Finding and writing about a personal connection to home.
Curricular context: brainstorming, drafting, editing
Connections: social studies, Habitat for Humanity story contest
Learners will begin the process of drafting a personal poem about home, using YOU ARE HOME as a mentor text. With a social studies context, Bex will introduce learners to the great diversity of what makes a home, both as a physical place and as a feeling. Learners will discover the difference between tangible and intangible and explore ways to use this dichotomy in their writing.
Bex draws on extensive experience in the arts to incorporate movement, rhythm, and improv into individual and group activities that encourage learners to think in new and different ways. By also giving a sneak peek into Bex’s own writing process, Bex helps learners find their own voice and tap into their creativity as they begin brainstorming. Literary mechanisms and poetry types including anaphora, alliteration, and free verse will also be discussed.

Exploring the diversity of home to create art inspired by words.
Curricular context: poetry, visual art
Connections: social studies
By integrating poetry, social studies, and visual arts, Bex will challenge learners’ preconceptions of what makes a home, including the diversity of physical homes as well as the concept of home as a feeling. The discussion will be illustrated by a slideshow of photographs and fine art. Through a series of fun, hands-on activities that include a paper folding tutorial and a small-group graffiti activity, learners will come to new understandings of what home means to them and to those around them.
A reading of YOU ARE HOME and a specially made illustration video will inspire learners as Bex leads them through an exploration of home that will culminate in learners’ own creation of art inspired by words about home that were generated by the class as a group. All participants will emerge with a greater understanding of the diversity of home and tools for heightened empathy.

Mining personal experience to write unique stories.
Curricular context: creative nonfiction, poetry, drafting
Connections: social studies, creative writing
Bex will begin by reading passages from both YOU ARE HOME and FLOOR IT! and bringing students into a brief discussion of form and content before revealing that the only commonality between both books is that they were inspired by personal experience. Students will then be paired up and given a handout with a series of questions to “interview” each other with the aim of choosing a personal experience to write about.
With Bex’s guidance, learners will begin the process of forming their personal experience into a fictional story. Learners will be introduced to the concept of “problem” and “solutions” in story-telling and have fun “solving” each other’s problems in a laid-back, non-judgemental setting with the problem and solutions in Floor It! serving as examples. Concepts such as main character, setting, and format will also be taught.

Car-filled, imagination-fueled story-telling.
Curricular context: music, movement, play-based learning
Connections: arts and crafts, improv
Bex will take learners on a car-filled, imagination-fueled race, beginning with a reading of Floor It! and a craft activity where learners will design, cut out, and color their own checkered flags to cheer each other on throughout the journey. Interspersed throughout the presentation, Bex will play ukulele and sing a series of well-known, standard songs as well as fun story songs and a special surprise song just for the book, and students will have the opportunity to sing and dance along and even play some kid-friendly instruments. There will be many imaginative game tie-ins including activities such as making car sounds, pretending to be in a car, and deciding how to fix a broken car to help teach problem-solving skills and basic storytelling. To finish, learners will use their new imagination-and-improv-based know-how to decide what they want to find at the end of the race.

Bringing stories to life with improv, song and art.
Curricular context: creative fiction, visual art
Connections: music, storytelling
Learners will have the opportunity to make their own adventure just like FLOOR IT!’s main character after being introduced to the story of FLOOR IT!. Using play-based learning methods, Bex will guide students to individually create locational art, i.e. the settings for their story. To keep energy up and imaginations active, Bex will play ukulele and sing a selection of songs about cars, giving many opportunities for participation as well as encouraging kids to use their imaginations and get on their feet. This will help inspire learners as they begin brainstorming main character and plot ideas with Bex’s writing tips.
As plans come together, Bex will help learners work in groups to design a collaborative story through which they can literally and figuratively guide their main character using improv and verbal storytelling.

Presentations centred around an upcoming book (TBA) featuring themes of climate change and family among other things!