A fine week coming

Hi everyone,

Nice week coming up. Monday night is SPS Appreciation Banquet. When NANCY GRAFF and I started the event thirty years ago, we called it Teacher Appreciation Banquet. At the time morale was suffering among teachers and our reasoning was that by holding an annual banquet in their honor, and inviting businesses to send representatives, we would introduce teachers to their public and shine some much needed light on them during a night of honors and recognition.

These days the banquet honors all Springfield Public Schools employees — which is fine, and they certainly deserve it — but in my heart the night will remain true to its original concept. So on Monday evening I will attend “my” annual Teacher Appreciation Banquet, wearing the same tie I received as a gift on the second year of the event and have worn every year since This year, as I have a few times in the past, I’ve placed myself as an auction item for a school visit. I set my price lower than I charge in hopes that some generous parent or group will buy me for their school.

On Wednesday evening I’ll be at The Library Center with kids and teachers from Springfield’s WOLF program and from David Harrison Elementary School. (The picture is from a program in 2019. Those are Harrison kids performing the same poem that will be featured this year, “Chorus for Four Frogs.”) A naturalist will bring some animals from Springfield Conservation Nature Center. Together we’ll put on a program called VOICES IN THE NIGHT. It’s free to the public and I hope we’ll fill the auditorium. Make plans to come and bring some kids if you can. There will be plenty of audience participation as kids give us their best impressions of some of the voices in the night.

Voices in the Night coming soon

Hi everyone,

One week from today I’m hosting a program at The Library Center (TLC) in Springfield. that has been months in the making. It’s called VOICES IN THE NIGHT and is described by the library like this.

On warm spring nights, if we step outside we may hear a symphony of sounds -- whistles, whirs, clicks and cries. What makes these noises we hear in the night? Bestselling author David Harrison, our friends from the Springfield Conservation Nature Center and some talented students from Harrison Elementary and Springfield Public Schools WOLF program will explore these sounds and the creatures that make them. Kids will learn facts about local nocturnal animals, enjoy stories and poems and even get to make some night sounds themselves! Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Naturalist JORDI RAOS will be there from the Springfield Conservation Nature Center with live specimens of frogs, toads, and peepers. She’ll also bring a stuffed owl and make owl sounds for the audience.

Teacher LAUREN BAER will bring several of her 5th grade students from the SPS Wolf Program who will present pictures, recorded sounds, and fun information about four of the voices in the summer nights chorus.

HAILEY ACKLIN, music teacher at David Harrison Elementary School, will be there with several of her students to perform a poem made up entirely of frog sounds called “Chorus of Four Frogs.”

Interspersed among guest performances, I’ll read a poem or two based on other creatures of the night. They may not make much noise, but they’re out there going about their business. I’ve chosen the book AFTER DARK. Copies will be available afterward and I’ll be happy to sign them.