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Post a commentHaverford students bridge generation gap with children’s books
Haverford High School students in a creative writing class are literary leaders for young readers in the district.
Teen authors in Laurie Grady’s creative writing class had an opportunity to read original children’s books they wrote as an assignment to elementary school students at Chatham Park Elementary School.
Grady assigned the project to get students thinking about plot and conflict to add to the class units on short story, poetry and play writing.
The writing class is set up as an elective for half-a-semester. This is the second year Grady arranged the live reading at Chatham Park Elementary School as a way to allow high school students to see what actual kids thought of their work.
“We took a trip over to Chatham Park, because I wanted them to have an authentic audience when sharing their children’s books,” Grady said.
The teen authors prepared questions to ask the students prior to reading and answered questions students had about the books on the Oct. 7 trip to Chatham Park. Prior to reading the books to elementary school students, the creative writing class authors practiced sharing the books aloud with their high school age peers.
Students had the choice of pairing up or working alone to complete the book’s storyline and illustrations.
Between the 23 students enrolled in the class about 15 books were created and read to elementary school children. The projects took about a week-and-a-half time span of block-scheduling classes to complete.
Grady started the children’s literature unit by allowing students to bring in their favorite children’s book to share and analyze.
The class then created original storyboards and presented ideas to Grady and prepared a finished piece inside and outside of class.
Each student’s book included a moral in the story’s theme that was relatable to elementary school students, such as sharing, the importance of listening to their parents, the promotion of literacy and being kind to others.
“It’s usually their favorite thing throughout the marking period. I think the project really shows the high school students how their writing is received by their audience,” Grady said.
She also said the project promotes literacy among elementary school kids.
“Young students love and look up to high school kids. They think it’s cool that they wrote the stories, and can’t wait to do it when they get to high school, as well,” Grady said.
Student author Sarah Joslin, 15, wrote and illustrated a fictional story for the class project about her golden retriever Genevieve, titled “Genevieve Takes a Bow.”
In Joslin’s book, Genevieve has the ability to talk and competes in a talent show, despite being the only golden retriever among other breeds.
At the end of the story, Genevieve wins the competition and realizes she can do anything she sets her mind to despite being different.
Joslin, a sophomore at Haverford High School, chose the theme to illustrate a theme of determination.
“I felt like it would relate to kids. I wanted to show them that even if you are looked upon as different, you really aren’t and that you can do whatever you want to accomplish,” Joslin said.
After reading to third graders at Chatham Elementary School and receiving thank you notes from the class, she realized the kids were responsive to her story and enjoyed it.
“The outcome of it was amazing,” Joslin said.
Teen authors in Laurie Grady’s creative writing class had an opportunity to read original children’s books they wrote as an assignment to elementary school students at Chatham Park Elementary School.
Grady assigned the project to get students thinking about plot and conflict to add to the class units on short story, poetry and play writing.
The writing class is set up as an elective for half-a-semester. This is the second year Grady arranged the live reading at Chatham Park Elementary School as a way to allow high school students to see what actual kids thought of their work.
“We took a trip over to Chatham Park, because I wanted them to have an authentic audience when sharing their children’s books,” Grady said.
The teen authors prepared questions to ask the students prior to reading and answered questions students had about the books on the Oct. 7 trip to Chatham Park. Prior to reading the books to elementary school students, the creative writing class authors practiced sharing the books aloud with their high school age peers.
Students had the choice of pairing up or working alone to complete the book’s storyline and illustrations.
Between the 23 students enrolled in the class about 15 books were created and read to elementary school children. The projects took about a week-and-a-half time span of block-scheduling classes to complete.
Grady started the children’s literature unit by allowing students to bring in their favorite children’s book to share and analyze.
The class then created original storyboards and presented ideas to Grady and prepared a finished piece inside and outside of class.
Each student’s book included a moral in the story’s theme that was relatable to elementary school students, such as sharing, the importance of listening to their parents, the promotion of literacy and being kind to others.
“It’s usually their favorite thing throughout the marking period. I think the project really shows the high school students how their writing is received by their audience,” Grady said.
She also said the project promotes literacy among elementary school kids.
“Young students love and look up to high school kids. They think it’s cool that they wrote the stories, and can’t wait to do it when they get to high school, as well,” Grady said.
Student author Sarah Joslin, 15, wrote and illustrated a fictional story for the class project about her golden retriever Genevieve, titled “Genevieve Takes a Bow.”
In Joslin’s book, Genevieve has the ability to talk and competes in a talent show, despite being the only golden retriever among other breeds.
At the end of the story, Genevieve wins the competition and realizes she can do anything she sets her mind to despite being different.
Joslin, a sophomore at Haverford High School, chose the theme to illustrate a theme of determination.
“I felt like it would relate to kids. I wanted to show them that even if you are looked upon as different, you really aren’t and that you can do whatever you want to accomplish,” Joslin said.
After reading to third graders at Chatham Elementary School and receiving thank you notes from the class, she realized the kids were responsive to her story and enjoyed it.
“The outcome of it was amazing,” Joslin said.
