Beaming families and proud children filled the Capitola Mall on May 4, 2019 for the annual Student Authors’ Fair. The event, organized by the Santa Cruz County Reading Association (SCCRA) and sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, draws entries from 14 schools, including: Del Mar, Green Acres, Live Oak, Boulder Creek, San Lorenzo Valley, Main Street, Santa Cruz Gardens, Soquel, Rio Del Mar, Mintie White, Ann Soldo, Amesti, Brook Knoll, and Vine Hill Elementary Schools, as well as the Pajaro Valley’s Migrant Education Program and Ocean Grove and San Lorenzo Valley Charter Schools. This year also featured a table from the Santa Cruz Public Libraries. Janet Wahl, of San Lorenzo Valley Elementary, once again hosted the purple Author’s Chair, interviewing students after they read from their books.
Reflecting the California Common Core State Standards’ emphasis on writing of three text types (narrative, expository and opinion), there was a wide range of books, including many “all about books”, class anthologies, poetry, biographies and stories. Each book is the end product of a process of writing that includes research, drafting, revising and editing before moving to publication. Many of the schools participating have classrooms with Writers’ Workshops. Many of the books also featured beautiful illustrations, also created by the students. For example, teachers and students in the Migrant Education program used the Picturing Writing process to create their books. Each book is a point of pride for the student authors’ who created it and the event provided an opportunity for them to share their amazing creations with their families and the public.
In addition to organizing the annual Student Authors’ Fair, the Santa Cruz County Reading Association hosts a teacher-led professional learning series focused on best practices in literacy education every year. For more information on SCCRA, please visit their Facebook page or contact them at sccra.reads@gmail.com.