Schoolchildren’s meeting with true writer and writing poems in the Presidential Library

On the eve of the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, the Presidential Library hosted a creative lesson with the writer Marina Lykova “Journey to the world of children's book”. The library systematically implements educational programs designed for primary school age: these are multimedia lessons and support for beginning cinematographers from urban studios, and constant attention to “special” children from specialized educational institutions.

The Children's Website of the President of Russia is running on the library’s portal for pupils of this age group, where a small user can search for answers to everything that interests him and even ask a question to the President of the country.

This time, pupils of the 3rd and 4th grades of St. Petersburg schools came to the Presidential Library in order to “live” communicate with the children's writer and poetess Marina Lykova and in the framework of the project “Video Lecture – to School” to take a personal part in her creative lesson “Journey to the world of children’s book”. Via video conferencing mode, they were joined by peers from Penza and Nefteyugansk, Yalutorovsk and the urban-type settlement Oktyabrskoe (Tyumen Region).

Marina Lykova is the author of books for children of preschool and primary school age “We are alike”, “Why should we learn to read?”, the stories “Rubber”, “Excursion to the Water Museum”, “How I Learned to Swim”, etc. Marina Vladimirovna is also a nominee for the 2017 Poet Prize of the Russian Writers’ Union in the field of children's literature and a member of the International Writers’ Union.

At the beginning of the lesson, Marina Lykova, who is able to communicate lively and entertainingly with the children's audience, invites you to go on an exciting journey through the pages of e-books from the collection of the Presidential Library. Especially for the class with the children's writer, an electronic exhibition was prepared on publications for children kept in the Presidential Library’s collections: “The alphabet in pictures” by A. N. Benoit, “Native word for young children” by K. D. Ushinsky, “The civil alphabet of teachings of Peter I and others.

Then Marina Vladimirovna opened an illustrated collection of poems “We are alike” and introduced the audience to her own work. Right there, at a lesson in the Presidential Library, Marina Lykova suggested to start writing poems and publishing the best of them in her next edition. The hall did not expect such an unexpected invitation to work, but the topics suggested by the guest turned out to be well known to everyone: the problems of gathering school supplies nightly into a satchel, hiding bad diary grades, “lost” scarves, slippers, mittens in the locker room. “If “school shoes” ran away, / A pencil box hid somewhere ...” - the moderator invited the children to continue the topic raised by her and write their own poems.

The first who responded were pupils from regions. Then the guys from the specialized  school №616 "Dynamics" offered their own version: "We must remove things, / We will not have to look for them". The winners were fourth-graders Alisa Kuzina and Anton Teryokhin from St. Petersburg School № 675, who wrote: “If a friend stumbled in a school, / We must extend a hand. / If a friend gets a deuce, / Need to pull up a friend.

The guests played the violin, read poems, watched cartoons, and did not want to leave the walls of the library. Not ordinary library, but electronic, as they were explained at the excursion of the Presidential Library.

The event was broadcasted live in “Live Broadcasts” section of the Presidential Library’s portal and in VKontakte official group.