Right photo: Third grade student Adrienne Rilenge proudly displays her book, “Indiana,” which describes why she thinks Indiana is the best state in the country.

All of the students in kindergarten through seventh grade presented various written projects.

Preschool and kindergartners presented writing on animals, numbers, vacations, and love and kisses. Writing was displayed in books entitled “My Preschool Writing” or “My Kindergarten Writing.”

“Writing is incorporated into all of their units,” said preschool and kindergarten teacher Vicki Urman. Kindergarten students learned a letter a week and the year culminated in the writing and illustration of their own books. Preschoolers dictated to the teacher what they wanted their books to say, but illustrated the books themselves.

Left photo: Third grade students Paul Wandrie (left) and Amelia Roe with their favorite books, “Trick-Or-Treat Ghosts” and “Squishy, My Loveable Squishy!”

Second and third grade teacher Laura Eiseler said her students’ projects were focused on the writing process. Students are taught the program, “Six Traits of Writing,” which includes mastery of ideas, voice, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. This year, the program added the presentation of their compositions.

Ms. Eiseler said that most of her students’ work is based on personal experience. Learning the writing process and writing about their own experiences, she said, has an obvious impact on the children.

“I learned that writing can take you places you never really could go,” said second grade student Dana Roguska.

Children wrote about various things, like their favorite person and how computers are useful.

“It was challenging to finish the stories,” said second grader Kyra Kolatski, “but I still got them done.”

Students in fourth through seventh grades made inventive pop-up books. Students in the fourth and fifth grades decorated hats and tote bags, celebrating their favorite book or reading in general. The tote bags will continue to be used at the school for reading storage and activities, with those who created them leaving a lasting impact on Mackinac Island Public School.

The sixth and seventh graders’ pop-up books were based on a Mackinac Island theme.

Sixth and seventh graders in Liz Bert’s mathematics class also made books about numbers. After reading the book, “See Squares,” students made Mackinac Island versions of the book. The students described various aspects of life on the Island in rhyme.

The school holds three fairs, which run on a three-year rotation, a Science Fair, a Social Studies Fair, and a Literacy Fair.