Full Text:

Celebrating A Year Of Writing

(with photo)

BY JEFF WHITE

First grader David Tierno loves baseball, so much, in fact, that it is the

subject of his latest book, Baseball Practice Day.

David and the rest of Kristine Feda's first grade class had the opportunity on

Tuesday to show off their writing during Sandy Hook Elementary School's "First

Grade Writer's Tea."

The tea was the culmination of a year's worth of "writers' workshops," the

portion of the day when the children had the opportunity to learn about the

many facets of creating a published book.

"`Writer's Tea' is a celebration of our year in writing," Ms Feda said.

Throughout the year, the children sharpened their writing in three major

categories: memories of their life, special people, and everyday events.

The children individually chose the one topic that they wanted to improve on

and made it the focus of their book. They underwent the long process of

editing and revising their prose, while creating a copyright date, dedication,

and author biography.

The completed writings were then passed on to an editor, a printer, and

finally a publisher, where each book was bound, ready for presentation. Along

the way, each child created colorful illustrations to go along with their

stories.

While the children were busy with their books, they had the opportunity to

learn about the publishing process from Rachel Basch, a professional writer.

After a year of the workshop, according to Ms. Feda, the children "certainly

understand the process of writing a book."

And the tea gave each author the chance to show off their hard work. Proud

parents and other staff from Sandy Hook School crowded into Ms Feda's room,

and all had the opportunity to walk around and read, recording their

encouraging comments on the yellow sheets that accompanied each book.

In small, intimate groups, the authors read their works aloud to their

classmates and parents, only pausing to show off crayoned pictures of the

stories' central characters.

The titles of the books were as unique as the authors who penned them.

Benjamin Murphy titled his book When I First Got My Dog , a tale about his

growing relationship with his dog and the different games they enjoy playing

together.

There were books about special people, like Caitlin D'Eramo's My Sister is

Special , and Kelly Burton's My Friend is Devon . Gary Frey also wrote about

something special: his Sony Play Station, in a book entitled Crash One!

Then there were also special trips, like Tucker Schmidt's My Trip to Kansas ,

and Brian Kuruc's When I Went to Baseball .

A year of writing has given these children a budding love affair with words,

seen not only in their enthusiasm over their books, but in their love of

reading. Already these children understand the direct relationship between

writing and reading.

"You learn more every time you read," said Paige Rogerson.

What does she want to be when she grows up?

A writer.