Two first graders walk into a class. They open a science book they wrote together. They read it to college students, who clap and ask questions.
This is no joke. It鈥檚 a joint effort of a writing class at CU-Boulder and a first-grade class at Bear Creek Elementary School.
More on that later. But first, back to the story. It concerns a grizzly bear and a polar bear, both famished after a harsh winter, both eyeing a 鈥渓uscious elk.鈥�
The first-grade girl ticks off the grizzly鈥檚 diet, size and top speed鈥�35 mph. The boy narrates a parallel tale about the polar bear鈥�25 mph, if you鈥檙e curious. The tension peaks as both animals lunge at the hapless elk.
The grizzly runs faster, so it wins. The fate of the polar bear is left to the readers鈥� imagination.
Daniel Long calls this a 鈥済reat example of community-based writing.鈥� He should know. Long, who earned his MA in English literature at CU-Boulder, teaches 鈥淲riting on Science and Society鈥� for the university鈥檚 Program for Writing and Rhetoric.
A few years ago, one of his students, Allyson Adams, asked to write a science-themed children鈥檚 book for her final project. Her book is called听Our Love Was Born from Burning Stars, and it offers a scientific, as opposed to religious or mythological, account of the universe鈥檚 origins.
During the next two semesters, more and more students asked to write children鈥檚 books, Long recalls. 鈥淪o I said to myself, 鈥榃hy not ask听all听of them to听write children鈥檚 books?鈥欌��
As long as you鈥檙e writing children鈥檚 books, you might as well share them with actual children. Long did this via Stephanie Briggs, a first-grade teacher at Boulder鈥檚 Bear Creek Elementary School.
Long鈥檚 students read their books to Briggs鈥� first graders last spring, and the kids asked if they could write their own books. After two more classes made the same request, 鈥淢rs. Briggs and I said to ourselves, 鈥榃hy not let them?鈥欌��
This spring, the first graders at Bear Creek Elementary wrote and illustrated their own books. Their assignment: to tell a story based on imaginary contests between two animals鈥攁nd the assignment was appropriately called 鈥淲ho Would Win?鈥� The matchups included a mako shark vs. a great white shark, badger vs. wolverine, cheetah vs. leopard and great horned owl vs. golden eagle.
Read more about the book project and see examples on the .
