How does a single school program address the needs of children across skill and grade levels? By reaching each child at his or her own level.
The EJK Bookmaking Competition offers students, grades 3–12, a unique opportunity to:
- compete with their own expectations of themselves, and exceed them
- acquire the knowledge and skills they need to complete the job
- develop decision-making abilities
- learn to collaborate with others as well as work by themselves
- develop an interdisciplinary field of study
- research a subject for written presentation
- focus writing to communicate with an audience
- refine writing through several drafts
- present their work to an audience
- focus writing to communicate with an audience
All of this happens whether the child wins his category or even finishes her book, has career plans or special needs. In this process, no one loses.
It’s win-win for educators, too. Bookmaking covers many of the bases the children need to reach, from third-grade grammar up to twelfth-grade narrative techniques. Adding art instruction, book construction and a choice of subjects makes the project creative and fun.
The CCSS endorse collaboration between disciplines and promote literacy in both literary and nonfiction writing. Here’s just one example of how it applies to Bookmaking:
- A middle-school English teacher teams up with the librarian and the visual arts teacher to conduct classes in art and storytelling.
- Students choose the subjects of their books and complete assigned reading and research relating to their subject.
- When entire classes participate, the teaching component is shared and part of regular class work.
The Competition provides multiple opportunities for the students to shine:
- an exhibition of all the winning books at the Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library
- an official ceremony for city-wide and borough winners and honorable mentions
- individual school displays for school-wide winners
- a deeper relationship with books, reading and writing