"Big Books: Innovation and Publication"

The Challenge: Less than half of the 20 children in Ms. Stencil's kindergarten class had attended preschool and many came from limited literacy backgrounds. Recognizing that personal involvement is the precursor to experiential learning, she exposed these students to thinking "BIG" through a shared literacy project.

The Solution: Historically, students enjoy hearing well-told stories and demonstrate story comprehension following these shared reading times. Ms. Stencil selected the Big Book stories because of the engaging tales and wonderful illustrations. Students were so inspired that they authored and published their own individual books structured on the Big Book format. They presented their creations from the classroom "Author's Chair," where they received immediate positive feedback from classmates. In addition, the students' Big Books were published online on the school's website.

Accomplishments: Overall, greater literacy growth exceeded all previous years with 100 percent of the kindergarten class able to read something upon entering the 1st grade. Further, these young students were three months accelerated in their reading and writing abilities when compared to students coming from other schools and kindergarten classes. This significant educational accomplishment resulted in the 1st grade class developing a Writer's Workshop based on the Big Book project. This, too, has met with success and enthusiasm.