Author Visit Inspires Rocky Point Students

From Rocky Point School District: Rocky Point School District K-5 students learned about the work of a professional writer when famed children’s book author Julia Cook recently visited Frank J. Carasiti Elementary School and Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School.

Ms. Cook conducted schoolwide assemblies at both buildings, speaking about her start as an author, the process she follows when developing books as well as shared excerpts from some of her most beloved stories.

At FJC, she also conducted two classroom workshops with second-graders to delve into the writing process more deeply. Brainstorming together, the groups learned how to approach story writing from a different angle — rather than putting pencil to paper and begin writing immediately, Ms. Cook encouraged them to first create a list of “take aways” or key facts that they wanted their readers to retain and then work to incorporate those items into their written pieces.

The inspirational author, who is also considered a parenting expert and inspirational speaker, also conducted a special evening parent workshop in collaboration with the schools’ PTA. During this session, Ms. Cook discussed many topics explored in her books, including video game/screen time, balancing the parenting act, kids’ personal safety and techniques for teaching social skills.

Photo courtesy of the Rocky Point School District