Letha H Brown Award - Dr Shoulders

8/9/2019 Letha H Brown Award - Dr Shoulders

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Dr. Michael ShouldersMotivational AssembliesFor Elementary Students

Nomination for Letha H. Brown Literacy Award

March 15, 2010

Altrusa International Inc. of Montrose, COPO Box 3184

Montrose, CO 81402United States of America

District Ten


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ALTLetha H. Brown Literacy Award

ENTRY FORMPlease type or print. (If you need additional room, please add separate sheets of paper tothe Entry Form.)

District: Ten---------------------------Name of Altrusa Club: Altrusa International Inc., of Montrose, ColoradoAddress: PO Box 3184City: Montrose State/Provi nce: _ C _ O _Country: United States of America Zip/Postal Code: 81402-3184Contact Person: Lorie Bollig, Immediate Past-PresidentTelephone: (970)249-6823Date (day, month, year): _1_5_M_a_r_c_h_2_0_10 _Club Membership (as of entry date): _8_6 _

E-mail: [email protected]

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Project Title: Dr. Michael Shoulders Motivational Assemblies for Elementary StudentsProject Description:The narrative must not exceed 1,000 words, must be typed, double-spaced, and onplain white paper. In developing the narrative, Clubs should refer to the judging criteriaand score sheet. Please refer to the section entitled, "Entries," #4 for questions thatshould be addressed in the narrative to assist judges in evaluating your submission.The winning entries at the District Conferences must reach the International Office byJune 1st to be considered in the International competition.

Altrusa International, Inc.332 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 1123; Chicago, IL 60604Phone: 312.427.4410; Fax: 312.427.8521E-Mail: [email protected] 7 of 7 Revised July 2007

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Author and literacy speaker Michael Shoulders was invited to providemotivational assemblies to K-2 and grades 3-5 in 5 of RJ1 DistrictElementary schools on February 1, 2nd and 3rd, 2010. Mr. Shoulder'sunique approach to encourage young children to read, to think about howstories become books, and about how writers of books go about writing,rewriting and getting their books illustrated and published, encouragedstudents to contemplate their own favorite books and stories. Theassemblies also explored the nature of being an author, illustrator andteacher and what these professions entail.

Mr. Shoulders is an author of children's book and winner of theNAPPA (National Parenting Publications Award) Gold Award. He travelsextensively in the United States and Europe teaching children how storiesmake books and how much fun reading can be. See his web site atwww.michaelshoulders.com .

Club members returning from the Altrusa District Conference held inClovis, NM in 2007 reported to the club about Mr. Shoulder's presentation.

Discussion resulted on what a great Literacy Project this would provide ifwe could bring him in to speak in Montrose schools. Literacy Funds werebudgeted to promote a literacy speaker for the following year's Literacy -New Project.


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Montrose is blessed with good schools that meet most of the state'sliteracy scores at or above standards. One problem though is that morethan 50% of our students are eligible to get free or reduced cost meals,which means that those families are of a low enough income level to qualifyfor this assistance. Often these households do not have the funds left overfor books or other fun learning related activities. This is where Altrusa could

make a difference.Due to scheduling conflicts, Altrusa of Montrose was unable to bring

Mr. Shoulders to Montrose in 2008. The Literacy Committee budgetedfunds for speaking fees into the 2009-2010 committee budget and triedagain. We were approached by the author in late 2009 about his plannedtrip to Denver, Colorado and his willingness to come to Montrose.

A discussion of possibilities entailed through e-mail that resulted in awindow to bring the author to town. He flew into Denver on Sunday,January 31 and picked up a short flight to Montrose that afternoon.Shoulders then proceeded to do two assemblies Monday morning atCottonwood Elementary and follow up with two assemblies after lunch atPomona Elementary. Tuesday, likewise began with three assemblies atOak Grove Elementary, lunch with Altrusans at their regular noon meeting,


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and then two more assemblies that afternoon at North Side Elementary.Wednesday morning Mr. Shoulder's schedule included two assemblies inOlathe, Colorado at the Elementary School there and then came back toMontrose in time to have a long lunch with local Montrose Library staff.After his lunch meeting the author took the short plane trip back to Denveron Wednesday, February 3rd. Altrusans organized members to take theauthor to breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as provide transportation toand from all local schools.

Altrusan Dr. Sheryl Solow, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum,worked with the district's elementary school principals to schedule schoolengagements and assemblies in our district's elementary schools. All 2,205students and 108 teachers within these schools had the opportunity to seeand hear the author's entertaining slide show involving music and analphabet rap-song which engages not only the imagination of the youngstudents and may well inspire then to try their hand at writing an alphabetbook about their own mom, dad, family, pet, etc., but also to experiencelearning through fun, imagination and silliness.

Since all Altrusa International Inc., of Montrose club members help inthe fundraising necessary to support New Projects all membersparticipated in the project. Please see attached schedule of those who


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helped directly with transportation and meals.Speaker fees were paid for through the funds designated in Altrusa

International Inc. of Montrose Literacy Budget. Additional funding fortransportation from Denver to Montrose and back, and lodging and mealexpenses were solicited by writing grants to two local clubs; the MontroseRotary Club and the Academic Booster Club of Montrose. A grant to eachorganization explained the need for additional expense money to cover the

author's visit. Rotary of Montrose awarded a grant for $500.00 and the ABCgave a grant of $300.00. Total expenses for the visit, excluding speakingfees, were $803.71. Both granting club's membership were encouraged toview the assemblies where possible. A copy of the itinerary was e-mailedbefore the visit and an accounting of funds were sent after the visit toaccount for all expenses paid.

