Teachers, librarians, reading specialists, and parents: you are the heroes. See my resources below and let me know what I can do to help you ignite passion for reading, for writing, and for life-long learning.
In-School Zoom
School presentations, classroom workshops, small-group workshops, and one-on-one lessons via Zoom can be scheduled. Teachers, librarians, PTA representatives, please contact me directly to arrange. Pricing is flexible. All ages, including adults. I also offer one free Zoom day per year each spring. First come, first served. I post this on social media.
At-Home Zoom
I’ve been teaching private and small-group lessons with great success online for years for all ages. Creative writing, songwriting, and ukulele. If you are a homeschooling parent interested in a group class, please contact me to discuss.
Featured Video
One of my most popular videos shows my relationship to the writer’s notebook.
Social Emotional Learning Video
An 8 minute interactive lesson on creating characters to represent negative and positive inner voices.
Writing Device Video Series
Each 90-second video teaches a different rhetorical device. You know alliteration and onomatopoeia, but there are so many more. Best for high school and middle school students.
Shadow Play
Share this shadow play of a Mary Amato story with your students. Use it to discuss personification, point of view, and character. Have students research shadow theater and explore Amato’s company at fireflyshadowtheater.com.
Audio Books
During the coronavirus, I am making special audio content available for free. Follow me on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram to make sure to see what I’m sharing.
Six stories about 4-year-old Henrietta and her loving, funny family: The Chicken of the Family Collection
And the final book in the Good Crooks series as an audio release: Quackily Ever After.
Teaching Packet to Show Writing and Publishing Process
A free packet that shows the step-by-step writing and publishing process including real examples of brainstorming, drafts, research, revising, and more.
Revision Examples to use in the Classroom
- From: A Star on TV, Lucy McGee
- From: Snarf Attack, Underfoodle, and the Secret of Life: The Riot Brothers Tell All
- From: Invisible Lines
- From: The Naked Mole-Rat Letters
- From: Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook
Reader’s Theater Scripts
- The Chicken of the Family
- Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook
- Good Crooks Book One: Missing Monkey!
Curriculum Connections, Book Discussion Guides, Activity Guides
- Star Striker Series page link with teaching guide, audio pronunciation guide and and more.
- Lucy McGee Series page link with mp3s, karaoke recordings, videos, and more.
- Lucy McGee reading and teaching guide.
- Our Teacher is a Vampire and Other (Not) True Stories: Activity Guide; Writing
- Process Packet.
- Good Crooks: Common Core Teaching Guides for Book One and Book Two.
- *Guitar Notes: Resources (Discussion Guide, Interdisciplinary Exploration Unit, and more)
- General Songwriting: Resources (Songwriting Lesson Plan, Songwriting Notebook, Videos and more)
- *Edgar Allan’s Official Investigation Notebook: Interdisciplinary Exploration Unit (10 pages); Book Discussion Guide (1 page); Poetry Activities
- *Invisible Lines: Interdisciplinary Exploration Unit (9 pages); Book Discussion Guide (2 pages)
- Please Write in This Book: Activity Guide; Interview with Illustrator Eric Brace
- *The Naked Mole-Rat Letters: Reading Guide
- *The Word Eater: Reading Guide; The Word Eater Guide (by Melissa Henderson)
- The Riot Brothers Book Group Lesson Plans (by Tammy Posner and Jenny DeCuir)
- Snarf Attack, Underfoodle, and the Secret of Life: Activity Guide
- Drooling and Dangerous: Activity Guide
- Stinky and Successful: Activity Guide
- Take the Mummy and Run: Activity Guide
*STEM and STE(A)M related novels and chapter books: Star Striker Book 1: Game On (technology, materials science, space science, psychology); Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook (forensics, chemistry, poetry), Invisible Lines (mycology, biology, naturalist’s notebook, sketchbooks, visual arts), Guitar Notes (physics, music, songwriting), The Word Eater (scientific method, language arts), The Naked Mole-Rat Letters (biology, zoology, writing, psychology)
Vocabulary Lists
Videos
Follow my YouTube channel to receive news when I post a new video. More videos below…
Writing Process Interviews with Reading Rocket
- Writing Process Interviews with Reading Rocket Complete Set
- Notebooks and diaries
- Expressing big emotions
- Capturing memories on paper
- Writing to find meaning
- The hard middle of the draft
- Ideas come from the world around you
- Rejection is an opportunity
- Finding time to write
- Dreaming and writing without being evaluated
- My secret: the WOW
- The WOW in action
- The natural flow
- Writing is like sports
- Making mistakes is liberating
- Improv revision
- Two strategies for reluctant writers
- Collaborative journals
- Exploring character through writing
- Songwriting about science
- Why we read
KIDLIT TV Appearances
- Kidlit TV Appearance for Lucy McGee Series
- Kidlit TV Appearance for Star Striker Series
My DIY Videos
- My Want-Obstacle Spiral Exercise for revising a novel.
- My “big paper” process in revision.
- My Writer’s Notebook shows how I use my small notebooks in my writing process. (See video embedded above.)
