Children's Book Author, Annie Silvestro, Visits Grades K-2 at GAMS

Children’s book Author, Annie Silvestro, visited grades K-2 at GAMS on Monday, February 25 for a special reading of her book, Bunny’s Book Club. The visit was extra special for Ms. Purdy’s 1^st Grade class.  The students in her class began video lessons with Annie Silvestro back in 2018 but had not yet met her in person.

Ms. Purdy had connected with Annie in late August through a program on Twitter called #KidsNeedMentors.  “I had applied to be a part of the program and was paired up with Annie, who lives in central New Jersey. The program asks for authors to send their books to the class they are paired with and then also asks them to be in contact several times throughout the year,” said Ms. Purdy.  

The class first skyped with Annie back in October when she originally shared her book Bunny's Book Club.  “We asked her lots of questions and got to know a little about her personal life and what it’s like to be an author.  We then mailed her some of our writing to review for feedback.  When we skyped again in December, she shared her book The Christmas Tree Who Loved Trains and provided us with the feedback on the writing we sent. Annie also sent us personalized letters to ring in the New Year and get us excited to get back to work in 2019,”  said Ms. Purdy.

Annie Silvestro has two new books coming out later this year, and she recently sent Ms. Purdy’s class a preview F&G (folded and gathered) copy of Butterflies on the First Day of School before it is even published.  “It has been an amazing journey getting to know her and see the process of making a book first hand,” said Purdy.

ATTENTION: Are your scholars or colleagues doing something great? Please contact the district Communications Team at communications@necsd.net. We’d love to visit your class or event and/or post your pictures and recap to highlight the amazing accomplishments throughout our district!