Feedback from the Project has been satisfying and enjoyable.Several schools sent thank-you notes along with drawings and postersexpressing their fun and delight with the visit. Many teachers alsocommented and thanked the club for the extra learning experience. Thank-you letters are still coming in from schools and individual students a monthafter the event.


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Michael Shoulders Literacy Assemblies ScheduleK - 2 40 minutes3 - 5 60 minutes

Arrives Sunday Jan 31 at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Susan will pick him up and take him to HolidayInn. Dinner with Susan and Val.February 1, 2010 - breakfast with Becky and Donna - take him to CottonwoodCES 9:00 k-2 Cottonwood Elementary10:00 3-5Lunch with Natalie and Diane - take him to PaomaPES 12:30 k-2 Pamona Elementary1 :30 3-5Dinner with Anita and Christy

February 2, 2010 - breakfast with Lorie and Carolee - take him to Oak GroveOGE 9:00 k-2 Oak Grove Elementary10:00 3-5Lunch with Susan and Marylee and meet with Altrusa general meeting- take him to NorthsideNES 12:30 k-2 Northside Elementary1:30 3-5Dinner with Sheryl Solow and Susan BonyFebraury 3, 2010 - breakfast with Jeanne and Cheryl - take him to Olathe ElementaryMargaret and Roberta pick him up at Olathe Elem and take to Stone HouseOES 9:00 k-2 Olathe Elementary10:00 3-5Lunch with - Amy McBride / library staffMike will leave Montrose on the 4:40 plane on the afternoon of the 3rd. He should be at the airportby 3:30.


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M O N T R O S E D AI L Y P R E S S L O C A L T U fS O AY , F EB R U AR Y 2 , 2 0 1 0 AnB Y M A T T L IN D BE R G

D A I LY P R E S S W R I T E RMONTROSE- I i ln"&iJJl l l&A!W"OOX 1Local elementarystudents are gettingreading and writingtips from an expertthis week.Children's bookauthor MichaelShoulders visitedCottonwood and ShouldersPomona elementaryschools Monday totalk with students about how his ideasbecome the stories children see in hisbooks.Altrusa International Inc., a commu-nity service program that helps buildleadership and personal development,organized Shoulders' visit after receiv-ing a $500grant from Rotary Cluband a

$300grant from Academic BoosterClub."We saw him a t a conference in NewMexico and thought he was soenter-taining," said Susan Woody;Altrusa'sLiteracy Committee chairwoman. "Wecouldn't get him here last year, butwhen he said he was coming toDenverthis month for a conference, wewereable to make it work."Shoulders has had nine books pub-lished since his first, "V is forVolun-teer," was released in 2002.Other titlesinclude "Natural Numbers" and "SayDaddy," the latter of which earned aNational Parenting Publications

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M A T T L IN D B E R G /D A IL Y P R E S SAuthor Michael Shoulders encourages Pomona Elementary students to ''throw theirhands inthe air" as he performs his alphabet rap.Award.Shoulders gothis degree in educationfromAustin Peay State University in1976and worked as a teacher and feder-al programs supervisor in Tennessee

before retiring in 2005.He began writ-ing after participating in the TennesseeGovernor's Academy for Teachers ofWriting in 1995.He now travels theworld speaking on literacy. He said he

thopes his presentations inspire fami-lies toread more often."I think parents should instill a loveof books in their children," Shoulderssaid. "Ijust want kids toenjoy readinga book."Shoulders spoke with Pomona stu-dents about his family life, as wellashow he writes drafts of stories beforefinishing them. He also explained howhis books are illustrated.His stories are designed to educatereaders, but he doesn't spend muchtime thinking about story ideas.''Awriter once said, 'Writers don'tthink of stories, they recognize them,'Shoulders said.Indeed, he recognized one his firstday here, while eating breakfast at Daily Bread, 346E.Main St. Shoulders saidthe restaurant has inspired a story hewill write, though he would not elabo-

rate.After performing twomagic tricksand talking with kids, Shoulders per-formed an alphabet rap that put smilesonPomona students' faces."He's engaging with the students, andthat's really a big focus for us here thisyear - engaging students with teach-ers," said DonDavidson, Pomona Ele-mentary principal.Shoulders will make presentations aOakGrove and Northside elementaryschools today and at Olathe ElementaryonWednesday.Formore information, visitmichaelshoulders.com

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February 1, 2010

This is what a class of GREAT STUDENTS looks like. This is a classroom offantastic readers at Pomona Elementary inMontrose, Colorado. I had such a great timespeaking to them this afternoon about whatauthors do when we write books. Thanks fora wonderful day, Pomona!! !!

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Earlier in the day, I visited CottonwoodElementary. I was so impressed with theteachers, students, and administration at boththese schools. Altrusa International, a serviceorganization, organized and obtained fundingfor my visit to this district.A big "shout-out" to Altrusa ! , ,


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Letha H Brown Award - Dr Shoulders