Hidalgo ISD’s Dr. Alejo Salinas Jr. Elementary School prides itself in providing students with new and innovative learning horizons with the implementation of hands-on experiences.
In the efforts in continuing to support an innovative learning environment, second grade Reading teacher, Ruby Guanajuato, and her students at Dr. Alejo Salinas Jr. Elementary partnered with Studentreasures Publishing.
“When I came across Studentreasures Publishing, I was automatically intrigued by this company because it gives students the opportunity to become published authors,” Guanajuato said. “Every student receives a photo page for their illustrations and a writing page in the publishing kit, and the teacher ends up choosing the topic of the book.”
Studentreasures Publishing is a program that allows students to publish a class book, helping create young authors. It provides teachers with the necessary tools, including a free publishing kit that will help incorporate fun, memorable, and educational activities. Moreover, it helps students engage in hands-on learning while igniting a love for reading and writing.
“Students are excited to publish their book,” Guanajuato said. "More than anything is has motivated them to want to write every day, I see the improvement and effort they put into it which serves as some type of motivation.”
Guanajuato has both English and Spanish rotation classes, therefore there will be two separate books that will be published; one being in English, and the other one in Spanish, titled ‘Pequeños, Pero Grandes Escritores.’
Throughout this journey to becoming published authors, it has helped students turn into a team of writers and illustrators. Publishing a book with the entire classroom is a one-of-a-kind experience that gets the students excited about writing.
“We are writing imaginary stories and I love it because I’ve never written a book before,” said second grader, Adyson Martinez. “I feel excited and special because I’m going to be a publisher, and I’m only seven years old.”
This project has inspired students to be creative, while encouraging teamwork and collaboration. Every student has been able to contribute their own writing and illustrations to create a collaborative class book based on the topic Guanajuato chose for the classroom.
Guanajuato is continuously looking for hands-on experiences that align with reading, writing and literacy standards. With this opportunity and resource, she hopes to engrave the love of reading and writing even to the most reluctant readers.
“With the help of Studentreasures, my goal for all my students, both English and Spanish speakers is to help them become more motivated to read and write,” explained Guanajuato. “I also hope to help build a sense of pride and accomplishment for all their hard work.”
This project has been a fun way to not only get students excited about reading but also motivates and inspires them to enhance creativity and discover the love of writing.