- Editing and Publishing Process (shows the editing and publishing process for Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook)
- How to Hear a Character’s Voice (gives four tips for writing to hear your character’s voice). Watch on Youtube.
- Writing Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook (explains how one character took over story; shows writer’s notebook in use) Watch on YouTube.
- Writing Invisible Lines (shows writing process, including webs, drafts, and revisions for Invisible Lines) Watch on YouTube.
- How to Enjoy Performing (a video about how focusing positively on others can reduce stage fright)
- Answers About The Naked Mole Rat Letters
- A Message for Kids (about turning off TV)
- Why Even Writers Need Math (showing how I use math in my professional life).
- Mary Amato Books Slideshow (slideshow of all book covers)
- How to Make a Dutch Baby (from Riot Brothers)
- Mushrooms on Display (shows images of mushrooms that inspired Invisible Lines)
- Stinky and Successful Acceptance Speech
- Example of Student Shadow Theater Project (Script Writing, Puppetry, Film Making) Octopoda Papyrus
How-to (Write) Handouts
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- How to Write a Mystery (for elementary school students)
- Tips for Keeping a Diary
- Tips for Keeping a Writer’s Notebook
- Tips for Parents to Encourage Creative Writing
- Tips for Teachers to Encourage Creative Writing (PDF Version HERE.)
- Helping Writers to Get Started (and also tips to overcome writer’s block)
- Tips for How to Become a Writer
- How to Write an Author
- How to Write a Funny Poem
- Tips for Using Theater Games and Techniques in the Classroom
- See also: Writing Blog
- See also: Contests and Magazines that accept kids’ submissions
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Prepare Students for Author Visit
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- Mary Amato Info Sheet to photocopy and distribute, post on your school’s website, or share via email newsletter.
- Ideas for making the most of author visits.
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Checklist for a Successful Zoom
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- Get ready for online workshop or presentation with this Checklist.
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Podcasts:
Further Activities:
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- Good Crooks Stick Puppets
- Poetry Writing Activities (from Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook)
- How to Make Mini Books
- Mushroom Sculpture (art idea related to Invisible Lines)
- How to Make a Spore Print (science/art activity related to Invisible Lines)
- How to Go on a Mushroom Foray (science activity related to Invisible Lines)
- Mushroom Recipes (related to Invisible Lines)
- Dutch Baby Recipe from The Riot Brothers series.
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Amato’s Essays
• My resources on Ukes in Libraries
• Article on Songwriting in Character for Luna (in pdf form)• Article on The Family Band for Luna (in pdf form)
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- • Teen Diaries and A Visit to the Anne Frank House in Teen Librarian Toolbox (or in pdf form)
• Listening to Old Ghosts: The Influence of Wilder and Masters in Open Mic Night at Westminster Cemetery in Teen Librarian Toolbox (or in pdf form).
• Bring the Power of Music Into Your Library in Teen Librarian Toolbox (or in pdf form)
• Researching the Westminster Cemetery for Open Mic Night in Westminster Cemetery in Carolrhoda Lab’s blog (or in pdf form)
• Performing in an Open Mic for B&N Teen Blog, September 2018 (in pdf form).
• Kidlit Characters Who Break Into Song, a blog post for Mr. Schu Reads. (Pdf form)
• Embracing Silliness: Essay about my experience with silliness in children’s fiction.
• Songwriting with Kids: Essay for Reading Rockets on my experience with one of my many songwriting residencies.
• Tiny Triumphs: Ukes in Libraries article for ALA’s ALSC blog. - The Appeal of the Mentor Archetype in SLJ’s Teen Librarian Toolbox (in pdf form)
- Kidspost Article about Songwriting, The Washington Post (in pdf form)
- A Fiction Writer Tells the Truth, essay for Columbia Univ Spirituality in Education, (in pdf form)
Amato’s Recent Creative Work for Adults
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- Flashfiction: The Cakes She Promised to Bake, in 100 Word Story (in pdf form)
- My Unsung Hero audio piece.
- “You Will Know Us By Our Art”: an ekphrastic poem published in Viewless Wings 2022 (in pdf form)
- “I’m Always Trying to Fill”: a video poem about my obsession to create published in New Note Poetry, 2022
- MontclairFilm StorySlam award winning story (video to come)
- “Hello Girls” poem in Sheepshead Review, 2022.
- “Morning Rush–Metro” poem in pdf form by Mary Amato published in HeartWood Literary Magazine, Fall 2022.
- Thanks From the Heart, essay in pdf form by Mary Amato for The Washington Post about sending valentines to strangers.
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- MontclairFilm StorySlam award winning story (video to come)
- “Morning Rush–Metro” poem in HeartWood Literary Magazine (in PDF form)
- Mary Amato’s Poetry for Adults audio format on Soundcloud
- Art in Peatsmoke Journal, Fall 2023.
- Monologue performed in NJ Theater Alliance Healing Voices, 2024
- Art in Pulse Magazine.
- Video poetry published on Columbia University’s Spirituality in Education blog: Fifth Grade Epiphany and And the Moon Glows Like This at the Library
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Interviews with Amato