By LANCE FLEMING
Abilene ISD Communications

Visitors to the first-grade classroom of Kathrine Gomez at Martinez Elementary School will immediately notice the large signs posted on the walls promoting the fundamentals of good writing and encouraging her students to learn to write with skill and creativity.

The lessons taught on those signs were put to good use earlier this spring when Gomez’s class wrote a book published and delivered after Spring Break titled All About Animals. The 22 students in her class saw the completed books for the first time earlier this month at a book signing on the Martinez campus, and each took a book home from the party.

Gomez – who has taught fifth and third grades at Martinez – is in her first year of teaching first grade at the school. At each level, Gomez said, she has stressed the importance of writing and writing well.

“When I had the opportunity to come down to the first-grade level, it felt like having an opportunity to address the problems and the holes the kids have in their reading and writing ability at a base level,” she said. “We still do a lot of math and the kids I have probably have better math scores than reading scores, quite frankly, it all ties together. It carries on when you give the kids a solid foundation and a love for reading and writing.”

While going through training and preparation last summer for teaching first grade, Gomez came across an interesting idea that tied into her desire for her students to become active readers and better writers.

“As I was going through the training, someone outside of Abilene posted something online about having a classroom write and publish a book,” Gomez said. “When I looked into the program and learned that we could write and publish a book, I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to do this.’

“When I told the other first-grade teachers here what I was planning, I think they thought I was crazy,” she said with a laugh.

Gomez led her students through a research project on animals about two weeks before Spring Break, and that was the genesis of the book the students wrote. Each student was assigned a two-page spread that would include a picture of an animal drawn by the student and a short, descriptive paragraph about the animal.

Gomez had each student write their paragraph three times for editing purposes, and to ensure the students had written a main idea about their chosen animal.

“I don’t think they understood that we were writing a book,” she said. “They were just excited to be learning about animals. Some of them had difficulty picking out an animal, but once we talked it through and began working on it, I think they began to understand that we were serious about writing a book.”

Using the kit the company provided for free, Gomez went right up to the deadline to get through the editing process and get the book’s pages mailed to the publishing company, and a few weeks later, the first batch of books made it to her at Martinez.

Gomez said she knew what was in the box when it was delivered, but was still teary-eyed when she opened it and saw the books. She planned a book reveal party for early April and surprised the students when they got there with the complete set of their first published piece. But it was hard to keep the secret from her class.

“They knew when we were going to the library for the book reveal that something was off,” Gomez said. “They kept saying, ‘It’s not our day to go to the library,’ so I had to keep making excuses for why we were going. These kids are sharp; you can’t fool them. But it was a great way to end a memorable project.