Author Studies {Freebie!}

I could read all day long.  To myself.  To my kiddos.  I just LOVE reading!

I try to sneak in teachable moments at every possible opportunity I can.  That includes read-aloud time.

I "map out" (loosely) my read-alouds for the year on my planning calendar so I have an idea of what I want to read when.  I include one chapter book per month.  The rest of the month's read-aloud time is devoted to a particular author.  This gives me the best of BOTH worlds.  An opportunity to share those GREAT can't-wait-to-read-the-next-chaper-to-find-out-what's-going-to-happen BOOKS, as well as digging into an author's craft.

When we get to our author-of-the-month, I like to provide my students with a little background on the author.  They love to know that he/she used to make books with paper and yarn as a child, or that he/she couldn't read until the fifth grade, or that he/she NEVER thought they would grow up to write books!

You can find some of my author background PowerPoints here for FREE - just look for the "FREE SAMPLE" buttons!  I also like to create a little bulletin board area/space to hang a picture of the author, display some of his/her books, and have an area where we can track the author's "fingerprints" - you know those things that he/she does that sets him/her apart from other authors.

I adore how the kiddos gobble up the author's books from there on out!  I revamped my author signs and thought I'd share them here as a freebie in case you wanted to use them, too.

This is just the first round - more to be made...if you would like to request one for a specific author, leave a comment below and I'll try to include him/her in the next batch!

Click below to download the FREE Set of 10 Author Signs.  

Feel free to pin them so others can find them to download, too!

*UPDATE* 4/23 A typo was found and corrected*

**UPDATE: A 2nd Author Signs Pack has been created and is available HERE.**