A TEACHER COMMENT ON VISITS BY RON.........

I had the honor and privilege to work with Mr.Ron Hirschi. To say it was amazing just doesn't seem to be enough. The experience was truly life changing and humbling. To be afforded the opportunity to be in a pond, interacting with the environment while watching your students learn was positively awesome! I am not an outdoor enthusiast, so this was, at first, a very daunting job. We were asked, as classroom teachers, to put on the waders and go into the pond to help collect the critters and plant life. I tend to shy away from "getting my hands dirty" so I must say that I was rather nervous with the whole idea. All that changed from the very moment I waded into that murky water. I was well aware of the fact that falling would not have been very prudent, so I was careful with my steps! Each time I entered the water for another "catch" I was more and more sure of myself, and, even my footing!

To say that I had fun would just not be enough. I will carry this experience with me forever, both as a teacher and as a human being living on this amazing planet! This experience truly reminds us of how small we really are in comparison to all the amazing life that exists in our environment and how big a role we really must play in conservation. I encourage everyone to be part of this wonderful experience!

Thank you, Mr. Hirschi!!

Lori Schnegg
5th grade teacher
St. Brigid of Kildare School
Dublin, Ohio

CONTACT RON

Get in touch by email at whalemail@waypoint.com Phone: 360-379-1729 Mail: PO Box 899 Hadlock, WA 98339 Visit amazon.com for a good listing of available books, but check my publishers for the best rates for school sales. Island Heritage/ Welcome to the Islands, Sylvan Dell, and Boyds Mills all are easy to work with and make it easy to do a fund raiser with books like Swimming with Humuhumu, Ocean Seasons, or Lions Tigers and Bears!!!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

ADVENTURES IN ALASKA. Origins in Ohio!



Okay. I've written a lot of books, but this new one is special!
I got to work on this with Yuko Green and my
friends at Island Heritage - always a treat to be sure.
Yuko has that ability to capture the truth and the fun
of an adventure like this one.........and it all began in Ohio.

If you read the book, you will see two kids setting out on
a summer adventure with their parents.
They travel to Alaska from Ohio and while away,
write postcards to their classmates back home in Pickerington
at Whalestreet Elementary!

Well.......Whalestreet is not just one school but a composite
of all the schools I have worked with in recent years
that connect with Dr. Mary Sheridan, Dr. Sharon Buda,
Larrie Habel, and the person I dedicated the book to,
Susan Pomerantz.

Together, we have introduced kids to the water world
and connected them to the distant ocean
in ways few can imagine
and
it would and hopefully will, take me a BIG BOOK
to explain.
Let's just say we have had fun getting kids out onto waters
and into some amazing art and ecology projects.

But wait.
The kids in the book write to Whalestreet, but address their postcards
to
Paula Vertikoff and Charlotte Stiverson,
both amazing teachers I had the privilege of working with
during their very first year of teaching in Columbus schools!

For those of you familiar with Fred the Monkey and Project SOAR,
Paula introduced me to Fred........
Charlotte and her students at Columbus School for Girls
have long been inspiration for me in their many environmentally
sensitive projects. Plus, they have been my most cherished
editors and helpers on books that have and haven't
appeared in print! We have fun with words and actions.

But wait!
There is certainly more if you turn to page 32.
There you will find the most wonderful poem,
theoretically written by our young Alaska Adventurer,
but in truth, written by a student at
Tremont Elementary!
Thanks to Claudia Fett for helping kids
get involved in the poetry contest that led to this
Raven Poem.

Raven is said to have the hand of creation
and I have had the luck of being handed friendships in Ohio.

Thank you to all who have supported my work.
I look forward to hearing all the raven poems at an event
in Columbus soon!   

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Friends of Fred





Fred is about as fun a friend as you can find. I am sending him off to the world so you can enjoy him too. Just yesterday, he dove into the frigid waters of Nordland. He dove in with some kids who embraced his friendly ways and found him to be a kind of buddy with a message of hope.

Fred is about hope. He is about finding ways for kids to take charge of their own concerns while learning and caring about the world around them.

You will soon see Fred enter book worlds in hopes he finds a wider audience for his message of optimistic concern for ocean and land. Somehow, he seems to be able to bring smiles to faces. Afterall, he has a mission for 2010 to make at least 100 people smile. Big smiles!!!