Do you typically arrange to have a professional author and/or illustrator  do a school visit with your students? And, would you like to do some Earth Day programming that does not take a lot of your time? Authors for Earth Day (A4ED) is an international coalition of award-winning children’s authors and illustrators (over 70 to choose from and growing), who care about kids and nature, and the future of both! If you choose to participate in this program you schedule one A4ED school visit in the month of April. The visit doesn’t cost a penny more than a standard visit, and the author donates at least 30% of their speaking fee to a nonprofit conservation organization. Before their arranged visit, the author shares their favorite five non-profit conservation organization “nominees”. You then encourage your students to research these organizations and share with the other students what they have learned. Then, on the day  of the author visit, hold a raise of hands vote to see who gets the donation. You pay the author in the traditional way, and the author sends the donation to the winning conservation organization in honor of your school.  More often than not, the organization sends your  school a thank you note. The website leads you through the whole process and includes the list of available authors/illustrators too. For all of the details, go to www.AuthorsForEarthDay.org. There is also an A4ED Blog, where readers can meet some of their favorite authors any time of the year: www.AuthorsForEarthDay.org/blog

Good luck, and be sure to consider sharing the stories of your author visits. We love to share your stories with other schools in the region!