Publishing Party!

Published authors in Angela Ditaranto and Rachel Geremino’s second grade class celebrated their hard work with a party. Glossy books were flashed open–inside a table of contents, introduction, chapters on habitats and life cycles, bug vocabulary like thorax, antennae, abdomen; and a conclusion: “now you know that bugs may be small, but they do a big an important job everyday–they help plants grow, clean up nature, and keep our world healthy.”

The room was filled with family and friends who came to celebrate. Proud students wore crowns with the words: Young Author. They sat together at tables and read through their books–beautifully printed handwriting, colorful drawings filled each page.

“Did you know that butterflies migrate?” said Scarlett Sosa Guerra.

“Spiders have eight legs and only two body segments–insects have six legs and three body segments,” said Vincent Fanelli, “some spiders even glow!”

“Ladybugs are cool, they eat up all the aphids so that’s good for us,” said Mia Marazia.

The ARC literacy program unit on Bugs and Their Ecosystems is a 12-week, research-based, non-fiction writing and reading program which integrates reading, writing, and research that builds deep knowledge through hands-on materials.

“We are so excited to celebrate our young authors! This program is great because fosters engagement, encourages student ownership of learning, and produces independent readers and writers,” said Ditaranto.

Based on the buzz in the classroom, students clearly felt empowered–putting their thoughts down on paper, creating arguments, synthesizing information, putting forward their best thinking. After they each got to sit at the front of the room and read out loud they received a well deserved certificate: JFK Published Author Writing Award. Fantastic job authors!