Category Archives: Elementary School

January 31, 2019

Pre-write to get it right – GO Sheets.

Sara and I are very proud of our new PD book From Striving to Thriving Writers: Strategies That Jump-Start Writing. And, we are more than humbled that one of our biggest influences on our teaching styles, Stephanie Harvey, has made significant contributions to the book. We feel that our philosophies meld nicely. I have attended […]


November 8, 2018

East Central Ohio Educational Service Center, New Philadelphia, Ohio

And the winner in our acronym competition is… East Central Ohio Educational Service Center, New Philadelphia, Ohio supports teachers and students in – surprise, East Central Ohio. We’ve worked with their teachers and students the last couple years. As much as we enjoy our international travel we love working with our fellow buckeyes any chance […]


October 19, 2018

Bahrain Bayan School

Ever have the feeling that you’ve been somewhere before? The Bahrain Bayan School was the very first international school we ever visited over 14 years ago! It was great to complete this big crazy circle with friends old and new. Our host with the most on this iteration was a force we met in Cairo […]


October 18, 2018

Universal American School Dubai

Some wilt in the heat some thrive. Universal American School in Dubai can be grouped with the latter as can their vivacious and voraciously read librarian Rhonda. Juggler of competing schedules between the lower and upper school, feeder of visiting crackpot poets – enthusiastic student advocate and literacy pusher Rhonda kept us on track from […]


October 16, 2018

Abu Dhabi Community School

Abu Dhabi Doo! It’s been nine years since our last visit to Abu Dhabi Community school and while we encountered some new faces we also ran into some old friends. This young lady had her picture taken with Sara back in 2009 and again this visit. Thank you to Mary and Julie – librarians extraordinaire […]


April 21, 2018

ABYDOS Literacy Conference – Dallas, Texas

It’s truly amazing that things work out as well as they do sometimes. The bluebonnets were blooming on the side of the road on our way from DFW to the Abydos Literacy Learning conference hotel. Alise and Emily were navigating us, darting back and forth with the assuredness of veterans of Dallas traffic wrangling. There […]


April 10, 2018

Dostyk American International School – Atyrau, Kazakhstan

You need a good reason to go to Atyrau, Kazakhstan. To go back a second time you need a damned good reason. Fortunately, Sara and I had one of the best reasons ever, to visit Dostyk American International School’s students and teachers and a couple of our dearest international friends Seamus and Theresa Marriott. Seamus […]


April 2, 2018

American International School of Bucharest

True story, we were surrounded by vampires. Okay, the American International School of Bucharest just may have the best school mascot ever. Who wouldn’t want to be a Fighting Vampire?! But, a boss mascot is not all the school has going for it. Librarians par excellence Stacey and John shepherded us through four fun and […]


March 30, 2018

Anglo American School of St. Petersburg

They say good things come in small packages. The Anglo-American School of St. Petersburg may not be as big in size and student body as their cousin in Moscow but they certainly don’t lack in enthusiasm or hospitality. School librarian Melissa takes care of the whole shebang grades k thru 12. She also took care […]


March 26, 2018

Anglo American School of Moscow

The Cold War is ostensibly over but that didn’t keep us from being picked up from our Anglo-American School of Moscow provided apartment by a spy. Or so I suspected from the info sheet given to us by Kris one of the librarians at the school. K. will pick you up at 11am to take […]


Testimonials

“Sara and Michael bring infectious energy and joy leavened with deep knowledge of best practices in literacy to their work with children and teachers.” Ellin Keene – Author of Mosaic of Thought and The Teacher You Want to Be
“Sara and Michael bring magic, and a contagious love of words to both students and teachers alike!” Georgia Heard - Author of Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School More testimonials...