Students as Authors

Every year my students write and publish a book using Bare Books. They are these great hardback books with lots of white pages. Students print and paste their work in the books.  Typically it has been a collection of personal narratives titled "Tales of a Fourth Grade Something" with apologies to Judy Blume. This year so much of our reading and writing has become focused on non-fiction. Informational writing, non-fiction text features, biography, expository...This is the language of  fourth grade readers and writers.
     This year students selected a world biome to learn about. Through research in the library and on the web, they learned about the biome's climate, precipitation, flora and fauna, and what impact humans have had on it. Using their knowledge of non-fiction text features, they created glossaries, graphs, tables, and diagrams. They also added a section of poems. Cinquains, haikus, The Important Thing About _______ were among the types of poems.
     While searching for appropriate and useful research sites, I discovered a fifth grade class in Illinois who had already studied and created reports on the biomes.Through the power of the web I was able to contact the teacher via email and set up a SKYPE session so her students could share their knowledge with my students.
     My students were thrilled to share what they had already learned as well as ask questions like, "What sites did you find useful?" and " Where did you find information on plants? I am having trouble." Realizing that they were talking to students that neither they nor their teacher knew was mind opening. If their teacher had found these students online and they were now sharing their knowledge, then it was not too far a reach that the same could happen to them. Suddenly their research and writing became a little more authentic.
     Books were finished, covers were illustrated, and About the Authors were written. All that remained was the celebration. The last week of school we had a publication party with parents and other students in the school. The new authors were proud as punch!