Thought about creating a class book?
It’s an old stand-by activity in primary classrooms – the class book.
If you’re a primary teacher, you’ve probably done this many times: all students contribute a page, staple it together with a cover, and display it on the class bookshelf.
It’s a great activity for encouraging young writers, but with modern technology at our fingertips, it’s time for this activity to get a major update! Self-publishing your class books adds a new level of engagement and pride for students. For older students, they can become fully involved in the technical side of self-publishing.
Why bother?
First, publishing transforms the traditional stapled book into what is perceived as “a real book” – and that matters to students! There’s something about seeing their work printed and bound that makes them identify as “real” authors, just like those they see in a bookstore.
Second, when you publish, each student can have their own color copy; seeing their faces while sharing their finished book with friends and families – pure joy and pride! In my class experience, parents order one copy (about $10), but when they see the final result, they rush back to ask if they can order several more to send to relatives and to save as family keepsakes.
More ideas:
- Put a copy in your school library for others to sign out.
- Share the pages (projected) at a parent night or assembly; each student can read aloud their own page.
- Use the book as the springboard for other language arts or math lessons, just as you would for any author study.
- Collaborate to create non-fiction book instead, based on any subject you are studying in class.
- Create a class poetry anthology or short stories.
- Older students could create a book for younger classes, following the structure of a specific picture book or author.
- Create a time capsule book with each student writing about themselves and their hopes for the future; parents can tuck them away to read years later. If it’s done each year, it’s a nice keepsake for the teacher too, after many years.
Utilize your ipads or even ppt…you can do it!
AmBook
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