A local elementary school embarked on a novel project to promote a love of literacy and foster teamwork among its students.
Last year, Warren Elementary’s Grade 1 class embarked on a project to write, illustrate and publish their own book called Animals of the Alphabet – and the school recently received published copies of their creation.
Teacher Amanda Margetts got the idea from a teacher in Saskatchewan who shared an Instagram post about publishing student work through Student Treasures, a company that offers a class book publishing package.
“I have always loved creating class alphabet books in the past. I would make a single coil-bound copy for our classroom library,” she said.
“This time, I wanted to take it a step further so students could experience the excitement of seeing their own writing and illustrations in a professionally published book, available in both our classroom and school libraries.”
Under the guidance Margetts, the class focused on one letter of the alphabet each week.
“Students brainstormed which animal should represent that letter, and I narrowed it down to two options for a class vote. After choosing the animal, we discussed what action it would be doing and voted again. Together, we completed a shared writing activity to create our sentence, stretching and spelling the words as a group,” she explained.
“I photographed our draft sentences to reference later for the final copies. Student Treasures provided special paper for students to neatly print their sentence and draw their illustration. The project took several months, as we worked through each letter one week at a time.”
This project closely aligned with the ELA curriculum by supporting purposeful communication and the development of writing skills.
“Students wrote for a clear purpose to inform and entertain while practising sentence structure, conventions and idea development. The activity also helped students begin to understand audience and purpose in their writing, laying the foundation for more complex writing tasks as they grow,” Margetts said.
“One unique feature of this book is its handwritten format. Each student carefully printed their sentence and illustrated it with an original drawing.”
In August, Margetts received the published copy of Animals of the Alphabet. She ordered a few extra copies for the school’s early years classrooms, and a copy will be available for students to sign out from the school library to share their work with their families. Students also had the option to purchase a book.
Now in Grade 3, the students were excited to see the culmination of their hard work.
“The students were thrilled to see their work in print. Their faces lit up with pride and excitement as I read through the pages. Watching their reactions made every step of the process worthwhile,” Margetts said.
“The best part was holding the finished, published book in my hands and sharing it with the students. Seeing their joy and pride in their hard work was incredibly rewarding. It was a special moment for all of us.”
Looking ahead, Margetts plans to work with Student Treasures again this year on a class publishing project.
“I haven’t decided whether it will be another alphabet book or a new theme,” she said “but I’m excited to create another memorable publishing experience for my students.”
