Thursday, May 7, 2015

Rock star schools in Frisco, TX

On 5/5-6/15, I was in chupacabra country—one part of it, anyway. The rapidly-growing district of Frisco, TX has 37 elementary schools and I was fortunate to speak at four of them: Spears, Pink, Smith, and Newman.

Notice anything else those names have in common?






Yes, all are also names of well-known rock/pop singers: Britney Spears, Pink, Sam (or Robert) Smith, and Randy Newman.

Two other schools in the district also fit the category: Sparks (Jordin Sparks) and Taylor (either James Taylor or Taylor Swift).

And it’s not just this fun coincidence that makes Frisco a rock star district—and this is coming from a guy who thinks the “anything cool can be called ‘rock star’” trend is long past its expiration date. Both students and librarians at each school stood out.

Both Spears and Smith both created this dynamic display:
 


Pink blew me away with this rendition of Batman made entirely of Post-it notes:


Adding to the fun: librarian Jamie Jensen challenged the students to guess the number of notes in the display (899!). Winners get prizes.

Pink is also running a battle-of-books tournament. Boys of Steel is about strength but even Superman may not be powerful enough to defeat the juggernaut that is Crayons.




Thank you, Jan Pelias at Smith for taking the initiative to bring me in, and thank you Jamie, Anne Guerrero at Spears, and Pattie Pearson at Newman for taking the chance on me. I hope to see you again—and meet the rest of your district—soon!

1 comment:

Abigail said...

I know you. I met you (kinda). You were a guest speaker at my school yesterday. You're such a great author.