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Immaculate Conception Catholic School recently announced that 20 of its students have become published authors through a national student publishing program.

As part of the publishing process, students in prekindergarten planned, wrote and illustrated their own books using a free publishing kit provided by Studentreasures Publishing. The topic of their book was “When I Grow Up.”

The idea for the “When I Grow Up” book started when the class was learning about community helpers, a recent press release states. Teacher Tammy Marr said that the children were very excited to learn about all the possibilities. The children also loved reading the book in class called “The ABC of Jobs” and had dramatic play units added to the classroom, including doctors’ offices, stores with cash registers and money and a pizzeria.

Students also took a field trip to Dave’s Pizza Buffet, where students were told about each worker’s job.

The Studentreasures publishing program provides teachers an easy way to incorporate any lesson plan — including math, science, history art and more — into a fun and memorable activity.

“We receive a kit from Studentreasures and that has everything that we need,” Marr said. “We go through the box, we learn about the jobs of authors and illustrators, we choose a topic and get started. Each child has two pages in the book: one with words and one with their illustration.”

“We chose to do the book ‘When I Grow Up,’ as it fit with our community helpers theme,” she continued. “Once all pages are done, all mistakes are corrected and final work is approved, the students watch their work get boxed up and sent to the publisher.”

The students of Marr’s class began working on the books in the first couple weeks of February and continued for four weeks. Marr said that the original publish date was pushed back due to snow days.

The program gives a full-color, deluxe hardcover book to the teacher or school library. The students’ parents also have the option to purchase copies of the book.

This is the third consecutive year that Marr’s class has become published authors.

Marr said that students and parents both love the books, and that she has heard many comments about what a great keepsake the book is.

“My students benefit in so many ways from becoming published authors and illustrators,” she said. “They see books in a whole new way once they see the ideas, the work and the creativity behind each one. Many early literacy skills are developing, as well. Children learn to write/spell words, they learn that their illustrations should match their words and, best of all, they enjoy the book when it arrives by ‘reading’ it over and over again. This is one of the many things we do in our preschool to facilitate a love of reading and learning.”

Studentreasures Publishing has helped more than 500,000 teachers provide writing lessons and turn more than 15 million students into authors of hardcover books, the release states. For more than 25 years, Studentreasures has partnered with nearly 89,600 schools through its book publishing program. With the goal of helping every child become a published author, the free program provides engaging, hands-on art and writing lessons — including online book publishing — in classrooms across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

For more information, visit studentreasures.com.

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