StudentPublishing

There are so many different ways to teach writing to students and numerous tools to help with the process. We’ve provided a few ideas to help you and also links to some of the best websites. If you know of other sources we should include, please email to let us know. And, if you have a great lesson you’d like to share, we’d enjoy including it on our site – and even offer an incentive to do so.

You can structure your writing and publishing project to be very simple, or one that fits within and reinforces your yearlong writing instruction. The possibilities are endless, but the outcomes are all rewarding.

Check out our suggested timelines below for a general view of a publishing project. Be sure to also read about Our Publishing Time-frame. We always recommend planning extra time to allow for glitches and so that you receive your books well in advance of planned celebrations.

Mail-in Projects

• Starting a Free Mail-in Classbook (PDF)
• Starting a Mail-In Storybook Project (PDF)
• Publishing Order Tally (PDF)
• Student Order Form (PDF)
• Book Description Flier (PDF)
• Checklists for Ordering (PDF)
• Self-Typing Instructions (PDF)
• Spelling Correction Form (PDF)

Online Projects

• Starting a Free Storybook Project (PDF)
• Starting a Storybook Project (PDF)
• Starting a Free Classbook Project (PDF)
• Completing a Free Storybook Project (PDF)
• Completing a Storybook Project (PDF)
• Completing a Free Classbook Project (PDF)
• Methods of Payment We Accept

Our writing and publishing projects can help students meet and demonstrate a variety of standards across various content areas. Structure a simple project to reinforce a few skill sets, or incorporate a multifaceted approach to practice, improve and express many. Finished books are a great tool to demonstrate your students’ growth and achievement. You might consider conducting pre-project and post-project assessments related to skills and knowledge of concepts relative to your grade level. What a way to demonstrate your students’ progress!

Some of the Standards publishing projects meet:

• Use a variety of strategies to prepare for writing: brainstorming, making lists, mapping, outlining, grouping related ideas, taking notes, using graphic organizers
• Use the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing
• Write multi-paragraph compositions
• Write using a variety of written forms: essays, short stories, poems
• Identify audience and purpose
• Develop editing and proofreading skills
• Use a variety of sentence styles and descriptive words
• Demonstrate knowledge of spelling, grammar, punctuation and capitalization
• Use a variety of vocabulary appropriately
• Write independently and collaboratively
• Use precise words and fluent sentence structure
• Engage the reader’s interest using relevant examples, facts, anecdotes and details
• Create drawings to support written meaning
• Utilize and expand skills to help students in the 21st Century

Our free programs are a great way to get your students to publish without any cost. They allow your students to receive free books that the students create. Below are links to the free programs that we offer.

• Free Internet Storybook Project
• Free Internet Classbook Project
• Free Mail-in Classbook Project

Budget

Since student publishing projects are linked to improving student achievement, and because projects supplement your existing writing curriculum, they can often be funded, or partially funded, through classroom budgets. You might also consider discussing your project with your principal. Sometimes dollars are set aside in school budgets for special projects – particularly ones that support state standards.

Grants

There are many, many grants available to support classroom instruction that go unused every year. Types of grants available include: local and community grants, district grants, state grants, federal grants, corporate funded grants and private foundation grants. Researching to find grants can sometimes take a little time, so we’ve tried to help by providing some resources for you here. We first suggest that you check with your school district office as they may have grant search tools available, and are often a terrific resource for finding local grants. Check out our Funding Links page for websites with grant information. Several of the sites list available grants and are updated regularly. Some sites offer tips and samples to help you with the writing.

Family Funded Projects

Many schools have incorporated publishing projects as part of their yearly curriculum. They often ask families to pay all or part of the project cost. Some teachers even include the cost as part of their class fees. The most effective way to ask families to fund your project is to present it at Back to School Night, where you can show previous students’ stories and describe your past experiences. If you’re running a family funded project and have concerns that some students’ families will not be able to participate, consider asking the parent organization to pay for books for any students whose families cannot.

PTA, PTO and Other Parent Organizations

Present your project to your parent organization and ask if they will help by funding part or all of the project. Most are happy to help fund a project that is so fun and educationally rewarding to the students. Many of our schools now run school-wide publishing projects that are entirely sponsored by their parent group. The parents can also be a great resource to help with parts of the project, like: editing, typing, setting up celebrations, and getting recognition from the local paper.

Community and Business Sponsorships

Involving a community group or local business is a great way to build partnerships between the students, school and community. Consider talking with businesses you frequent to find out if they would sponsor your project. They may even help set up, or be involved in a celebration event. Selling Your Ideas to Others Print materials to help you present your project ideas. Download a letter that explains the benefits of publishing projects, print Teacher Comments and include information from our Why Publish? section, or a few of the research articles listed in Supporting Research. Use our project pricing tools to create quotes and feel free to print any of our web pages that will help demonstrate the books.

Researching available grants can seem daunting, especially with so many sources out there. We’ve provided some resources below to help you locate options and assistance more easily.

State Funding Sources

Connect with your State Department of Education website to find information about state level grants. If your state does not provide this resource, be sure to check with your local school district and also see the U.S. Dept. of Ed. and Other Resources, below.

Federal Funding Sources

• U.S. Department of Education (http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml)
• Search Federal Funding Programs by Title (http://www.ed.gov/programs/find/title/index.html?src=ln)
• 21st Century Community Learning Centers (http://www.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/applicant.html)
• Search Federal Funding by Subject (http://www.ed.gov/programs/find/subject/index.html?src=ln)
• Grants.gov – a source to find and apply for government grants (http://www.grants.gov/)

Corporate Funding Sources

• Fundsnet Services – a source listing corporate grants (http://www.fundsnetservices.com/educ01.htm)
• Target Corporation (http://sites.target.com/site/en/corporate/page.jsp?contentId=PRD03-004090)
• Verizon Foundation http://foundation.verizon.com/grant/guidelines.shtml

Other Resources

• edutopia.org – An innovative, multi-purpose website for K-12 Teachers from The George Lucas Educational Foundation (http://www.edutopia.org/grantinfo)
• eSchoolNews.com – The online K-20 technology news source (http://www.eschoolnews.com/funding/)
• Foundation Center – a comprehensive database of grants and philanthropy (http://foundationcenter.org/)
• Grantsalert.com – an updated source of various grants plus links for grant writing assistance (http://www.grantsalert.com/index.cfm)
• Grantwrangler.com – a grant listing source for K-12 school and teacher grants (http://www.grantwrangler.com/)
• Guide for Educators – Grant Sources – Kathy Schrock of Discovery Education (http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/business/grants.html)
• SchoolGrants.org – An source for links to available grants, sample grant proposals and grant writing tips (http://www.schoolgrants.org/)

If you know of other funding search sources that you think we should list on our website, please Email to let us know. StudentPublishing.com strives to keep all links on our website up to date and functioning. If you happen to find a broken link or error, please email us. Unfortunately, due to the changing nature of the Internet, we cannot be responsible for content on other websites.

Getting others behind you is sometimes the key to success. We provide many tools to help you get the support that you need from your school, parents, and community. Below is a list of tools to help you promote and market your project.

Four Page Brochure
Single Page Brochure
Video and Sample Books
Teacher Reviews and Testimonials
Supporting Research
Link to Us