A learning tea

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA--A new program at Sonora Elementary School has children

eager to write their next story.

Among them is 7-year-old Christine Batocabe, who stood before parents,

teachers and peers Wednesday afternoon and in a shy but clear voice read

her rendition of how Rudolph got his red nose.

“My favorite thing is to write about Santa and his reindeer,” she

confided.

Each month, a student from every classroom at Sonora is named author

of the month. The idea is to recognize their work an encourage their

writing, Principal Lorie Hoggard said.

“They love it,” said Mary Mannone, a first-grade teacher. “They think

it’s a great honor.”

Each author and his or her parents are invited to the Parent-Child

Author Tea, where the students first share their stories and then cookies

and punch. Those stories are then hung in the cafeteria for all to see.

The best part of the honor, Christine said, was having her mother come

to hear her read her story.

“It’s really simple, but the kids love to be recognized,” Hoggard

said.

Michelle Herrera is in first grade and just learning to write, but she

already has her favorite topics.

“I like to write about turtles, cats, dogs--oh, and unicorns,” she

said.

The story that earned her the author-of-the-month title was about a

turtle named Franklin, who played soccer in the dark until it got spooky.

Then he went home. Other students have written about class trips or

things they were learning about in class.

“I wrote about when we went to an old house and ate oranges and

learned to make cream out of butter,” said seventh-grade student Edith

Gonzalez.

Eight-year-old Lauryn Randall read her detailed account of the

Kwakiutis Indians, which she learned about from her social studies book.

Like most of the students, her favorite part was being asked to read her

work aloud.

Edith summed it up when she said of the honor, “It makes me happy.”