Teacher's Tips

Two thumbs up, Shunna!

I also teach students who have limited writing skills but they sure like to talk.So, my instructional assistants and I take advantage of sitting with each child, one and one, and going through the writing process with them. Then, I use another student to illustrate their books. Most of our school participates in this program. Most importantly, I am so glad the my class gets to participate too. The students and their parents are so excited and proud when they see their child's published book on Promotion Day.

I created a document to help keep my students organized. For those creating an anthology from their writing notebooks, it was simply two sheets of paper, double sided with four blank text boxes on each side to represent the pages in the book. The first one is labeled "back of dedication page" then numbered from there. The students are able to do a draft of their illustrations and the title of the writing on the opposite page. For students writing using one piece of writiing I expand to legal size sheets of paper and put lines in the text page boxes. This helps them to break up their story into pages and then have matching illustrations.

My 1st and 2nd graders have done books themed "When I grow up..." for the last 5 years. It's so easy to do! Each student gets one page and one picture. This takes care of our drafting, writing, editing, and publishing standards for the year and our parents love them!

1. Write in pencil the name of each student on the bottom of their pages.
2. Have at least one parent helper to come in for a few days, until everyone finishes. There will always be stragglers, so they can work with them as a small group while everyone else moves on.
3. For younger students use the landscape format books and have them draft on their own landscape writing paper first.
4. Have the students do everything in pencil first! Later I go back over their handwriting in thin black marker. It's really cute to leave in some mistakes and squiggles, after all, they are 6 years old!

I teach special needs grades K-2. Given that I have varied abilities in my class, creating a class book can be a challenge. I wanted to submit a few tips to other elementary special educators who are considering such a project.

The roadblocks faced in our area are actual writing and drawing ability. For example, in my class this year, I only have three students who are able to get their thoughts down on paper by themselves. They are also the only students who can produce a recognizable picture for illustration purposes.

I worked my way around this by doing these things:

1. I expanded my standards to include a realistic view of book producing knowledge. In other words, I focus on the entire process of publishing a book from the basic idea to the actual professional publishing. I use a flow chart to show students the steps we must go through to have a book published. As each part is finished, we put a check mark next to each step.

2. Writing is a shared process. We use another graphic organizer, the word web, to get ideas flowing. If a particular student is having trouble coming up with an idea to add, I have the other students make suggestions to them. From the word web, I either write down student sentences (given verbally) on chart paper, or use a modified word processing program like PixWriter to have students type out their sentences.

3. For illustrating, I can do one of three things depending on the book subject or class abilities. For some books, I bring up the aspect that some authors do not do their own illustrating. In the real world, illustrators are matched up with authors through their publisher. This brings me as an illustrator into the process. I have also had our art teacher draw pictures for students to color in a certain author's style (i.e. Todd Parr). Finally, I might use photographs for illustrations like I did in the recent book we produced.

4. As a part of the realistic approach, I also show students how a person might be the art director/editor of a book. I show them that I have to decide how the pages look and what order they may be in. I'm also responsible for writing a summary or introduction for our book.

If anyone would like to know more about this process, feel free to contact me.

I found it helpful for my Kindergarten class to have them write on their own lined paper, then photo copy their writing onto the correct back of some one else's picture. That meant no smudgy messes on the writing side of the page and no KG worries about who was writing on the back of their pictures!
We present the finished books to the young authors and their families at our Family Reading Night in March each year.

A "Young Author's" Conference would really spotlight the students' hard work and dedication to their published books. Once the books are returned, a team of teachers can select the most outstanding ones for display. Parents and community can be invited in for a special celebration involving speakers (authors, administrators, teachers, etc), food, awards and student/teacher recognitions. This would really work well as a school district project each year. What better way to motivate and excite students about writing. Writing scores would certainly soar with projects like this.

I've published quite a few class-made books through Apple iPhoto. While it may be comparing apples to oranges, you can't beat the price that Student Treasures is offering! I'm finally going to be able to publish without asking our PTO for the money!

