Melissa talks about the primary ways she does research for her books: reading books, scientific articles, and magazines on the topic, carefully using content from the Internet, and consulting with experts.
Through her career, Melissa has been able to travel all over the world. It allows her to see the animals firsthand and to really understand how they thrive in their environment, how they move, what they eat. These up-close encounters infuse her writing with more vibrancy.
Melissa has been keeping nature journals since she was 20 years old. She often goes back to those journals for inspiration, but also for the observations she’s made of certain animal behaviors.
Children’s nonfiction writer Melissa Stewart has published more than 200 books on a wide range of science and nature topics. Melissa says she writes for children because books for young people can change the way that they see themselves and the way that they see the world.
From finding opportunities for students to share ideas, give feedback, and draw together to grow their writing skills to teachers modeling writing and revision, Joan Sedita, founder of Keys to Literacy, says that establishing a community of writers helps young students become more engaged and motivated to learn to write.
Some people believe that kids in K-2nd are too young to learn the skills like critical thinking, text structure, and sentence development that are necessary to write. Joan Sedita, founder of Keys to Literacy, disagrees. She says young kids can learn to express themselves and to grow and revise their ideas through oral language and drawing.
Joan Sedita, founder of Keys to Literacy, talks about how using “mentor texts” — short pieces of literature students can read and reread for specific learning purposes — can help students become better writers.
