Canutillo ISD kindergarteners publish children’s book

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Some Canutillo Elementary School students published their first children's book this academic school year.

Kindergarten teacher at Canutillo Elementary School, Kaitlynn Escontrias, explained she first saw several advertisements on social media about publishing companies allowing teachers to write a book with their students. Escontrias asked her students about the idea to get their input.

"They immediately got extremely excited. They were throwing out ideas about what we should talk about," she said.

The elementary educator said they all read books together to come up with ideas of what they wanted their book to be.

“So I have some readers in my class who they, actually go to the library and they check out books, and a lot of times they like to find the most interesting animals or even animals that are scary at some point."

Each student was able to pick an animal and write a short story including interesting facts about that animal. They were also able to draw their own creations, including cheetahs, grasshoppers and butterflies.

Together, the class wrote, illustrated and published the "Amazing Animals" picture book.

Escontrias said the book showcases everything her students learned this school year.

“You know, we put a lot of hard work into what goes into the day-to-day experiences of teaching. And so to see them really put what they learned into real life—writing a book, going through the whole writing process—it was rewarding because I want them to feel pride in what they've learned and just to feel like they can do anything that they set their minds to," she said.

Each student in Escontrias' class is proud to show off their work to others. She said it was a special moment to see the book in person after it was professionally printed.

"When I saw that all their names and their signatures, it says Meet the Authors, and I'm like, wow, like, 'We did it!' because it was it was tough to have each individual student, you know, put all their effort."

A district spokesperson explained that every single student in her class received a copy of the book.

Escontrias said she enjoyed the process and would like to continue this tradition with her future classes, but she said she will leave it up to her students to decide.