Welcome

Welcome, and thank you for visiting our site!This Blog is set up for the students and families of Southeast Elementary School in Howell, Michigan. It's purpose is to share the academic and artistic efforts of Mrs. Cain's fifth grade class. They have written and illustrated a book titled, Kirtland's Warbler for Change. This book was a collaborative effort between all the students. Direction and guidance was provided by their teacher, Mrs. Cain, with creative consulting provided by Mrs. Guetschow, the art teacher. The posts within this blog will tell you about the creative process used in making their book. We encourage you to spend some time viewing the contents of this blog and ask you to comment on the postings.

Thank you, Mrs. Guetschow and Mrs. Cain

What Mrs. Cain Has To Say

The 5th grade students of room 123 are a unique bunch. As a group, they are well rounded by possessing both artistic and academic abilities. With so many federal and state mandated standards, benchmarks and teaching objectives, it is difficult as a teacher to find activities that stimulate creativity as well as improve students’ academic skills. Scholastic Kids Are Authors writing contest allows for each student to showcase their strength in both areas. This project involves so much more than writing and illustrating a book about a bird. The first is the true desire to change Michigan’s state bird to the Kirtland Warbler. The students wanted to take up this cause last year and that is when I thought of entering the contest. What a great way to get their idea out to the public.To tackle a project with such depth, I needed to create a classroom full of writers. After a 1 ½ years of studying various authors and their techniques we were ready. Next the students needed to find their strength to help create the best work possible. Skills needed to accomplish a superior picture book are: making connections between what students have read and translating these facts and ideas into their own words, finding voice in writing, spelling, revising, editing, researching, clarifying facts, creativity, arts, collaboration with students & teachers, problem solving, contacting specialists, experimenting with different formats in both text and illustrations, letter writing, environmental awareness, economic current events, how a bill becomes a law, computer skills such as keyboarding, googling, scanning, formatting, emailing, creating a blog, photography and patience. Students must be tough because sometimes the words that were chosen don’t exactly fit. Many times the illustration that a child has spent time creating doesn’t compliment the text. The students have rewritten or sketched 50+ times before it makes it to our final product.As a teacher, this is one of those things that I ask my colleagues to remind me never to do again. The last two weeks before the project must be postmarked; I am crunching all the other subjects I must teach into a tiny time period so we can spend most of the day finishing our story. But when I watch these amazing 10 and 11 year olds work together with smiles on their faces because they were complimented by another student or finished something that they have spent 2 days on, I know that this has become more than a project in writing, spelling, and editing but also a life lesson in teamwork and pride.Thank you Mrs. Guetschow! We couldn’t have done it without you.

-Mrs. Cain

What Mrs. Guetschow Has To Say

I was thrilled to help Mrs. Cain’s class with the illustrations. This is a creative and artistic group of students, and I knew the experience would be fun. When they came to me with questions about their illustrations, their ideas were already clearly defined. It was obvious to me that though this was a work in progress, they had visualized the book completed.

Under Mrs. Cain’s direction, and with some help from me, students worked individually and cooperatively to express their vision. Students sketched, drew, painted, cut and pasted their ideas onto paper, always revising, adding and subtracting elements as they went. It was an ongoing critique, from beginning to end.

Adding art education to content areas brings meaning and value to learning. This book is an excellent example. The interdisciplinary approach of engaging students in creative expression in content areas helps students construct knowledge and develop real-life skills that will last a lifetime. I hope you will be able to see examples of this as you read our blog.

I would like to thank Mary M. for teaching me how to create a Blog, Brooke B., Genny W. and Austin J. for their help with the blog, and Mrs. Cain for all her help and letting me share in this valuable learning experience.

-Mrs. Guetschow

Research

First, Keegan was trying to find out how to make an origami Kirtland Warbler. Then Christian tried to look up addresses for Michigan legislators. Brooke had to see if Kirtland Warbler babies were called chicks, and we had to look up Scholastics phone number. Austin had to look up the rules for our book. Ellie had to find animals to try to trace. We also needed to research if the D. N. R. of Michigan controls the forest fires.
-Christian F., Keegan K. and Julia P.

The Writing Process

When we wrote our first letters, we knew that we would change them a few times. Although, we corrected them about a thousand times! Editing was quite hard. Trying to figure out the right words to use was probably the hardest thing to do. We changed it one word at a time, then it just kept on changing until we had the perfect word. Spelling errors were easy to find. But after we were done with the writing, it was a great feeling.
-Jillian

The Letters

We wrote our story in letter format. Why? Well, none of the other books that won the contest had used a letter format. So our teacher thought that it would be cool to exceed our abilities in writing. The letters were challenging but exciting.
-Genny W.

Drawing

We both feel drawing was a fun thing to do because drawing is like our best friend. We draw all the time.
-Autumn B. & Tatum D.

We had a lot of artists and a lot of pictures, so it was very confusing. All of our pages were very detailed and hard to make, but I managed to get everything done. I also thought all the cutting and pasting was a real pain. The rubber cement wouldn’t stick and it would get messy. Cutting wasn’t that hard, but if you messed up a little, into the garbage it went and you had to start all over again-Alec H

Editing Pictures

Editing pictures was easy, but then again it was very hard. Still, at the end of the book it will all be worth it, every second of working on the book.
-Tommy W.

Cutting

Cutting was so hard, but then again it was easy. We had to cut out pictures of our final copy to make it better. We had great cutters, so we made it look pretty good. We were not close to being done, until the day before it was due. It was stressful, but we pulled through. Overall we had a good time.

-Marshall A.

Advantages

During the process of writing this book, we learned that there are many advantages to working with people you know well. One advantage is that when you know a person for a long time you know a person's strengths and weaknesses. Also, you know that you can depend on a person. We have a very cooperative team of writers and illustrators. I knew I could always count on my classmates!
- Brooke B.

Difficulties

Some of the difficulties were that we had to start new, we weren’t patient and we only had about three weeks to finish it. Also, some of the items that we had to draw were very difficult to make and sometimes hard to cut out. Throughout this process we also got a little stressed out. In the beginning we didn’t do it correctly, so we had to scrap everything and start new.
-Genevieve W.

Personal Opinions

This was a fun experience for me. This gave our class time to work as a team. The cool thing is we were having fun but working at the same time! It was a challenge at first but we still kept working hard.
-Jillian B.

When I heard that my class was going to write a book I wondered, “What is the book going to be about?” The Kirtland Warbler. Sure, we read about it in the 4th grade. That was only the beginning. I also thought, "How?” With the help of my teacher, Mrs. Cain, my art teacher, Mrs. Guetschow, and my technology teacher, Mr. Gordon, they made me believe in the creation of our book. With the many strengths (and weaknesses) of my fellow classmates, I know we can and will accomplish our goal. It is possible because our whole class can cooperate. Everyone has a strength that corresponds with their job. In conclusion, we will WIN the COMPETITION!"
-Greg K.

This book was a fun experience for me. It taught me how to work with others. At first it was challenging but as we went on I realized it was also a learning experience for me.
Sincerely, Kaylyn

I felt that it took a long time to make, but it was worth the fun! Plus, between the illustrations, writing, learning, editing, and sketching, it was a great experience for our class. It seemed very hard at first, but since we worked together, it was so much easier!
-Claire C.