“I wanted my students to grasp the concept of what authors and illustrators actually do,” she said. “So, I had the idea to create a book together, and they were excited to learn about it. They were like, ‘We're going to write our own book!’ and I was like, ‘We're going to try to write our own book.’"
“Wildcat, Wildcat, What Do You See?” books authored by Mia Mewborn’s class.
Mewborn knew she needed a simple idea to fit with students so early in their writing careers, so she chose to model the class’s book on the popular title by Eric Carle, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” She asked the students if they wanted to create a similar book based on their school mascot, a Wildcat.
“I wanted it to be something memorable, something for them to take home and be able to see all their friends. They went crazy over the idea.”
Student pages had a photo of each student, a drawing they made of themselves, and their personal message.Mewborn drew the cover image of the Wildcat, and each student created their own page complete with their student picture. There are even illustrations of Mewborn and Principal Annastasia Ryan in it.
“They drew their own self-portraits and throughout the book, it's them talking about themselves like ‘Wildcat, Wildcat, what do you see?’ and it says, ‘I see Diana looking at me.’ It was very fun for them to be able to see their work come to life.”
Winterville Kindergarten Teacher Mia Mewborn created the book with her class.
The book also contains all nine Moral Focus virtues taught at the school: Wisdom, Respect, Gratitude, Self-Control, Perseverance, Courage, Encouragement, Compassion, and Integrity.
“For them to be able to see how hard it is to do one job, it makes it easier for them to understand the real world. I wanted to let them know they can do whatever job they want and to also incorporate it into our hands-on lessons of learning about authors and illustrators.”
The book incorporated the school’s nine Moral Focus virtues.
Miss Mewborn and the class received regular check-ins from Principal Ryan, who now shows the book to visitors and prospective parents. Students celebrated their effort with an author’s tea party (juice and donuts) complete with a photo station and class visitors.
Great work creating young authors, Miss Mewborn!
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About Winterville Charter Academy
Winterville Charter Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Winterville, North Carolina, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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