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Joshua Dixon first grade students publish own book, then track it

Joshua Dixon Elementary Principal Kim Sharshan proudly holds the book that Mayson Dickinson’s first-grade class wrote and published recently. The book is about what happens when you give a first grader a pencil. (Salem News photo by Katie White)

COLUMBIANA — What happens when you give a first-grader a pencil? You can find out by reading a new book that was written and published by Mayson Dickinson’s first-grade class at the Joshua Dixon Elementary.

The book, “If you Give a First Grader a Pencil …” is purely the product of the students’ own creativity — with some help from Dickinson, of course.

Dickinson told the board of education last week that she found the opportunity through a company called Student Treasures.

The company provides a free book publishing kit with the only catch being that parents must send back a paper indicating whether they want to buy a finished book or not, Dickinson said.

As soon as the kit arrived the students began brainstorming ideas for their book. It look three weeks to come up with the idea, she said.

“Some kids wanted to write about what they wanted to be when they grow up. Some wanted to write about monsters,” she added.

The final idea came after the students began reading the book, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” by Laura Numeroff.

Dickinson said it took about three days for the students to write their own story, and then time revising and editing.

Once the final draft was sent in to the company, Dickinson and her students waited patiently for the book’s arrival.

“We were able to incorporate social studies and geography through our UPS global tracking. We would color on the map where it was. At one point it started in Kansas and went all the way to California,” she said.

Several copies of the book finally arrived shortly before St. Patrick’s Day.

“I want my kids to remember my classroom for the rest of their lives,” Dickinson said. “I knew they were special and I knew they were wonderful and I knew they could do anything. At this moment they realized they could do anything.”

Copies of the book were given to each of the board members, and the board praised Dickinson for the idea.

“I can guarantee you that those students in first grade will always remember this book,” board president Scott Caron said.

kwhite@mojonews.com

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