A couple of suggestions:
1) For the person coordinating the project, put all information, correspondence, and anything related to the project in a folder of some sort. That way, when questions come up, it will be easily available.
2) Don't be afraid to ask questions! The company is very willing to help out with anything that comes up, and any question that arises (no matter how trivial it may seem to you)
3) For those unsure about getting involved in the project, GO FOR IT! This is the first year I worked on it, and it far surpassed my expectations. The kids and parents were very excited about it.
4) Put out some sample books that may be available (either from your school or some other location). Be sure to include at least one type of each paper that may be used in the schoo. Be sure to include clas and individual samples so parents can view it. This really helped us this year.

I was impressed by a 2/3 grade class project that was typed and perfected, yesterday, for each child in the class. Each had written three poems that were one stanza each with an illustration. It was easy to read!!
But, I miss the handwritten poetry of my own children that was as perfect as they could make it when they were small with their own illustrations and copied as a class anthology.
Having the project be presented during the year like this group is doing today, is generating excitement to write, now. It is a bold way to get kids to present/speak and have an authentic assessment.
Having the class members contribute one sentence each of a fact or opinion could make wonderful, easy free verse:
"If my teacher were president....."
"Did you know......"(wild story or true fact)
This idea came from reading Regie Routman's great book Conversations(2000).

Writing and illustrating our own classroom book has not only motivated my students to become better writers, yet now they want to write more. Motiviate your students to use colorful words that will boost up their imagination and write with their hearts.

I have been using Student Treasures for at least 8 years with my class. Each students creates a poetry book and then presents it to their parents at a Coffee House Poetry Reading. The parents LOVE it! We serve coffee and hot chocolate, keep the lights down low, play jazz music, and we snap instead of clap. It's a great way to celebrate writing! Every student and family looks forward to this second grade event! Everyone is invited to attend.

After searching for a publishing company that would bind and publish my students work and going to the local Staples to have my students work bound for a year, I was told about Studentreasures. I proposed this publishing project to administration and am proud to say that this publishing project has been a intergral part of our curriculum for the past 6 years!
I have published books with 3rd graders who learned typing skills in conjunction as well as kindergarten students. Every year the children are excited and feel a sense of ownership with the project. Parents rant and rave about the work of their chilren and I could not be more proud of each of the over 600 students who present their work to their parents and peers during our Annual Studentreasures Publishing Celebration. Thank you NAtionwide, fellow teachers at PS48 and parents for all of your support!

The children enjoyed this wonderful experience. When we had the book projects back we had a huge publishing party where we invited the mayor and the superintendent of the city to celebrate with us.

I am a retired teacher who had students write books using Nationwide and the students loved it as well as the teachers and parents. We always did it early in the year and then had a special "tea" for the parents in the spring where each child read their page from the book. What a wonderful experience for the children!

Since our books were published towards the end of the school year, we didn't receive them until after the students left for summer break. We will have an "unveiling" assembly at the beginning of the upcoming school year. Students will be given a block of time to share their books with other students and staff members in the building. Some teachers are also planning to have an "Author Week" to spotlight student authors by inviting their parents to visit while their child shares his/her book to the class.

It is a great way to teach the 5 step writing process to the students. I do these at the beginning of the year to teach it and students own the knowledge and practice it all year long.

When the books arrived--in over 20 years of teaching, I have never seen students this excited about anything! One 6th grader said, in hushed tones, "I'm going to remember this day for the rest of my life!"

This was my class first year publishing books. They did an awesome job! Thank you so musch for given them the opportunity to do so.

Thanks,

Ms. Kirk's Second grade class

This is a wonderful opportunity for students to display their creativity and enthusiasm for writing. Even the students who do not like writing got excited about writing their first book!

Squeals of laughter and pride erupted from every student when the books came in! The ownership of their work really hit home when they had the classmade book with their personal piece inside.

I am an Admin. Asst. in the school's main office, as well as a parent of three elementary children and I can say that the Student Treasure Books are a big hit! The materials are easy to order, use & ship back to Nationwide Learning. Their staff is very helpful. The finished books arrived on time and look great. As a mom, I love having a keepsake from my children and it makes them feel proud to be an author.

I love this project! Can't wait to do it again next year, I have so many more ideas.
I do have a question though--can we use real photos of our class for the cover?

I think these book's are great for the kid's to make and learn how to make a book, not only for that but I love them for keepsakes as my boy's grow and I can look back at them and remember little thing's that my boy' have written, I love them thank's for starting this!

