains how an author’s idea becomes a published book. She will use her fifth book, The Duck Who Played the Kazoo, as her primary example, although she will also read from her other selections.

In Author Visit and Eggs-periments Videoconferences (pictured), Amy discusses her book Where Do Chicks Come From? This book, part of the well-respected Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, explains what happens inside an egg from fertilization through hatching. Using visuals in a highly interactive videoconference session, Amy outlines various stages of writing the book — research, revisions, artist’s sketches.

With Inside a Poet’s Mind, Amy gives students a peek inside the mind of a poet. Sharing poems from her own books, she discusses the various places a poet finds inspiration. Then she gives examples of the ways a poet may revise her work – emphasizing concepts such as word choice, line breaks, action verbs, and punctuation. She encourages students to write a poem on their own during the videoconference using the same process.

For Amy’s programs, CSD members pay $155, nonmembers pay $195 per session.To schedule a videoconference, contact Cooperating School Districts.