Kevin Kurtz
Children's Author & Educator
Live and Virtual School Visits
Kevin has a master's degree in elementary education and over twenty-five years of experience teaching school groups of all ages as an educator at organizations such as the South Carolina Aquarium and the Science Factory Children's Museum and through doing school visits. He has presented his children's books to students from kindergarten to high school, and is skilled at reaching grade level science and literacy standards. Kevin does live school visits and virtual (remote) school visits throughout the school year.
Scroll down for a description of Kevin’s live and virtual (remote) school visit program options.
Live School Visit Program Options
Kevin regularly visits schools to meet students face-to-face and talk to them about reading, writing, science and nature. He lives in Rochester, New York and is available to visit schools in Western and Central New York throughout the school year. He also regularly visits South Carolina, New England, and New Jersey to do school visit tours. Kevin is open to visiting schools anywhere in the world. Contact him to discuss availability and travel arrangements by emailing him at kevin@kevkurtz.com.
Reading program
An assembly-style program for grades K and up.
A reading of any of Kevin's children's books with the text and illustrations projected on a screen for easy visibility by all students.
An informative and interactive discussion of the topics of each book that is based on grade-level science standards.
A discussion of the process of writing a nonfiction children's book.
A question-and-answer period.
Book signings.
Highlights Program
An assembly-style program for grades K and up.
Instead of focusing on one book, Kevin can present highlights from multiple books, with the text and illustrations projected on a screen for easy visibility by all students. The highlights can be focused on specific topics to help students meet grade-level standards. The highlight topics available are:
Researching and Writing Nonfiction: Kevin will use specific examples from his books to talk through the process of research, writing, and editing nonfiction texts.
What Plants and Animals Need to Survive in a Habitat: All living things need air, food, and water of some sort to survive. This presentation will focus on some of the interesting ways species do this in different habitats.
Adaptations - Body Parts and Behaviors of Plants and Animals: This presentation will show some of the unique ways different plants and animals have adapted to their environments.
Ecosystems and Food Web Relationships: This presentation will feature some of the ways living things and nonliving things interact in an ecosystem, and how energy and nutrients travel through plants and animals in various ecosystems, from producers to consumers.
The Ocean: This presentation will focus on the physical features of the ocean and the different habitats and inhabitants found there.
Climate Change: The presentation will focus on the science of how we know climate change is happening, what some of its impacts will be, and what we can do to fight it.
Scientists and Engineers: This presentation will explain what scientists and engineers do and share some of their exciting recent discoveries and inventions.
Greatest Hits: This presentation will be a smorgasbord of some of the most interesting highlights from Kevin’s books.
All highlights programs also include:
A discussion of the process of writing a nonfiction children's book.
A question-and-answer period.
Book signings.
Writers' Workshop
Maximum 30 students per program for grades 3 and up.
An informative discussion of the process of writing nonfiction.
A workshop session during which Kevin will work with students to create their own writing about science and nature topics.
A book signing.
Rates for a live school visit program
All day visit at one school: Includes five 45-minute reading and/or writing workshop programs, and book signings. $650 plus travel expenses.
Schools near each other can split a day into separate morning and afternoon visits. Each school's visit includes two 45-minute programs (see maximum student numbers above) and book signings. $325 per school plus travel expenses.
What do children’s author’s typically charge for a school visit? A survey conducted in 2018 found that the average fee for an author visit for one day is $1000. Kevin tries to keep his rates below that to make an author visit possible for more schools.
To read the findings of the survey, visit here.
Virtual Author Visit Program Options
Throughout the school year, Kevin is available to virtually talk to students using Zoom, Google Meet, or the school’s preferred virtual meeting platform. Students can learn from Kevin and ask him questions about both writing nonfiction and the science and nature topics he writes about. Each virtual visit program lasts 30 minutes and is for up to fifty students at a time. The types of virtual programs available are listed below. The fee for each 30-minute session with a maximum of fifty students per session is $30. Kevin will share free online resources that teachers and students can use to help them prepare for the visit. To schedule a session, email Kevin at kevin@kevkurtz.com.
Book Reading
Kevin can read from any of his books and talk about some of the science and research and writing process behind it and then answer students questions.
Book Highlights to Teach Science and ELA Concepts
Kevin can present highlights from his books to help teach standards-based science and ELA concepts. The students will also be able to ask questions at the end. This list of concepts he can teach are:
Researching and writing nonfiction
Plant and animal needs in habitats
Adaptations
Living and nonliving interactions in ecosystems
Food web relationships in ecosystems
The ocean
New discoveries in space
The science of light and color
The future of technology
Climate change
What do scientists and engineers do?
Greatest Hits (a smorgasbord of highlights not based on a theme)
30-Minute Author Interview
Kevin answers questions from students to talk about a variety of topics to discuss the writing process and the science of his books in a way that is student/teacher led.
To schedule a school visit with Kevin, contact him at:
kevin@kevkurtz.com.
Feedback from Teachers, Media Specialists, and Students
“Kevin visited my school earlier this year and was excellent. He spoke to students in kindergarten through third grade and each presentation was geared to their level. He addressed many standards and my students are still mentioning his visit as we talk about the coast.”
“We have been doing many Skype sessions and Google Hangouts this year and the kids seriously cannot stop talking about Kevin’s visit. They have told the librarian and our principal and they are all talking about writing their own books. They said it was their favorite because they could relate so much to Kevin! ”
“Kevin has visited our school twice, and both times he was a hit with our students and a pleasure to host. He spoke to Junior Kindergarten – 4th grade classes, and each of his sessions was geared to the developmental age and attention span of the specific audience. Kevin invited the children to participate in his presentations, so our children were highly engaged and actively learning. The nonfiction subject matter was very high interest to our students, and Kevin’s knowledge of and passion for his areas of expertise were most impressive to adults and children alike. Our Science and Language Arts teachers appreciated his messages of biome preservation and the revision process in writing which connect with many standards in their respective curricula. We librarians are affirmed by very active circulation of Kevin Kurtz’s books and the students’ discussion of them long after his visits!”
“It was really fantastic! I would happily have him talk to the children every week! He was really warm and friendly with the children. He gave lovely and very detailed explanations to the children’s questions, making the children feel their questions were really valued.”
“Kevin is an inspiration, encouraging kids to read and write. He captivated my third grade class’s attention for more than an hour. It was obvious he knew and loved his topic about salt marshes, and was delighted to answer questions about his book, about the salt marshes, and the process of writing and publishing.”
“Prior to our Skype visit with Kevin, my 3rd graders used his books, ‘A Day in the Deep’ and ‘Uncovering Earth’s Secrets,’ as mentor texts for our Informational Book Writing Unit. Both of these books motivated my third graders and inspired them to use different text structures/features in their own writing. Learning about the writing process from the author of mentor texts during our Skype visit was amazing. Kevin is an inspiration to all of my students and has certainly made the writing process meaningful and enjoyable!”
“Kevin clearly and effectively communicates scientific information to children of all ages. He easily relates science concepts to ideas with which students are already familiar. Students are encouraged to participate in his presentations. His stories engage the learner and convey information in a memorable way!”
“WOW! What a wonderful Skype session we had with Kevin! Our 4th graders have just embarked on their first “real” research paper and were able to ask lots of research questions! Even though we had a time difference issue (my issue), Kevin was very flexible! Awesome “trip”!”
“Our school loved our visit from Kevin Kurtz! We were so thankful to hear him use the science vocabulary students have been learning during our inquiry units. The students were very engaged and came away with a much deeper understanding! Now we can’t keep his books on the shelf in the library!”