Each student created a page in the book offering a piece of advice they learned on how to survive the third grade and provided a drawing to go with it.

Gianna Saraniti said the book means a lot to her because it’s the first book she’s ever published, and she worked very hard on her page trying her best to get it right. She also said she likes to be creative and write, and she hopes to publish another book.

Gianna’s surviving third grade tip was to not yell in the cafeteria, because they once yelled in the cafeteria and lost recess; and not to run in the hallway, or you will owe Mrs. Stoddard a KitKat.

Rylo Petties said that the books make him feel nice and feel like he can help people and tell them about stuff and warn them. He said it was nice and fun working with all his classmates on the book and the writing was fun and he plans to do more writing.

Jenna Stoddard’s third-grade students at Daw Elementary wrote, illustrated and published a book entitled “How to Survive the Third Grade.” (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

Rylo’s tip was to be calm, be nice, don’t talk back, just be happy, and have fun.

Audrey Kazee said that her work in the book makes her it feels really good to help people out and let them know what third grade is like. She also said working on the book was fun and made her feel creative and that she feels happy and nice to help out second graders.

Audrey’s tip was don’t be too loud or talk back.

Stoddard told the students that they were able to learn about the publishing process, and they could get excited over realizing that they are authors just like the authors of books they read in class and being able to give the second grade students a really good idea of what they can expect in third grade and also they had fun this year with the book but took it seriously.

Stoddard said the idea for the book came from her having several gifted students in her class, which led her to needing to expand on lessons to give the students the opportunity to express themselves in a different way and extend thoughts in a deeper way. She had done the book project several years ago with a third-grade class, and this class seemed to need that kind of an extended lesson idea, so the class rolled with it, and the students had a blast doing it.

Jenna Stoddard’s third-grade class, Daw Elementary School, celebrates publishing their book “How to Survive the Third Grade.” (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

Stoddard said the students and the book went through the whole writing process from prewriting, drafting, editing, revising, publishing and the artwork. She noted the subject and title of the book decided by the students, with students’ suggestions for both, and the final decision being made by a student vote.

A lot of time teaching the skill of paper and pencil in an old-school way allows the students to be an active participant in their own learning and lets them decide for themselves how they show what they have learned, Stoddard said. From the beginning with the book, students did it all with what Stoddard referred to as the old-school paper pencil way, and they were able to publish their own book using what they learned.

She also noted that students being creative benefits them in other aspects of learning and keeps them interested.

“They were great this year. We really had a lot of fun,” Stoddard said. “My expectations were high and I taught them I would do anything for you like you were my own children, and at the same time I held those expectations just as high as I do with my own. I think once you do that and they know that — that you care first of all — everything else kind of falls into place.

Several of the students read their pages to the school board members during their May regular board meeting.

Jenna Stoddard’s third-grade students at Daw Elementary wrote, illustrated and published a book entitled “How to Survive the Third Grade.” (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

The book was published through a company called Student Treasures which provides the parents with the opportunity to purchase the book for the students in a paperback or hardcover edition.