Melissa Stewart
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In-Person Programs for Kids

Melissa Stewart Visiting Author

Ani­mals and Habitats

Grades PreK‑1, 20 min­utes, serves up to 25 students

Fol­low­ing an engag­ing read-aloud, young chil­dren learn about about the book-mak­ing process and par­tic­i­pate in activ­i­ties based on When Rain Falls or Under the Snow.

Where Facts and Fic­tion Meet

Grade K‑5, 45 min­utes, no lim­it to size of audience

This whole-school pro­gram begins with a fun, inter­ac­tive read aloud of Meet the Mini-mam­mals: A Night at the Nat­ur­al His­to­ry Muse­um, illus­trat­ed by Calde­cott Hon­oree Bri­an Lies. Then Melis­sa shares the cre­ative process of mak­ing the book and how her vision for it changed over time. Stu­dent vol­un­teers have an oppor­tu­ni­ty to par­tic­i­pate in engag­ing STEM activ­i­ties, and there will be time for Q&A at the end.

From Idea to Book: Research­ing, Writ­ing, and Revising

Grades K‑2, 30 min­utes, no lim­it to audi­ence size
Grades 3–5, 45 min­utes, no lim­it to audi­ence size

Fol­low­ing a live­ly read aloud of Can an Aard­vark Bark? (K‑5) or Four­teen Mon­keys: A Rain­for­est Rhyme (3–5), stu­dents dis­cov­er the fas­ci­nat­ing sto­ry behind the book’s creation—from choos­ing a top­ic and gath­er­ing infor­ma­tion to a revi­sion process rid­dled with rejec­tion and, ulti­mate­ly, suc­cess! Per­fect for large groups or mul­ti-age audiences.

The Secret to Choos­ing a Topic

Grade 2–5, 45 min­utes, serves up to 3 class­rooms at the same grade level

For many stu­dents, choos­ing a non­fic­tion top­ic is a real strug­gle. In this fast-paced, illu­mi­nat­ing ses­sion, Melis­sa shares how she gets ideas for her books, describes how she avoids run­ning out of ideas, and shows stu­dents how they can mod­i­fy her strat­e­gy to work in a school set­ting. Stu­dents should bring their writer’s note­book and a pencil.

Revi­sion Decisions

Grades 3–5, 45 min­utes, serves up to 3 class­rooms at the same grade level

In this inter­ac­tive pro­gram, Melis­sa pulls back the cur­tain on her revi­sion process to show how much her drafts improve over time through self-edit­ing and being open to feed­back from her cri­tique group. She also invites stu­dents to par­tic­i­pate in an activ­i­ty that high­lights strate­gies for choos­ing pre­cise language.

Explor­ing Text Structures

Grade 4–5, 45 min­utes, serves up to 3 class­rooms at the same grade level

Choos­ing a text struc­ture can be one of the most chal­leng­ing parts of the infor­ma­tion­al writ­ing process. In this infor­ma­tive ses­sion, Melis­sa shares her own expe­ri­ences exper­i­ment­ing with text struc­tures and the lessons she’s learned over time. She also shows stu­dents how easy it can be to switch from one text struc­ture to anoth­er by flip­ping sen­tences around.

Birds of a Feather

Grades 3–5, 60 min­utes, serves up to 6 classrooms

This engag­ing pro­gram address­es both sci­ence and ELA stan­dards by inte­grat­ing infor­ma­tion about the writ­ing and book-mak­ing process with a series of activ­i­ties that explore birds’ body fea­tures and the adap­ta­tions they depend on for survival.

Non­fic­tion Writ­ing Sprints

Grades 4–8, 60 min­utes, serves 1 classroom

In this fast-faced, engag­ing work­shop intend­ed for class­es in the midst of a non­fic­tion writ­ing project, Melis­sa writes with stu­dents in a series of 10-minute bursts. Fol­low­ing each writ­ing peri­od, stu­dents describe the chal­lenges they are fac­ing at that moment and Melis­sa offers sug­ges­tions. Then Melis­sa shares the chal­lenges she is fac­ing and mod­els how she might address them. This pop­u­lar pro­gram high­lights how pro­fes­sion­al writ­ers go about their work.

Bonus for Massachusetts school
Melissa Stewart
Melis­sa Stewart

For more infor­ma­tion, read the Plan­ning a Vis­it page, and then please con­tact Melis­sa.

School Visit Slideshow

Watch this School Vis­its Slideshow to see how Melis­sa taps into the delight and fas­ci­na­tion chil­dren have for nature and learn­ing via the tools that nature provides.