Itty & Bitty at Your School
Nancy Carpenter Czerw, a graduate of Mount Holyoke College (B.A.in English, ’74) and Brown University, MAT ’77) is a poet and former high school teacher. She now travels to various pre-schools and elementary schools, often with the real Itty and Bitty, to share her love of poetry, reading, and horses.
Her visits are tailored to the requests of each school, and a preliminary discussion with teachers, librarians and administrators often helps determine the focus of each visit.
If the school wishes to have the real Itty and Bitty attend, the logistics are worked out in advance. Their visits are limited to about a 30 miles radius around Argyle, Texas. They require a small grassy area, a bit of shade, and ideally, a small enclosure. Small playgrounds or courtyards are perfect, and photo opportunities abound. If there is no enclosure, we bring along extra friends to hold them on lead lines (horse versions of dog leashes). We’re very adaptable. We’ve also learned to keep the minis out of sight until any educational presentation is over. Otherwise, Nancy winds up being a mere sidekick to her mini equine stars!
Itty and Bitty: Two Miniature Horses is geared toward a pre-K through 3rd grade reading level, but there are many areas around the book that can extend the range of the audience.
The simplest presentation, for the youngest readers, is often just a reading of the book to a group, followed by a page by page retelling of the details of each poem and the illustration. A lively Q & A usually ensues. Such groups tend to be small and intimate, with Nancy sitting in a reading circle. For ease of viewing and discussion, if a larger group is attending, the book can be projected onto a screen from a CD.
For K-3rd graders, a Powerpoint Presentation is available that includes actual pages from the book, a section on “putting the book together,” and a pictoral “history of the miniature horse breed and the coal industry.” Other areas of exploration include:
Writing Poetry: Aspects of writing the poems comprising the book; what inspired me; challenges in writing; the art of crafting short poems; keeping the reader in mind; exercises for young writers
Putting the Book Together: From Texas to N.Y. City to Hong Kong -- Nancy Carpenter Czerw’s journey from the first poem; her inspiration; finding an illustrator; getting a publisher ; the work of putting a book together—cover, inside flap copy, paper choice, binding, getting blurbs; the entire process
History of Miniature Horses and Child Labor in Coal Mines: The history of the miniature horse breed is directly tied to the history of child labor in coal mines in England, Scotland, Wales and the USA in the 1800’s to early 1900’s. A section of the Powerpoint Presentation is dedicated to this history. Etchings and photos of early conditions in the mines are shown, accompanied by actual artifacts from the coal industry.
Horses / Miniature Horses: As the text is read, the illustrations discussed, and the various aspects of the book covered, much information about horses in general and minis in particular emerges. This is necessary to explain much of what is done in the poetry, but is also educational . Children often find a great affinity with these wonderful equines, and the final “show and tell” viewing of the “real” Itty and Bitty often caps off a lively day of reading and rhyming!
If you would like to contact Nancy Carpenter Czerw for information about a visit, or to book a visit, please fill in the fields below. Thanks for your interest!