Author Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic visited Burleigh Elementary on Thursday, October 10, to speak to 170 third graders. Her visit was in promotion of her new children’s book Daphne Draws Data, and included a graph-drawing activity with high school students from Elmbrook’s LAUNCH Future Teachers strand. Cole’s book uses fun, colorful adventures with Daphne the Dragon to show young learners how data can be visualized to solve problems.

“I always thought that data was a really interesting way to look at the world and help people answer questions,” said Knaflic in response to a student question. “This book was an opportunity to share my passion for data with my own children as well as children around the world.”

After Cole read her book to the audience, she challenged the students to work in small groups and create a graph using data generated from a survey the students took last week. The small groups were facilitated by the Future Teachers, who leveraged a variety of teaching strategies to engage students and solve a data problem.

“This was a great learning experience for our 3rd grade students and our high school students,” stated Chris Thompson, Elmbrook’s Chief Strategy Officer and the event coordinator. “We are grateful to Cole and our LAUNCH Future Teacher students for making data visualization fun and impactful for our Burleigh Viking learners.”

Cole is the best-selling author of the Storytelling with Data series and was inspired to write her latest book by her own children. Elmbrook is grateful to Boswell Books for providing copies of the books for students. Elmbrook’s tradition of hosting renowned authors and illustrators continues to promote increased literacy and storytelling among students.