My name is Steve Reifman, and I’m an elementary school teacher and writer in Santa Monica, CA. You and I follow each other on Twitter, and that’s how I discovered your terrific blog. I want to share an idea with you that I think you and your students will really like. First, here’s a little background. I’m the author of the Chase Manning Mystery Series for readers 8-12 years of age, and Chase Against Time, the series debut, is coming out March 15th. Chase Against Time features a single-day, real-time mystery thriller that occurs on an elementary school campus.
As a teacher, the cause of literacy is near and dear to my heart, and I am confident the book’s fast-paced, suspenseful nature will resonate with both boys and girls, while the kid-friendly, positive tone will appeal to teachers and parents. It is my understanding that many 4th and 5th grade students often have difficulty finding appealing books at their levels, and I believe that this book can help fill the void. Children as young as 2nd and 3rd grade have also read and enjoyed the book. Chase Against Time is a 5.2 level book on the Accelerated Reader scale and a level Q on the Fountas and Pinnell scale. A plot synopsis, endorsement quotes, and other details about the series can also be found on my website, http://stevereifman.com.
Recently, I have started corresponding with students who are reading the book in class and blogging about it. In Mt. Washington, KY, for example, one fifth grade class is posting their answers to the discussion questions I included in my Chase Against Time Teaching Guide on edmodo.com, and I’m responding to them. If your students blog about the books they read in class, I’d love to correspond with them, as well. Whether they use edmodo or some other site or service, I would just need to be sent a link whenever they blog, and I’d be delighted to respond. Kids don’t often have the opportunity to communicate with the authors of the books they read, and I think they’d get quite a kick out of it. Plus, as a National Board Certified Teacher, I could offer valuable feedback on their comments and reinforce any teaching points you may wish to emphasize.
Currently, the book is available for purchase on my website, and it is available for pre-order on amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. If you’re interested in the books, and you buy them on my site, I can personally sign them to you and your students. In addition, I can arrange a quantity discount and determine the most reasonable shipping rate. [The Paypal module on my site is unable to adjust the shipping rate for multiple orders, but we could easily figure this out via e-mail.] Finally, if you purchase the book on my site, I’ll gladly send you a free copy of the aforementioned teaching guide. I created the guide to help educators incorporate Chase Against Time into their language arts programs. The guide contains word lists from every chapter of the book to improve students’ spelling and vocabulary development, discussion questions from every chapter to address reading comprehension, and Reading and Writing Workshop mini-lessons, featuring examples from the book, that teachers can incorporate into any type of Mystery or Fiction Unit. Many of the story planning and vocabulary-building strategies, instructional tips, and graphic organizers featured in the guide are designed to be highly generalizable so that teachers can use them throughout the school year.
Please let me know what you think and please feel free to forward this message to any colleagues who might be interested in the book or in my blogging idea. Thanks so much for your time.
1 comment:
Hi Kim,
My name is Steve Reifman, and I’m an elementary school teacher and writer in Santa Monica, CA. You and I follow each other on Twitter, and that’s how I discovered your terrific blog. I want to share an idea with you that I think you and your students will really like. First, here’s a little background. I’m the author of the Chase Manning Mystery Series for readers 8-12 years of age, and Chase Against Time, the series debut, is coming out March 15th. Chase Against Time features a single-day, real-time mystery thriller that occurs on an elementary school campus.
As a teacher, the cause of literacy is near and dear to my heart, and I am confident the book’s fast-paced, suspenseful nature will resonate with both boys and girls, while the kid-friendly, positive tone will appeal to teachers and parents. It is my understanding that many 4th and 5th grade students often have difficulty finding appealing books at their levels, and I believe that this book can help fill the void. Children as young as 2nd and 3rd grade have also read and enjoyed the book. Chase Against Time is a 5.2 level book on the Accelerated Reader scale and a level Q on the Fountas and Pinnell scale. A plot synopsis, endorsement quotes, and other details about the series can also be found on my website, http://stevereifman.com.
Recently, I have started corresponding with students who are reading the book in class and blogging about it. In Mt. Washington, KY, for example, one fifth grade class is posting their answers to the discussion questions I included in my Chase Against Time Teaching Guide on edmodo.com, and I’m responding to them. If your students blog about the books they read in class, I’d love to correspond with them, as well. Whether they use edmodo or some other site or service, I would just need to be sent a link whenever they blog, and I’d be delighted to respond. Kids don’t often have the opportunity to communicate with the authors of the books they read, and I think they’d get quite a kick out of it. Plus, as a National Board Certified Teacher, I could offer valuable feedback on their comments and reinforce any teaching points you may wish to emphasize.
Currently, the book is available for purchase on my website, and it is available for pre-order on amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. If you’re interested in the books, and you buy them on my site, I can personally sign them to you and your students. In addition, I can arrange a quantity discount and determine the most reasonable shipping rate. [The Paypal module on my site is unable to adjust the shipping rate for multiple orders, but we could easily figure this out via e-mail.] Finally, if you purchase the book on my site, I’ll gladly send you a free copy of the aforementioned teaching guide. I created the guide to help educators incorporate Chase Against Time into their language arts programs. The guide contains word lists from every chapter of the book to improve students’ spelling and vocabulary development, discussion questions from every chapter to address reading comprehension, and Reading and Writing Workshop mini-lessons, featuring examples from the book, that teachers can incorporate into any type of Mystery or Fiction Unit. Many of the story planning and vocabulary-building strategies, instructional tips, and graphic organizers featured in the guide are designed to be highly generalizable so that teachers can use them throughout the school year.
Please let me know what you think and please feel free to forward this message to any colleagues who might be interested in the book or in my blogging idea. Thanks so much for your time.
Best,
Steve
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