Students in Mrs. Katelyn Graham-Karels’ second-grade class at Cherry Valley Elementary ended the school year on a particularly high note. They recently received national recognition for their class book, “Montana Wildlife,” which was selected as a semi-finalist in the Studentreasures National Book Challenge.

The book illustrates and describes 19 animals native to Montana, from bears, badgers and big horn sheep to bald eagles and monarch butterflies. One student even chose a Little Brown Myotis bat, while another profiled a trout.

The multi-disciplinary project incorporated reading, research, writing, science and art.

To begin the project, the class visited MontanaKids.com to explore the state’s myriad animal species. After choosing an animal for the project, each child researched the critter by checking out books at the library. They were tasked with finding out what their animal looks like, where it can be found and what it eats.

“So that probably took us three or four days,” says Graham-Karels. “Just looking and reading. Taking notes. Writing.”

Next, they compiled their notes about their animals and began a rough draft. “We probably rewrote it almost four to six times with edits and corrections,” says Graham-Karels.

The students have been honing their writing skills, so it was an apt culmination of their studies. “We used a lot of our writing processes that we've used all year long,” said Graham-Karels.

Next came the art portion of the project, with kids looking at images of their animals and thinking about the environments they inhabit. “We were talking about how our picture is not just our animal, it’s the background too. “

After a week of drawing, they created a rough draft and then a final image to publish alongside their stories.

Challenges for second graders included the requirement that both image and writing needed to be completed with markers. “They were so nervous. They were like, ‘what if I misspell it?’”

To help alleviate that stress, the young authors first wrote their stories on the page in pencil, then traced the words with a black felt-tip pen, and took the same approach to their drawings.

After spending nearly a month on the project, their teacher sent the artwork and stories to the publisher, Studentreasures, in late May. When the actual books appeared, Graham-Karels invited parents to a publishing party.

Since many kids felt too shy to read in front of parents, their teacher made a movie featuring each child reading from their page in “Montana Animals.” When the parent’s showed up, they all watched the video together while enjoying popcorn and cookies.

Learning that they were national semi-finalists was icing on the critter cake. “They're like, ‘Ms. Graham, our work paid off. It did. It really did,’” she says. “There's another key lesson: hard work pays off.”

According to a press release, the National Book Challenge received more than 77,000 book submissions from students in kindergarten through 12th grade across the United States this year.

“We are incredibly proud of our students,” said Graham-Karels. “They worked hard to create a book that reflects their learning and curiosity about Montana wildlife. Becoming published authors and receiving national recognition is an accomplishment they will remember for years to come.”

    Second grader Keilah explains why monarch butterflies "are so cool" as part of the book her class published, titled Montana Animals. (Kristi Niemeyer/Leader)
  

    Cherry Valley teacher Katelyn Graham-Karels displays Montana Wildlife, which earned her second graders a semi-finalist slot in the National Book Challenge. (Kristi Niemeyer/Leader)