Get everyone who works at school involved in this project. It is a team effort to prepare young writers for publishing. Each teacher needs at least one person who can help edit or just sit with a child while he/she is working on the final copy. This year, the art teacher helped the students with their illustrations in art class.

Use local college students to help with editing. It spreads community awrencess and a fun experience for all.

We created our books at the end of a unit on the elements of non-fiction text. Many of the students demonstrated a deep understanding of what we had learned by including the elments in their own non-fiction book about animals. It was great to see them apply what they had learned.

Our students put a collection of their favorite writings from the year. I schedule computer lab time for students to type their stories throughout the year so it's not so hectic at press time.

This book pogram is getting me ready to be an author when i grow up

The book my class created last year is one of my most prized possessions! I helped my class create a book from emails we exchanged with a soldeir friend serving in Baghdad who was also the father of one of our classmates. Our special pal is home from Iraq. My students are now in other classes, but we all have a wonderful book of memories!

my class took a picture out of a book and then had my class looka t it and write about what the story was about!

For added fun, present your own "Newbery Award" for the best story and "Caldecott Award" for the best illustrated book.

Plan a surprise "unveiling of the students' books" at an assembly. It works best for us to plan this assembly just before a holiday or break.

I created a form so I could keep up with who paid to get an additional book, their book title, and where they are in the publishing process.

We made a "Wonderful World of Writing" book to start our rough draft which included a brainstorm page, web idea page, and story board page. It seemed to help the students organize their ideas.

my daughter made a book and we are wondering how we get a copy of it?

Thanks

For classbooks, have an outline or planner sheet listing page numbers and students responsible for each page. This will make it less confusing when you are completing the final copy and students are creating their illustrations on the back of other students' writing.

Do not use thicker marker when writing the final copy as it runs. Let the students choose their own topics as it motivates them to do the research. Show an example copy at Open house so the parents are aware of what the final products will look like.

Make sure to incorporate the books into the core content areas as much as possible. I have had classes publish books as a cumulative ending to units on the American Revolution, Poetry, Weather, American History, and so on. Also, incorporate the books into the on-going writing workshop. I have had lots of teachers look at them as an "added chore" until they realized that it is much easier to let the kids publish when they are ready.

I have had my students write books that tie into a couple of my classroom units. We have done Lincoln and Butterflies so far. I have also done a Thanksgiving book and a book with letters to Santa. The kids LOVE reading the books and it makes them feel great to be a published author.

We do a family recipe book in the fall and a poem book in the spring. The recipes are usually ethnic and include lots of different cultures. They make great winter holiday gifts. The spring poem book includes poems about various units we have covered throughout the school year. It makes a nice remembrance of third grade.

I like to have parents or former students come into the classroom during the revising process to help the students. Many times they are able to inspire my students to think creatively!

As a way to promote family involvement, we invited parents in for a "Decorate The Cover" party. The kids were so excited and it allowed the school to home connection piece that is so important. All materials were provided and pictures of students with their family members were taken for inclusion in our school yearbook.

Save any writing papers that students do during the year. As time draws near for them to work on their books, they can find a story to revise and edit. This also gives you extra time to schedule your computer lab if students are going to type their stories.

Take your time and the students will treasure the book. Draw with pencil before you color and outline in black.

Make copies of the writing paper for practice. This way the students are more familiar with the format.

Have teachers make a book about themselves to introduce themselves to new students at the beginning of the school year and/or when they get a new student.

If teachers choose to have their students hand write their stories, I let them borrow pens with erasers on them. I also keep permanent markers together and allow them to "travel" to different classrooms for student use. Lastly, if students have problems writing their ideas down, I have them sit with me at a computer and I type while they talk.

We have the Art Teacher involved for the illustrations.

This is a team project where we involve parents, students, and teachers in the entire process. Then when the published books arrive, we incorporate the books into our Open House in the spring and have an Author's Tea for all of our students to celebrate the success of being a published author!

Get to work on the books IMMEDIATELY! Have parents in to help.

I think it is important to throw out to the students as many topics as possible since it helps them settle on an idea.

I have my students make their books differently. I like having them make their picture and writing seen at the same time. For instance the picture for the writing on page one is on the back of the dedication page.

For "professional" looking books, enlist the help of parents to type them. To make sure the correct page gets illustrated, after typing the text I use sticky notes with the student's name and attach the note to the correct page.