Success!

About a month or two ago, I ran across a suggested page on Facebook for a company called Studentreasures Publishing. You can check out their website here. They will publish books for K-12 students for free! You can choose to make a class book or you can have each student write individual books. All you have to do is request a FREE mail-in kit or you can create your book online! I requested 3 mail-in kits in case some of the teachers at my school were interested in creating a book with their classes. Once the kit arrives at your school, you have about a month or so to have your students write and illustrate their stories on the pages provided. They even send you a sample book to show your students an example of what the book might look like. Teachers will receive a FREE copy of the book once it is published if all parents return their order forms. Parents are able to purchase a copy for $19.95 but there is no obligation to purchase one. The company just asks you to send the order forms and get them signed (yes OR no) with money included if the parents decide to buy a copy. This was one of the more difficult tasks for me to complete with my students since unfortunately, even with reminders, some of my parents will not return papers that need to be signed. :(

Since we have been studying fairy tales and folktales and we already wrote our own versions of Jack and the Beanstalk, I decided that our book would be a fractured fairy tales book for Jack and the Beanstalk! Some of my students are very reluctant writers and need a lot of encouragement to put forth effort in their writing, but all of them were excited to be published in their very own book. I even had some students who wrote stories that were two pages long and if you've seen the small lines on the pages in Kit 34A, you understand my amazement! My students have grown so much in their writing this year and I am incredibly proud of the great job they did on their stories. Here is an example from one of my students who is a reluctant writer:

As you can see, the students will have to write their stories in marker or pen. I had my students go through the writing process and write their final draft on a separate sheet of paper before using the paper provided in the kit. I think the next time I use this resource, I will be making copies of the papers provided so I know exactly how many pages my students will need for each of their stories. Anyways, they will have to write their story on the lined paper provided in PENCIL first. I bought several extra fine point Sharpie markers for my students to use when going over their pencil markings. It dries quickly so no fears of the marks smudging on the glossy papers provided in the kit. 

I wrote a story inspired by my son for the end of the book. I also included a letter to my students and their parents explaining how proud I am of their hard work this year. I will be mailing my completed kit (along with two of my fellow teachers' kits) tomorrow and I CAN'T WAIT to see the final product. I am hoping it will be a treasured keepsake that they will read for years to come!