Many Grade One students at Pleasant Corners Public School (PCPS) near Vankleek Hill can say they finished the school year as authors.
The classes, under the direction of teachers Stacy Schwendemann and Kim Noble have spent months writing and publishing A Family Cookbook of recipes submitted by students from their families. Schwendemann described the class as a family made up of people from other families.
The class family reflects the multicultural composition of contemporary Canadian society, and as a result, so do the recipes in the cookbook. Students in the class were born in, or have parents born in Colombia, The Philippines, Azerbaijan, Haiti, and Cameroon.
Students said things they enjoyed the most about writing the book were reading, typing, writing sentences, and adding illustrations.
Schwendemann said the book was a way of learning the writing process.
Cookbook writing and publishing also introduced extensive computer use to the students.
A Family Cookbook was published with assistance from The Review, and particularly Production Coordinator Dorothy Hodge.
On Thursday, June 11, the class held a special book launch celebration where they got to see and read the finished product for the first time. The students kept their eyes closed in anticipation as their teachers handed out copies. There was celebration once they opened their eyes and groups of the students sat together and read the book. Then, they enjoyed food made from many of the recipes in A Family Cookbook.
Copies of the cookbook were made available for students to have at home.
Book launch celebration photos by James Morgan
