Nancy Elizabeth Wallace participates in Project DREAM

Twenty-six third-graders from Strong School in New Haven, Connecticut, prepared for three months to meet author/illustrator Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. As participants in Project DREAM (Developing Reading, Education, and Motivation), a New Haven-based social development program and Strong Elementary School’s own EOL (Essentials of Literacy) program, these students read Nancy’s book, Tell-a-Bunny, and made various creative projects based on the book before meeting the author/illustrator at the Yale Bookstore.

Poster by the children

Beginning in February 2001, Mrs. Goodrich and Mrs. Shepard introduced their third grade class to Tell-a-Bunny, a humorous story of a bunny’s botched attempt to organize a birthday party. As news of the celebration spreads from bunny to bunny, the details get increasingly jumbled until the party plans have morphed entirely. After reading the book, the third-graders wrote their own versions of the story, played telephone to experience how a message changes as it is passed along, held a Valentine’s Day party, and created two murals using cut-paper art–Nancy’s signature style.

Poster by the children

Project DREAM, coordinated by Ann Verderame, strives to combine academic, social, and experiential learning. Funded by a Title 1 grant, DREAM brings roughly thirty authors and illustrators to kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms each year. The majority of authors and illustrators are residents of Connecticut and New York, but some come from as far as New Mexico. Each child receives a copy of the book a few months before meeting the author or illustrator at a New Haven bookstore. This interval allows the students to explore various aspects of the book through hands-on projects. Strong Elementary School’s third-graders were fully prepared with questions and excitement when they met with Nancy at the Yale Bookstore. The students’ teacher, Mrs. Shepard, described the experience as a wonderful time for the children.