For the past year, magical Claire Stano has created a wondrous space in our writing lab on Wednesday evenings for our 6-8 year old writers. Each week, Claire thoughtfully selects a children’s book to read during a Wee-Bots Drop-in Writing session and builds a lesson plan around the story. Claire is a researcher by profession, and this is clear because of how carefully Claire chooses great books to inspire our bots, books that celebrate diverse main characters and cultural traditions, books that delight our students with onomatopoeia, rhyme, and collective nouns, books that encourage our students to write about characters who change and grow, and that introduce our writers to new genres (Letters! Weather reports! Bedtime stories! Informative texts! Poetry! Collaborative stories! Magical realism!).
Not only does Claire create a magical, inclusive space for our students, but she makes volunteers feel welcomed and appreciated—from talking about podcasts and American Girl dolls before Wee-bots to inviting volunteers to gather for dinner after (most often, pizza or burritos).
When Claire, the resident children’s book trivia champion, shows up at Board Game Night with
It makes sense that Claire is so excellent at developing rapport, because by day she is a psychologist at the VA. Our gratitude is magnified knowing that she makes volunteering a priority while holding such a demanding job.
Claire Stano, just like Mrs. Twinkle,* you help our students and all those around you in the best ways, empowering others to feel good about themselves, excited about ideas, and at home in the wonderous world.
*a teacher who is character in one of Claire’s favorite children’s books, Chrysanthemum