Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Punctuation Station

Tuesday, September 24th, was National Punctuation Day. Did you know that?

What is YOUR favorite punctuation mark? I'm partial to the semi-colon; however, a plain old comma makes me swoon, too. And don't even get me started on the Oxford comma or series comma. I can't live without it.

A N Y W A Y...to continue...

It's time to stop at Punctuation Station!

This quiz is from SoftSchools.com, and it's especially made for those of you who are in the 4th Grade. If you are in 3rd or 5th, or any other grade, give it a go! But ...
Some of these questions seem easy but may not be! (Helpful Hint:  Don't rush.)

Follow THIS link to the quiz.

Later, Punctuation Geniuses!
~ Nancy

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Back to School, Back to Basics!

I know you're busy writing and creating wonderful stories for your teachers, but let's take a sec to review the all-important CAPITAL LETTER RULES, ok?

But a list of rules is boring, so just practice using capital letters by filling in the blanks. Careful, I may try to trick you!

always capitalize the first letter in a ________________. (<--Fix that sentence!)

What pronoun always get capitalized? _________       (_______ know you know this one!)

Write your name using proper capitalization. _____________________.

Write your nickname using proper capitalization. _________________.

Fix what is wrong:  captain jack sparrow, president obama, and nancy viau had lunch at salads-to-go in denver, colorado.

Where does SpongeBob SquarePants live? __________________________

Name a school club. ________________________

What is your favorite color? _____________________________

Name a gaming system. _____________________

Fix what is wrong:  a deer, turtle, and a dog named kitty met julia at the bus stop on richwood road.

One more. Fix what's below. Hurry! These lower case mistakes are making me nutso!

i will be signing copies of my books:  look what i can do, storm song, and samantha hansen has rocks in her head at the princeton book festival (saturday, september 21), the warwick book festival (saturday, september 28), and the collingswood book festival (october 5). i hope you stop by!

~Nancy

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

WIT is Back! ...

Hello, WIT readers!
 WELCOME BACK!

I have some fun in store for you because this blog is about to go through a bit of a change. Change IS GOOD, right? (The correct answer is YES!) Don't worry, the focus of WIT will remain the same. The posts will still be kid-friendly, short, and hopefully...um...witty.

But, beginning soon, a few of my famous friends will take over a Thursday post now and then! Pretty cool, huh?

Drumroll, please. (This is the part where you tap your knuckles on your desk really fast!)

MEET ALISON FORMENTO! Alison is the author of the award-winning picture book This Tree Counts! and its abridged board book This Tree, 1, 2, 3. From Booklist: "Teachers and parents will welcome Formento's 'going green' tale." Other titles include These Bees Count! (2012), These Seas Count! (2013), and her debut young adult novel, Twigs (2013). She loves visiting schools and libraries, and donates a portion of her book sales to AmericanForests.org.

MEET MARGIE GELBWASSER! Margie is a freelance writer who has written for a variety of magazines. Her first novel, Inconvenient (2010), was named a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Teens. Her second novel, Pieces of Us (2012), is told using four points of view. It deals with cyberbullying, abuse, family relationships, and how one teen's actions affect the other three. When not writing, Margie loves being a mom to her six-year-old boy, hiking, dancing, cooking, and watching bad television.

MEET LORI DEGMAN! Lori Degman is a teacher of Deaf/Hard of Hearing students by day and a writer of picture books by night, weekend and school holiday. Her debut picture book, 1 Zany Zoo, was the winner of the Cheerios New Author Contest and was published by Simon & Schuster in 2010. Her second picture book, Cock-a-Doodle Oops! will be released by Creston Books in 2014.

And of course, ME!
NANCY VIAU is the author of the picture books Look What I Can Do!, Storm Song, and City Street Beat (forthcoming in 2014). Her middle-grade novel, Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head, was published in 2008. Nancy lives in New Jersey, but often travels to elementary schools where she channels her inner eight-year-old and creates enough of a ruckus to inspire students to write.

So, until next week, sharpen those pencils, and perhaps try these warm-up exercises:

Practice your ABCs...backwards.
Practice writing in cursive...with the opposite hand.
Practice those keyboard strokes...with your eyes closed.
Or...
Simply impress your teachers with your witty personalities and excellent behavior.

Later gators,
: )
Nancy, Alison, Margie, and Lori

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Three, Two, One, Blastoff!





Stay tuned for WIT to return Thursday, September 12th.

In the meantime, get busy with that classwork or  homework. Your teacher told me you have some....

-N