Authors Reunion

On Friday, September 24th, the authors of Our Friend Mikayla had the opportunity to get together to discuss the impact their book has had on inclusion in schools throughout the country. The students who are freshmen in high school were in third grade when they penned the book, and in fourth grade when it was published and released for sale.

Then..............


Now..............






The authors were excited to see one another and to reminisce about their time together in elementary school. Now in high school many of them are not in the same classes and do not see much of each other.



Posing with their third grade teacher whom will always be dear to them.

A Puzzled Winner

After Mikayla visited Penn-Bernville Elementary School on September 7th, a contest was held to see how students would depict inclusion. Penn-Bernville students drew an amazing number of awesome pictures to show what inclusion meant to them. After studying and judging countless pieces of artwork, Joshua, a fifth grader has been chosen the contest's winner.


Mikayla's Voice board members are proud of how Joshua and his school mates "stick out their necks" for inclusion.

The winning piece of artwork has been made into a puzzle; to go along with the theme of the contest "Piecing Inclusion Together."


Congratulations, Joshua!

Piecing Inclusion Together

The students at Penn-Bernville Elementary School are enthused to ask questions about Mikayla and Inclusion.



There were opportunities to see up close how to work Mikayla's communication switch.




Students listened intently to instructions about a contest involving the creation of a unique puzzle to depict the concept of inclusion.



Check future posts to find out who won the contest!


*Photos taken Tuesday, September 7th

Penn-Bernville Elemenatary......No Place for Hate School

Mikayla and friends accepted an invitation to speak with students at Penn-Bernville Elementary School on Tuesday, September 7th.



Penn-Bernville Elementary School is a K-6 school located in Bernville, PA 19506



It was exciting to share the book Our Friend Mikayla with the student body as they looked at the illustrations together on an overhead screen.





We had a great time! In future posts we will share with you a project the students are working on to "piece" inclusion together at Penn-Bervnille Elementary.

D is for Diversity!

Mikayla is holding one of her favorite ladybugs created last evening at Coca Cola Park. However, the young lady who created this piece of artwork was gone before we could ask for her name. We are trying to locate this creative child whom came up with a wonderful acronym for "Diversity," which she used as a border on the picture.

If you are reading this post, or if you are the parent of the piece's creator reading this post, please email Mikayla's mom, Kim, so she could discuss with you featuring the piece on a larger piece of artwork being created from all the ladybugs colored at the Iron Pigs' game on Friday, September 3, 2010.

What an awesome job! Kim's email address is kim@mikaylasvoice.org

Community Nights at Coca Cola Park

Thank you Iron Pigs for a warm welcome, which allowed Mikayla's Voice to generate awareness about inclusion with fans young and old last evening.

 

There was so much activity and excitement at our table that it would take pages to post all the pictures of the children whom stopped by our table to visit with Mikayla and to color posters of lady bugs. (Double click on the collage for a larger view and hopefully find your picture posted.)



Each lady bug was colored differently showing just how our differences make us shine!

Our bulletin board was filled to capacity TWICE, and now they are being put together to create a paper quilt.

Fabulous job, Iron Pigs' Fans! Thank you for your support.