Heber Hunt Students’ Stories, Artwork Published

Heber Hunt Elementary teacher Susie Howe’s third graders participated in an Authors’ Tea on Friday, Dec. 3.

The event was a celebration of the publishing of “Our Small Moments,” a hardbound compilation of the students’ narrative stories.

The students took turns reading the story they had written and showed off the illustration they made; after the readings, the classes shared punch and cookies as a snack.

Howe said the students learned many important concepts throughout the writing and illustrating process.

“They took experiences that they had in their lives and brainstormed lists. They took ideas and wrote several drafts to tell the story from beginning to end,” she said.
During the writing process, the students learned to be active listeners and used partner cooperation to revise and edit their drafts.

“The students got more skilled at adding different leads and endings into their stories, as well as continuing to revise and edit to make their small moment piece stronger,” Howe said.

After conferencing with Howe, the students wrote their final copy and added an illustration. She said the best aspect of the assignment was celebrating by sharing the class books.

“We developed a classroom of writers and illustrators and they are so empowered and motivated now to continue writing and illustrating,” she said. “My overall goal in teaching is to create lifelong readers, writers and learners, and this published book will catapult them to achieve our goal.”

In the photos:
PIC2: Heber Hunt Elementary third grader Carlee Springer, left, reads the story she wrote about her mother as teacher Susie Howe, right, and Carlee’s classmates listen during the Authors’ Tea event Friday, Dec. 3, in Howe’s classroom.

PIC5: Students in teacher Susie Howe’s class listen as a classmate reads their submission from “Our Small Moments,” a hardbound compilation of the the class’s narrative stories.