School & Library Visits
Janice N. Harrington is available to visit your elementary school or library in-person or virtually. Her programs present dynamic read alouds, participatory storytelling, and information on writing that inspires children to write their own stories. Programs are easily scheduled three – six months in advance.
Individual author visits typically run for 45 minutes. STEM programs, Biography Trunk Shows, and poetry workshops can be scheduled for 1.5 – 2.0 hours, depending on the age group. Fees are based on the number of presentations and the length of the program.
Storytimes for Pre-K
As a former children’s librarian, Harrington brings fingerplays, songs, poetry, picturebook read alouds, and storytelling to every storytime. Each storytime will showcase one of her picturebooks for young children. If you’re studying transportation, farm life, or family, she has a program that can help.
First – Third Grade
During every author visit, students will enjoy storytelling, read-alouds, participatory poetry, and an enthusiastic introduction to how to become a writer. Students are encouraged to read, and Harrington shares tips that will help them fulfill their dream of writing.
Fourth – Fifth grade
Assemblies for older elementary-school students or small-group presentations center on the craft of writing and reading for pleasure. Students will enjoy storytelling, participatory poetry, and a dynamic reading of Harrington’s grade-appropriate books such as Catching a Storyfish.
STEM Centered Programs for Grades K-3
Buzzing with Questions!
Storytelling, group poetry writing, a reading of Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles S. Turner, ant anatomy, re-enacting Charles S. Turner’s attempt to map an ant’s wandering, and an audiovisual display and discussion of polyester bees, mining bees that burrow down into the soil.
Rooting for Plants
Storytelling, poetry, and a reading of Rooting for Plants: The Unstoppable Charles S. Parker, Black Botanist and Collector, followed by such activities as botany bingo, how to make a specimen mount, botanical drawing, or botany show-and-tell.
Biography Trunk Show: Second – Fourth Grades
Looking for something special for Black History Month? Schedule a Trunk Show. During this innovative program, students will study botanical tools, examples of specimen mounts, photographs, letters, and maps. The program asks students to use the materials in the trunk to develop theories about the life of Charles S. Parker. Who was he? What can we learn or guess? Students will observe, develop hypotheses, gather evidence, and work together in teams or pairs. The program rounds off with a dynamic reading of Rooting for Plants: The Unstoppable Charles S. Parker, Black Botanist and Collector. Suitable for a single classroom or a small group, this program also works well as an afterschool program for libraries.
Literary Arts Programs for Fourth – Sixth Grades
Poetry Workshops
Students will write poetry collaboratively and as a group. They will also learn about and write haiku, list poems, prose poems, cut ups, erasure, and paperbag poems. Students will leave the program feeling that poetry is not only fun but also an activity that they want to keep doing.
Empathy Workshops for Adults and Older Youth
Is your school or workplace facing tensions because students or workers view things only through their own perspective? Are you looking for an innovative strategy for improving customer service? In this workshop, you will use poetry to look through the eyes of others and use your imagination to ask questions, shift your viewpoint, and move away from “us vs. them.”
Praise
“She’s the kind of teller that makes you remember what ‘captivating means—she holds the audience in her hands, and you’re glad to be there.”
—Bill Thomas, Program Director WEFT Radio Urbana, Illinois
“She captivates her listeners from the very first word with her intoxicating talent. . . . A wonderful, awe-inspiring experience.”
—Paula Lopatic, librarian, Vespasian, Illinois
