Schools
A Special Kind of Summer Treat for Brown Elementary Students
Hazelwood Central High School creative writing class writes original children's stories and reads them to Brown Elementary summer schoolers.
students who participated in the school’s summer school program were in for a treat last week when 26 students from came to visit their classes.
The high school students, all members of teacher Shanell Davis’ creative writing class, were there to read stories to kids in Sunny Start (a summer program designed to prepare preschoolers for kindergarten), as well as those in first, second and fourth grade classes.
The best part? The high-schoolers wrote the stories themselves.
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“One of the class assignments is to write a children’s story,” Davis said in a release from the Hazelwood School District. “Students used to write them and turn in them in for grades. But a few years ago, we started reading the stories to elementary school students. My students spend three days writing, designing and drafting children’s stories.”
Each student’s story contained messages of hope or morals. Some dealt with issues that many students face, such as bullying and peer pressure.
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Kia Rogers, who will be a senior in the fall, was first to read her story, Mike Can Ride a Bike, to Nancy Owens’ Sunny Start class.
“The title of my book was Dave the Fat Black Cat,” said incoming junior Jasmin Hudson. “It specified the importance of not judging people by the way they look. I like how attentive the students were to the story. I love working with kids, and they were so respectful.”
Tyra Hall’s second-graders were treated to a story about an African Lion from incoming senior Darrius Harrison.
“My book’s name is The Mighty Phil, and the message of the story was never give up and always try,” he said. “Don’t let people tell you that you can't do it.”
Patricia Daniels, Brown’s summer school site coordinator, said the teachers were impressed with the literacy enrichment activities the high school students delivered.
“The younger students were 100 percent engaged and several requests were made for the older students to return,” Daniels said. “We look forward to continued collaborative efforts in the near future.”
After they read their stories, the high schoolers passed out forms that gave the elementary schoolers the opportunity to explain which stories they most enjoyed and why.