To promote literacy and creative writing, the 1st graders write their first book over a 4 week period. They get a lot of help from the teachers and from volunteer parents to make sure they use good grammar and proper punctuation. Their story has to have a good story line that also has an introduction, a middle part and a conclusion. At the back of the book is a glossary of terms and at the front of the book is an index of the 'chapters' of the book so its quite intense.
The kids also had to illustrate the book which they showed to the group when it was their turn to read their story. All the kids from each class were divided into groups and the parents sat with their child and they took turns reading their story to the group. Cullen's story was non-fiction book about Zulu (with a bit of fiction thrown in.) After each child had read their story, they celebrated by having an Author's Tea which was really sweet and the kids loved it.
Connor, Robert and Cullen