During Illustrator's Week, Rowan Elementary was pleased to have Illustrator John Manders share
his talent with our school on March 6, 2008!

Mr. Manders illustrating

Mrs. Farmar and students reading Dr. Suess

students reading to each other Dr. Suess tales
John came to visit Rowan and spoke to our students about children’s book illustration. John's work is featured in over 30 children’s books and hundreds of children’s magazines. He did a painting demonstration. He explained the tools & materials that he uses, and painted a likeness of one of his characters.
John was educated at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and later took courses at the School of Visual Arts and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, where he studied children’s illustration, animation, and life drawing. 
John's technique involves lots of research before beginning preliminary drawings. Using 2B pencils on layout bond paper, he transfers the drawings onto Arches 300 lb hot press watercolor paper. Next is an ‘underpainting’ in neutral tones with Winsor & Newton Designers gouache. The color is painted on top of that. Prismacolor pencils are used for highlights and accents. 

On March 3, Dr. Suess's birthday, each classroom had special guest speakers read a Suess tale to the students and then students read to each other. Our guest speakers were our own Principal, Mr. Giancola and Assistant Principal, Mrs. Farmar!
John Giancola keeps his word! As part of Rowan's Author's/Illustrator's Week, Mr. Giancola, Rowan Elementary School principal, challenged his students to read 50,000 minutes at home during the week. The theme for the event was "Buccaneer Bunnies' Treasure Hunt" from the book "Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies," illustrated by John Manders, Rowan's visiting illustrator. On March 10, 2008, Mr. Giancola promised he would dress as a "Buccaneer Bunny" and play the drums for students during lunch if they completed the challenge, and apparently they came in well over that amount. Thanks, Mr. G.! We applaud your dedication and thank you for playing the Hannah Montana tunes!!

The children got clues for each 10,000 minutes. 
These were the clues:
Clue #1 - Here's the first clue ~ it tells us where.
It will be in our school with all our friends there.
Clue #2 - Clue number 2 tells us when.
The day starts with an "M" and its number is ten.
Clue #3 - Clue number three tells us what someone will do.
The person will play a musical instrument for you.
Clue #4 - Our fourth clue tells us part of the who ~ 
It's the Bucanner Bunny who will be playing for you.
Clue #5 - Our final clue should give it away.......

Mr. Giancola

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