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Watson third-graders become published authors
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Cally Brown (left), a third-grader in Dana Elias' Watson classroom, began the reading of her classroom's book "Chester Gets Famous" on May 4 by acting out the passage where Chester the Cat gets a phone call to find stardom in Hollywood.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .For their book publishing project, each student in Dana Elias' classroom wrote one page of the story and added an illustration of their addition. Third-grader Lillian Burkell (center) read her addition on May 4, in a scene where Chester begins to fight with his owner Melanie over who gets to travel to Hollywood.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Watson third-grade teacher Dana Elias (center) showed off the book "Chester" by Melanie Watt. Elias explained that the book inspired her students to write their own adventure with Chester the cat called "Chester Gets Famous," which they shared at their May 4 Publishing Party at the school.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Watson third grade students, as well as teacher Dana Elias and principal Sheila Palombo (back right), showed off their published book "Chester Gets Famous" during their May 4 Publishing Party.
By SARAH FOOR
Dana Elias and her Watson third-graders celebrated a milestone on May 4 as they added “published authors” to their list of accomplishments.
During their “Publishing Party,” Elias and her students hosted a reading of their book “Chester Gets Famous” and explained the process from idea to published work.
Elias spearheaded the project to get the students excited about the writing process.
“My students are always very excited about reading, and I wanted some of that enthusiasm to also go toward writing and creating something themselves. They’re really big fans of the book ‘Chester’ by Melanie Watt and we used that as inspiration for our own book,” she explained.
The book ‘Chester’ is the story about Melanie Watt’s mischievous cat, Chester, who rewrites and edits the author’s work from start to finish, leading to many tense but humorous standoffs between the writer and animal.
The Watson third-graders were inspired by the tension between the two characters, and dreamed up a scenario where Chester and Watt are sent to Hollywood to star in their own television show. Soon the two begin to argue over who is the real star of the show. After many mishaps, Chester learns that just because you are a celebrity, it doesn’t mean that you can treat people differently.
The book came together a page at a time, as each of Elias’ 22 students was responsible of creating an illustration and one page of the tale.
“It took a long time to write, but the kids learned about writing drafts, editing and the intricacies of the writing process. It was a collaborative class project and we’re very proud of it,” Elias told the crowd during the reading of “Chester Gets Famous.”
At the close of the story, the authors signed autographs for friends and family and enjoyed drinks and treats.
Austintown school board members Tom Stellers and Kathy Mock came to the reading and congratulated the students on a job well done. Sellers said he enjoyed the work of the Austintown authors.
“It was a fun project for the third-graders and the story was very funny. They did a great job,” Stellers said.