Author Suzanne Slade made an appearance at Model Elementary to speak about her book “Astronaut Annie”. The event highlighted the book’s selection to travel to the International Space Station.  The launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket happened on May 4, 2019 at 2:48am from Cape Canaveral, FL.  “Annie” rode in “Dragon”, the space pod delivering supplies to the ISS.  It made contact with the Space Station on May 6, 2019.  The launch is available for viewing at https://www.space.com/spacex-dragon-predawn-launch-landing-success-crs17.html.  Once docked on the station, an astronaut will read the book and a video recording of the reading will be posted on the website “Story Time From Space”, https://storytimefromspace.com/

For a video about the author visit, click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dUo4WF9VOKZv0HQoOOr4YrOcnyg-oBNX/view?usp=sharing

Tami Hicks, Principal of Model Elementary, enjoyed hosting the presentation at the local Goshen school. Diane Woodworth, Superintendent of Goshen Community Schools, started the event by reading aloud “Astronaut Annie” to approximately 100 Kindergarten students on May 3, 2019.   Suzanne Slade followed the reading by a presentation of “Annie’s” international travel to make it to the Falcon 9 launch site.  She also spoke regarding the process of becoming an author, including a copy of her first story, written as a 1^st grader at Parkside.  The event ended as Suzanne Slade completed an interactive reading of her story “Animals Are Sleeping” with the students.

Sharon Sarber, Volunteer Engagement Specialist for GCS, coordinated the event as part of the Read United program, “Spring into Reading”.  The program connects community volunteers with Kindergarten classrooms in Elkhart and Goshen Community Schools for read-alouds over a 4-week period.  The story was included in the program curriculum this year.

Read United is an initiative funded by United Way of Elkhart County in collaboration with both school districts.  “Real Men Read” and “Reading Camp” are two other volunteer-based programs within Read United.  For more information, please contact Sharon Sarber at ssarber@goshenschools.org or Diane Lucchese (ECS CARES Coordinator) at dianelcares@gmail.com.

Below: Diane Woodworth, Superintendent of Goshen Community Schools reads “Astronaut Annie” by Suzanne Slade to approximately 100 Kindergarten students at Model Elementary on May 3, 2019.

Below: From left to right, Suzanne Slade, Author, Diane Woodworth, Superintendent of Goshen Community Schools, and Sharon Sarber, Volunteer Engagement Specialist.  Suzanne Slade grew up in Goshen, and returned to talk with Kindergarten students at Model Elementary about her book, “Astronaut Annie” and followed the story’s recent travel to the International Space Station via the SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, FL.