After admiring classroom volunteer and Oxford resident Jean Dickman’s attempt at authoring books, students in Pam Collins? first grade class at Daniel Axford Elementary decided to become authors themselves.
Collins gave her class the opportunity to create their books while studying Lucy Calkins? writing program.
Calkins?, who is considered a ‘writing guru,? has said ‘children deserve to write knowing that their final pieces of writing … stand a good chance of being read by readers. They will feel as if the work they are doing is real, credible and substantial.?
Each of Collins? 26 students got to write personal narratives or fiction as well as draw pictures that correlated to their stories.
‘Everybody’s been interested and they’ve been writing like crazy,? the teacher said.
Madalynne Myrick wrote about how her family is moving to Texas and drew a photo of the swimming pool her new house will have, while Jordan Jarrett wrote about taking a trip to Jungle Java in Farmington Hills.
Andrew Chen brushed up on his English by writing his own version of the book ‘The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat.?
‘You do have to be careful of what they write sometimes,? Dickman said jokingly. ‘For first-graders, their minds aren’t hampered like our adult minds are.?
Dickman donated her time to helping the students type up their text, form their plots and bound the small books together for the children.
The books were taken home over Easter break to share with their parents.