Kawas Elementary School Functional Living Skills (FLS) students are diving into reading and writing! Eleven young authors have published the school’s first ever illustration book, “Ocean of Knowledge.”
“Ocean of Knowledge'' is composed of short essays and illustrations concentrating on an ocean animal of their choosing authored by the students themselves. The 32-page book includes work done by the special education staff, which were used as guides for the writing process. These collaborative pages were written using think-alouds and modeling so the students could practice with the teachers and then work on their own stories.
Kawas Elementary School Special Education Teacher Jacqueline Escamilla mentions how she masterfully integrated the publishing process within the classroom curriculum inspired by the LISD 2023-2024 library theme, “Dive Into Reading.”
“The students were responsible for using their assistive technology to find educational resources to research from, select the facts they wanted to include in their paper, create a rough draft, make revisions, and finally create a final draft. They each had assistance available to them from the special education team if they needed, but I’m happy to say that most of the work was done completely on their own,” Escamilla said.
The idea to publish a book really came by pure chance to Escamilla. After scouring the internet within several educational pages to find new engaging resources for her students, she came across Studentreasures Publishing, a publishing program that provides teachers and schools a free hands-on writing activity that motivates students to write and learn by turning their stories into professionally bound books.
“It’s a struggle to draw students into something like writing because to them it just feels like work. With this program the students are able to participate in the full publishing process, from deciding on the theme, drafting their writing, illustrating, finalizing the book, and sharing the final product with their family and friends,” Escamilla said.
The goal of this activity was to get students to take ownership of their learning. Escamilla mentions that by contributing to the book, students have the opportunity to see how their hard work can become something tangible and real. “Every day we tell the students how important it is to do their best and to show pride in their work, but they rarely get to see their work shown in such a public way,” Escamilla said. “They worked so hard to show the very best of themselves and tell others about something that interested them. I tell my students all the time ‘I know how smart you are, and you know how smart you are. Let’s show the world what you can do.’ This project allowed them to do exactly that.”
Through the Studentreasures program, the school’s FLS students are officially competitors in the program’s National Book Challenge. The young Armadillos will compete with classes all over the United States. If “Ocean of Knowledge” is selected within the top three winners, Kawas Elementary School will receive student recognition and up to a $5,000 grant.
“I also want to thank everyone who was able to donate to help purchase a copy of the book for each of the students, and to thank my administrators for allowing us to complete such a meaningful project. I’m hopeful that this will become an annual project for my students and that we can challenge ourselves to work harder, and improve every year,” Escamilla said.
The book is available for purchase through the Studentreasures website. For more information on how to buy a copy, please contact Jacqueline Escamilla at (956) 273-3700 or jescamilla@laredoisd.org.
