In 2002, 15 Plank South fourth-grade students helped write a book.
This year, those same students helped more than a dozen Plank South fourth-graders revise and re-create the book that focuses on geography of the United States.
The project, an ongoing initiative by physical education teacher Tyler Eichas, helps eager fourth-graders get a head start on the fifth-grade US geography curriculum.
The elementary schoolers are responsible for a chunk of research, with assistance from their senior buddies. Seven of the 13 seniors were involved with the book as their senior project.
“I wanted to do something co-curricular,” Eichas said. “I had traveled cross-country the previous summer and thought it would be interesting to share with students. I had some time in my schedule to do it voluntarily, and I wanted to help the students prepare for their 5th grade social studies experience which was writing state reports back then.”
Eichas, who has taught at Webster for 12 years, originally started the program at an Auburn elementary school, where he used to teach. In 1995, eight fourth-grade students at Genesee Elementary School conducted the research and authored the first book, U. S. Travel/Geography Club Resource Book.
Fourth-graders were assigned states to research, using the World Book Encyclopedia, the Internet, a Rand-McNally Road Atlas and the previous book. Senior buddies assisted in the research.
Recent changes in the fifth-grade social studies curriculum forced the teacher and his crew to organize the book differently than the prior versions.
“We decided to try to make this Third Edition a more useful resource by breaking the states into the five regions of the United States and providing a summary of the geography, economics and history of each region,” the introduction of the book reads. “By doing so, we hope that fifth-grade teachers will want to use this as a resource for helping fifth-graders to learn and better understand the regions of our country and how they came to be grouped.”
On June 8, the students participated in their own book tour, donating two copies to libraries in all Webster schools, and one special school — Genesee Elementary School in Auburn.
The book will be used to enrich the fifth-grade curriculum next year, as the student authors move on to the next grade.
