Award-winning children’s book author Susan B. Katz brought her thinking cap and her marvelous version of “brainwork” to Tibbott and Irene King elementary schools.
A National Board Certified teacher, she delighted both schools’ younger students with a fun, interactive presentation about shapes and months based on her latest book “All Year Round” which was named Best New Book of 2016 by the Children’s Book Review.
“All of you are writers,” she told the children. “I get ideas when I’m driving, and I have to pull over and stop the car to write them down. I get them while I’m sleeping so I have to wake up and write them down. I get a lot of ideas when I’m on an airplane. When you get ideas write them down on paper.”
Her first book, “ABC Baby Me,” was written the day after her twin nephews were born.
“My Mama Earth” was written because she wanted to help children protect our planet. She wrote “ABC School’s For Me” as a sequel to her first book.
Katz’s visits were courtesy of Scholastic.
Mentoring program deemed a success
Jane Addams Middle School will celebrate the success of the school’s 3M-Alliance May 21 with special graduation ceremonies for six eighth graders who helped launch the new mentoring program earlier this year. When they do graduate from the Alliance, they will do so wearing new suits provided to them free of charge as a reward for their hard work by Kenneth Parks Sr., a Joliet apparel consultant for the Kema Apparel Group.
“It all started out when a teacher said I have a sixth grade student who could benefit from having an older mentor,” recalled Jane Addams Behavior Specialist Miguel Salinas, who serves as the group’s advisor. “Now, the goal is one day to see 3M-Alliance all over Bolingbrook. When you build a house, it’s all about the foundation. Once you have a foundation, you can build the house.”
The Alliance’s three M’s (mentoring, motivation and mindset) serve as the guiding principles for the group. Every Monday before school starts, mentors must track and report their own grades and the grades of the six seventh graders that are their mentees. They go into the classroom and observe their mentees, help them with school work and meet with them one on one “to give them feedback” utilizing their eighth grade experience.
The group has gone to Bulls games together and visited the DePaul University campus. They created their own logo featuring a lion and a cub and proudly wear it on their Alliance sweatshirts.
Salinas readily admits he has seen some “amazing things” from the Alliance. “I actually had a mom stop me in the store and say your program has changed my son,” Salinas said.
Equally amazing is the path that brought Parks to the group courtesy of Bolingbrook High School Assistant Principal Dr. Albert Brass who introduced him to Jane Addams Dean Tammy Rotelli.
“The day I came out and met you guys, I knew I made the right decision,” Park told the mentors as he presented the suits to them Wednesday. “I was in eighth grade once and somebody helped me. What I am doing is just a small token of what you guys have started. You guys should be awfully proud of yourself.”