CINCINNATI – Second-graders at Pleasant Hill Academy mixed their scientific curiosity with their writing and artistic skills to make their own science book.
The idea for “My Experience With Environmental Science” started with teacher D’Etta McShaw and quickly spread.
“It can be fun … animals and all that stuff can come to life,” said McShaw.
The process took about three months, and started with brainstorming, then moving on to a rough draft. Along the way, the kids even watched “Little Shop of Horrors,” in which Audrey II, the talking plant, proved science can be exciting.
“After three months of writing, rewriting, writing, rewriting then finally, finally, it came to fruition,” McShaw said.
“They rose to the occasion to get the books complete, and they finally learned what deadlines mean because I had to have the manuscript shipped off at a certain point of time.
“They did it,” said McShaw. “I'm very, very proud of my students."
And they managed to keep it secret from Principal Shauna McDowell until it was all done and ready to unveil this week.
“I knew something was going on (Friday),” McDowell said. “I got a text last night, ‘Please make sure that you dress real cute,’ then I saw my second-graders dressed up today. Tried to get some information, but they wouldn’t give me anything.”
They dedicated the book to McDowell, and she hopes they’ll remember it with pride when they get to college or have second-graders of their own.
“In about 10-15 years when they come back and show their children and their families, ‘I did this when I was in second grade,” McDowell said. “And hopefully it sparked the excitement of other students in kindergarten up the sixth. grade to want to write to want to read, to want to publish their own books.”
The second-graders' book is now on the shelves at the school’s library.
