Seneca Valley student storytellers read their own works to preschoolers
A group of eighth-grade students at Ryan Gloyer Middle School who wrote their own storybooks got to regale an attentive audience of preschoolers last week.
All of the eighth graders in Kayla Robinson’s personal development course created children’s books, and 24 were selected after the books were read and reviewed by high school students. Those books were used for the activity that marked the end of Read Across America Week.
The reading, which took place in the preschool classroom at Seneca Valley High School, was done in collaboration with librarian Angie Kotula. The stories touched on themes such as friendship, navigating challenges, and accepting people and their differences.
One of Kotula’s favorite stories was about a crayon box.
“It was really cute,” Kotula said. “It was about crayons and how they showed up on paper and how they were different, and how it’s OK to be different.”
Robinson, who teaches child development, teamed up with Kotula for a collaborative project that promoted literacy. She said the activity allowed students to connect their child development knowledge to other school subjects.
This year, the activity, which is in its second year, saw a new twist — the educators said students created activities to go along with their children’s books.
Some students created scavenger hunts with lists of different characters featured in their stories. Pictures of the characters were found around the building.
Other students incorporated craft lessons and snacks.
“Students came up with the characters, illustrations, storylines,” Robinson said. “They really got to use their skills and interests to complete this project. I thought a really interesting piece was watching the kids actually read the story to the preschoolers … it actually makes the work at school realistic and applied it to a real world setting.”
