School Visits That Move Nonfiction Off the Shelf

Kay Jackson is an author,  teacher and submarine builder. She has written over 17 nonfiction books on topics ranging from biomes to plate tectonics to submarines. Her nonfiction books help kids find answers, solve problems, explore the world, and ignite dreams. Kay taught for 20 years in 5 states, 3 countries, and on 3 continents.

Want to get your kids engaged in reading and learning? Try nonfiction and watch those books move off the library shelves and into your kids’ hands!

Nonfiction books help kids find answers, solve problems, explore the world, and ignite dreams.

My husband Doug and I are living proof of this. We have lived in deserts, grasslands, rain forests, and by the ocean. We were always lead there by nonfiction books and I, in turn, have written books using those experiences. It was also nonfiction books that led us to white-water canoeing, sailing, scuba diving, and building an underwater ROV and our submarine, Seeker, pictured here.

I offer three school presentations:

1.   Put Nonfiction into Action  (K-8)
 
2.   Seeker the Submarine (Beginning April ’09) (4-12th)
 
3.   Exploring the World through Nonfiction (HS/Adults)

Call or email, and we can talk about what I can do for your students.

Kay Jackson,
Email: NF4Kids@aol.com
Phone: (918) 382-9961
 

1.   Put Nonfiction into Action

Grades: K-8

Fees for Tulsa area: $800 for a full day = 5 sessions + lunch with a group of children
                                   $400 for a half day = 2 sessions + lunch, or, 3 sessions

Fees for outside of Tulsa:  $1000 plus expenses for a full day = 5 sessions + lunch with a group of children
                                             $550 plus expenses for a half day = 2 sessions + lunch, or, 3 sessions
                                             Expenses:  Airfare or mileage if I’m driving, hotel, meals, rental car if I fly in.
 
I’m flexible! I can create a school visit schedule that works best for your school.

Presentation Overview: Sure, nonfiction books are about people, places, things, and ideas. They are information books. But are they really action books? You bet! During this presentation, I help students make the connection between reading and action by taking students through these four steps.


2.   Seeker the Submarine (Beginning April ’09)

Grades: 4-12

Fees for Tulsa area:
    Full Day with Kay and Seeker: $1500 = 6 sessions + lunch with a group of children.
    Full Day with Kay, Doug and Seeker: $2000 = Kay will present 6 sessions & Doug will provide tours of Seeker.

Fees for outside of Tulsa:  Just add expenses - mileage, meals and hotel.

Presentation Overview: The submarine is an extreme Do-It-Yourself project. She’s a two-person sub that rides on the surface like a boat and then submerges to explore lakes and oceans.

The sub's also the perfect example of using nonfiction books to fulfill a dream. My husband, Doug, is her designer and he used many books to learn more the basics about submarines, engines, metal boat building, electronics, etc. He used those books to create Seeker. And, he and I together built her – first in our garage and then in our front yard!

With the submarine at your school, your students will be able to see it, ask question, learn about the science behind her design and be inspired to make use of nonfiction books.

This presentation is great for middle and high school science, technology or votech classes.


3.   Writing Children’s Nonfiction

Grades: High School and Adults

Fees for Tulsa area: $200 per session

Fees for outside of Tulsa: $200 per session plus travel expenses: mileage, hotel, meals.

Presentation Overview: Did you know rocks can speak? That grasses and trees are at war?  In this presentation, I describe how I create a story with the “characters” in my books. I show how I dig for that shining bit of information that will spark a child’s curiosity.


Contact me to plan a visit for your school!

Kay Jackson
Email: NF4Kids@aol.com
Phone: (918) 382-9961
 

My Books

Explore the Desert, Explore the Grasslands, and Explore the Ocean
Capstone's FactFinders for Early Readers, 2006

Designed for readers ages 7 to 10, these books create a "you are there" feeling using journal notes and sidebars. Each ends with the description of a scientist and his or her work. For example, Explore Grasslands highlights Con Slobodchikoff who studies how prairie dogs communicate. He believes these little creatures have at a vocabulary of at least 20 words!
 

Deserts, Lakes, Oceans, and Rivers
Capstone's Bridgestone Books, 2006

These short books highlight the plants, animals, people, and weather of a specific earthform as well as how it was formed. Vivid photos, amazing facts, and maps complete these fascinating geography introductions.

The places and spaces of our world fascinate me. I’ve hiked the deserts of Arizona, California and New Mexico. I’ve rafted, canoed, and waded in rivers of both North and South America. I’ve swam in the warm waters on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and jumped into the cold waters of the Pacific. I’ve also explored the green waters and muddy bottoms of the lakes in American Midwest. With each of these little books, I drew upon those experiences to create a personal yet accurate picture of the biomes of the world.

Life in a Freshwater Lake
Gale's Kidhaven Press, 2006

While freshwater lakes cover only a fraction of the earth’s surface, these bodies of freshwater are home to thousands of different species of plants and animals. Freshwater Lakes explains the processes that form lakes, describes the plants and animals that live in lakes, and shows how people affect lakes.

As I wrote Lakes I looked back on our experiences diving the lakes of Oklahoma and Arkansas as well as the freshwater spring pools of Florida. These memories inspired topics such as "Stuck in the Mud," "Everything Depends on Algae", "Floaters, Skimmers and Swimmers," and "Hunters, Paddlers, and Waders."

Plate Tectonics
Gale's Lucent Books, 2005

In seconds, mountains explode, earthquakes topple skyscrapers, and tsunamis race across entire oceans. Tectonic forces are the cause of these disasters. The Earth’s surface is a dynamic mosaic of giant crustal plates that drift across the planet’s face. Plate Tectonics explains the ancient geological forces that continue to shape our planet and the fragile life on it.

When I wrote Plate Tectonics, I thought about my middle school students. What about plate tectonics would capture their interest? As I read the first-hand accounts of the geologists who developed and refined the theory of plate tectonics, it was clear that this was a time of excitement. These scientists, many only graduate students in their twenties, broke through long-held traditions and well-established views to create a theory that literally changed how we see our world. I wanted to transmit to my readers that sense of thrill and adventure. To that end, Plate Tectonics is filled with quotes from the earth scientists whose ideas, discoveries, and experiences have given us, as Helen Prager states in Earth’s Fury, a way for “us understand the present, past and future shape of the Earth's surface, and its earth-shaking, fiery, and watery displays of power."