Creative kids Students spend time reviewing and editing their magazine
Pittsford fifth graders publish their own magazine BY MARY KOKINDA
Issue 5 of Jefferson Road magazine 14
Summer 2022 | 585kids.com
Photos provided
K
ids love animals, right? As a child, I not only loved them, but I also wanted to learn about them. Luckily, I had parents who provided me with subscriptions to many animal magazines. Reading each new issue loaded me with the confidence of knowing more about something. Nonfiction is often overlooked and underestimated, but if you leave reading material sitting around on a topic kids care about, they may just pick it up. Magazine articles are great to read in bursts and do not require lengthy attention like chapter books. There are often great illustrations or photographs, and a thoughtful reader may even find pleasure in a well-formatted page. Fold back those slippery pages to share a fascinating fact or amusing picture with others; it elevates the experience to a social event, a bonding moment. Being a magazine reader is still one of my favorite pastimes. Little did I realize all the work that went into the making of each issue, however, before managing a youthful and creative production staff of my own. A few years ago I challenged my Pittsford School District fifth-grade students to create a magazine that we could publish and share with our school community. With the principal’s permission, of course, we launched our yearly project. Students are now able to study the prior year’s published issues, which they always want to improve upon. Some classic ideas get repeated: “Instrument of the Issue,” “Debate Page,” an animal page, of course, and interviews where we ask a student from each grade about a kid-friendly topic. A lot of thought goes into the fact that our readers are five to eleven years old, and we want to help them learn to be great readers and thinkers. Fifth
