PRESENTATIONS
Click on the presentation title below for more information.
K-1st | A-Rockin’ and A-Read-Aloud!
2nd– 4th | A-Rockin’ and A-Readin’! + Q&A
4th– 5th | Poetry Party! + Q&A
4th – 6th Grade | Write On! Writing Workshop
Pre-K – 4th Grade | Meet Ellinor Billington 17th Century Pilgrim
Virtual School Visits & Workshops
Here’s what they’re saying:
“Diane is energetic, enthusiastic, and quite talented. She obviously loves children, and they love her right back.”
Lynne Dye, Media Specialist, Keheley Elementary
“I have had many teachers tell me that you are the best author to ever present at our school.”
Amy Hailey, Media Specialist Addison Elementary
Contact: dianezshore@gmail.com | Phone: 404-642-8949
For All Face-to-Face Presentations
Diane makes her visits easy on the Media Specialist by providing several copies of her books for preview, a handout announcing to the teachers about the upcoming visit, a Book Order Form (she uses an independent bookseller to handle book sales or your local bookstore ), and the contract. She also provides an Author Visit Checklist, with activities and suggestions so both the teachers and students are well prepared for a smooth running visit. Schools may order autographed books. I will provide the order form, order the books, and deliver/ship them to the school.
Cost
$600 for two sessions, $750 for three presentations, $1,000 for four presentations, $1,200 for five presentations + some travel and lodging outside Metro Atlanta. Minimum cost $600/day. If 3 schools book consecutively, mileage/flight fees are waived. If 4-5 schools book consecutively, ALL travel and lodging fees are waived.
Class Curriculum
Language Arts, History, Character Education
(Evening/Parent Presentations Available for $250)
A-Rockin’ and A-Read-Aloud!
Pre-K – 1st Grade
30-35 minutes
Cost: $600 for 2 presentations, $750 for 3 presentations,
$1000 for 4 presentations, $1250 for 5 presentations
(Powerpoint Presentation, fast-paced like Sesame Street)
Starting off with a rip-roarin’ rhyming, riddle contest, Diane then shares her Highlights for Children article about George Washington’s false teeth. They’re not made of wood! Next are songs, jokes, poems, hidden pictures, Look Both Ways with Filbert the squirrel puppet and (in both French and German) Bus-A-Saurus Bop, reader’s theater, and more!
It’s an ultra energetic, inspirational, interactive (shh! it’s also educational)
celebration of literacy that motivates kids to read!
A-Rockin’ and A-Readin’!
2nd – 4th Grade
40 minutes
Cost: $600 for 2 presentations, $750 for 3 presentations
$1000 for 4 presentations, $1,250 for 5 presentations
(Powerpoint Presentation, fast-paced like Sesame Street)
Poems, puzzles, Highlights for Children article on the First Ferris Wheel, vivid verb, activity songs, “small moments” rejections/sloppy copies, revisions, hidden pictures, Create-A-Saurus and my hilarious “Never Give Up” (story on getting published.) It’s ultra-energetic, interactive, and inspirational (shh! it’s also educational, but don’t tell the kids that!) Celebration of literacy! Question and answer period if time permits. These kids ask a LOT of questions?
It’s ultra-energetic, interactive, and inspirational (shh! it’s also educational, but don’t tell the kids that!) celebration of literacy!
Poetry Party!
4th – 6th Grade
45 minutes
Cost: $600 for 2 presentations, $750 for 3 presentations,
$1,000 for 4 presentations, $1250 for 5 presentations
(Fast-paced Powerpoint presentation)
Using her trademark humor, Diane recounts her road to publication, and how she started out writing poetry by changing the words to nursery rhymes. She shares sloppy copies and rejections and compares the first draft to the final. If time permits, she shares her own books as well as stories and poems published in HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN, CRICKET, SPIDER, TURTLE, HUMPTY DUMPTY and other children’s magazines. Creating poetry can be fun, challenging, AND enjoyable for both students and teachers.
“And they thought they were just having fun!”
Students learn
- alliteration
- hyperbole
- internal rhyme
- personification
- metaphors/similes
- onomatopoeia
- rhythm/meter
- hooks/beginnings
- revisions
Diane – It was our pleasure and privilege to have you come to our school. I have heard nothing but “raves” about your presentations and how you geared them toward a particular age group. One teacher said she thought that it was the best author visit that Blue Ridge had ever had in over 15 years of having author visits! I also had kids stop me in the hallway and say they really liked the author! You made me look good! It was a win-win situation!”
4th – 6th Grade | Write On! Writing Workshop
Virtual School Visits & Workshops
Virtual School Visit fee: $ 200/presentation.
Choose from the following presentations:
All presentations/workshops are on PowerPoint.
Choose your platform to screen-share (Google Meets, Zoom, Skype, etc.)
I will schedule up to 5 presentations/day.
Meet Ellinor Billington – 17tn Century Pilgrim
Pre-K – 4th Grade
45 minutes
Cost: $300
A maximum of 45 students
Diane performs and teaches about 17th-century America as Ellinor Billington, a colorful and rather opinionated colonist, who along with her troublesome husband and two mischievous sons traveled to the New World aboard the Mayflower in 1620.
In Pilgrim costume and Olde English language, Diane, through Ellinor’s eyes, answers questions and shares stories of the Mayflower voyage, that first year of hardship in the New World, and everyday life in 1627 Plimoth. Includes a hands-on, interactive demonstration of 17th-century European and Native American children’s toys and games. You’ll play Hoop and Stick, Whip Top, Cup and Ball, Stick Pin(and more!), and learn how to write your name with a quill pen!
An excerpt of Diane’s performance:
“I’m a wee embarrassed to tell you about the time my sons got into a bit of trouble with some squibs — gunpowder — and nearly blew up the Mayflower! Now my sons, like all boys, are somewhat mischievous. I did overhear Goodwife Hopkins say they were rude and rotten and didn’t mind orders, but that was when she was great with child, and we all say things we don’t mean when we’re a might uncomfortable, and besides, they do mind orders, it’s just that my lazy husband doesn’t give them any!
Nevertheless, we had set upon this wild wilderness, coming from a city no less, to these untamed shores, where ’twas none but wild beasts and wild men (wearing not but a stitch of clothing) that greeted us…“
It’s an entertaining, engaging, and educational time travel that brings history to life!