Everyone has a story to tell.
Everyone should have an outlet to tell it.
By publishing their work, children feel they are being heard and what they have to say is valued.
Their stories are as poignant in Kindergarten as they are in their teenage years, and on into adulthood.
The process of writing a book, illustrating, editing, and publishing is an invaluable learning experience for students and their teachers and their parents, beyond learning story structure, creative writing, and art concepts. Teachers can tailor the story creation around curriculum, lessons, current events, or simply give their students complete creative freedom.
The stories children tell can easily rival best selling authors.
Children don’t get caught up in prose and wordiness.
They don’t worry about metaphors, narrative structure.
They simply have a tale and are focused on telling it.
Educators can help facilitate this natural creativity by gently guiding them in structure and narrative.
The following can be expected from students who take part in a bookmaking project:
- Improved observation skills
- Focus and motivation on seeing a project through to completion
- An understanding of key story components — leads, voice, character development, settings, metaphors, conclusions, dialogue, sequence
- Confidence — students who develop their own content for learning become more confident as public speakers
- Organizational Skills
- Improved spelling, punctuation, and grammar
- Deeper understanding of subject matter
- Analytical skills
- Active learning enables students to find their own personal learning styles
- Decision making
- Develop or increase interest in reading