How many children can say they are published authors? In Columbus, 415 St. Luke students can make that claim.
Brandi Pittmons' Kindergarten class will
compete in the state.
Headmaster Ann McDuffie says each of the classes from kindergarten through fifth grade collaborated on a book. In addition, each middle school student wrote his or her own biography. The students’ manuscripts were printed by Studentreasures Publishing Company. The company promises the project brings several things to the classroom. It generates writing excitement among students because their efforts result in an actual four-color, hardbound, professionally published book. That also motivates students to do their best writing. Seeing their writing and illustrations turned into published books also builds self-confidence and self-esteem, according to the publisher.
Cookbook authors are eager to
see their recipes in print.
St. Luke got one hardbound copy of each book for the school library. When those tomes came back from the printers they were autographed by the authors during a special open house.
McDuffie started the book project when she was principal of Midland Academy and brought it to St. Luke three years ago. This year the student-selected topics ranged from poetry and what they would do with a million or a billion dollars, to tall tales about turkeys. The students wrote, illustrated, edited and proofed the volumes.
Displays at Book Signing.
Several of the classes also turned their books into PowerPoint presentations and entered them in the International Media Festival. One class, Brandi Pittmon’s kindergarten, won locally and will go on to compete at the state level. Their tale, “If You Could Take A Lion To School,” related the adventures of the school’s lion mascot as it went through a typical day.
Another class wrote a “Cookbook From Around the World”. The students each took a country. They prepared a dish from the country for the class to sample and also studied their country’s culture. The students said their projects combined fun and learning.
As a finale to the writing experience, each class developed a display to showcase their works for parents and friends during author’s day.
