Remember the May B. Book Club Kit Giveaway? Here’s a story from one of the runners-up. Sarah Baldwin teaches at the Batam Island International School in Batam, Indonesia. Her students (first through seventh grade) have just finished reading May B. I couldn’t resist posting her lovely email and the pictures that accompanied it:
Our classroom journey through the world of May B has been an enlightening adventure!
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| Marking out the dimensions of a soddy |
The children excelled at writing up and presenting reports on the flora and fauna native to Kansas. They really enjoyed marking out the inside of a soddy home and felt cramped just imagining the dirt walls, ceiling and seemingly endless snow outside.
Your vocabulary words were accessible and insightful, especially to those who have never seen the Midwest of the United States. Most of all, the students enjoyed the short video clips of you describing soddy homes and poetry. Thank you for preparing those for us!
Thank you for providing a wonderful Study Guide on which we could hang all our ideas and questions surrounding May B. As a teacher, I was gratified to read the students’ responses to the the KWL Chart: Life on the Prairie. They definitely remembered the fact that buffalo chips weren’t like Dorritos and teachers could be as young as 15 years old! I really enjoyed hearing students’ insights into the discussion questions.
May B was just as much a gift to me as it was to my students. I grew up wanting to be Laura Ingalls Wilder. Now I want to be the best teacher I can to my students. Thank you for tugging at my heart strings, reminding me to be sympathetic and have eyes to see the special needs of those in my classroom. Thank you for creating scenes and moments, like snapshots in my mind, of the frigid bareness of a Kansas prairie winter. Thank you for taking the time to share the story of May B with the world.
See what writing books and sharing them with the world can do?! Love this so much!!
This is wonderful and encouraging, Caroline. Thank you for sharing it.
I am attempting to write my next novel–in verse, using May B, Out of the Dust, and Witness as my study guides. *fingers crossed*
so nice! what a fantastic thing to happen for a writer!
This is so sweet and just plain wonderful!
What a great book club! I love that you have prepared a kit. Is it also available online on your site?
It’s great that they are enjoying your book and learning from it so much. Buffalo chips–ha! It is a bit of a shock when someone first learns what they are. 🙂
Mia,
The kit was a giveaway I did. The study guide (link within the post) has all the activities mentioned here.
What a touching sweet result your book has had on people (teachers and students) and across the world.
Milt
That is so completely awesome. I love seeing them all sitting and standing around barefoot. Reminds me of my home, too. 🙂 How neat it must be to see this, Caroline!