Publishing Center Guidelines



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REVISED Publishing Center Guidelines

For Parents to Review

Did you know that Valley Forge Elementary has its very own Publishing Center? Students in 1st through 4th grade are able to publish stories of their own creation! The Publishing Center, which is run 100% by parent volunteers, created roughly 670 books during the 2010/2011 school year! We are very excited continue to offer this program to VFE students and MANY, MANY thanks to the parents who so generously volunteer their time.

In order for our volunteer group to handle such a huge volume, we continue to evaluate and make slight adjustments to our policies and procedures. Here are some guidelines for parents to understand.

1. The purpose of the Publishing Center is to publish stories created in class, by the students in grades 1, 2, 3, and 4. There are several steps which are learned during the writing process such as: choosing a topic, planning, writing a first draft, revising, editing, proofreading, and neatly writing a final copy. It is very important for these steps to be learned and experienced in the classroom and therefore we only publish stories from the student that have been submitted through the teacher.

2. The decision to publish a story is between the teacher and the student. Each student is allowed to publish two books per year. We will sometimes allow a third book, but it is up to the discretion of the Publishing Center Coordinator and will be based on the current work load.

3. After your child’s story is typed and proofread by our staff, we will send home a packet for your child to illustrate. It will include specific instructions so please review them with your child. We understand that mistakes can happen! Please feel free to ask for another white cover board or replacement page(s) if needed.

4. For students in 1st through 3rd grades, two copies of the story (for books with one author) must be illustrated. One copy will be displayed in the Library and the other will be given to the student. 4th grade students will complete two copies for books submitted prior to February 1st (1 copy will go to the library and one copy for the student) and one copy for books submitted on February 1st or after (student copy only).

5. If your child wishes to specify which copy they would like to keep and which copy they would like to display in the library, we will do our best to accommodate their request.

6. We encourage parents to let their children do their own illustrations. The charm of these books is not in their perfection, but rather the imperfections natural for this age group.

7. Proofreading is important! We work very hard to type your child’s story however we must admit that we are human and mistakes happen! Please do not hesitate to send errors back to be corrected. Do not let your child illustrate a page that has typing errors. Please notify the Publishing Center and we will be happy to provide corrected pages.

8. In order to cut down on the amount of time to complete two full sets of illustrations, a few parents in the past have utilized a color copier to produce the required second copy. If your child is having trouble completing two illustrated copies, you may want to consider this option. Unfortunately, we do not have the access, budget or manpower for a color copier and this would therefore be up to each parent to consider and do on their own. Most students hand illustrate the pages of both books themselves, but we wanted to make you aware that this option exists.

9. If your child is not going to complete his or her book, please send the envelope back with the pencils and other supplies. We need to keep our operating costs down. In addition, we track each and every story until completion and this information will help us close out that file.

10. While some teachers have their entire class submit books at one time, other teachers allow their students to choose if and when they would like to submit a piece of writing. If you are concerned whether your child will have the opportunity to publish a story, please contact your child’s teacher. It is up to each teacher how they chose to utilize the Publishing Center.

We thank the Valley Forge PTO for its continued funding of supplies and materials for the Publishing Center. We are the only elementary school left in the district to have this amazing program. It is through our parent volunteers who are so generous with their time, that we are able to continue. Therefore, we ask that you consider joining us! If you have any questions regarding the Publishing Center, please contact Julie Borrelli: VFEPubCntr@.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In the past, students have completed the attached Author Interview Form during the illustration process. However, a large number of students forget this step which causes delays. We would also like our volunteers to get a jump start this year. Therefore, we are asking that all students in 1st – 4th grades complete the attached form. PLEASE HELP YOUR CHILD COMPLETE THE ATTACHED “AUTHOR INTERVIEW” FORM AND RETURN IT TO THE PUBLISHING CENTER VIA YOUR CHILD’S RED FOLDER BY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14TH. By getting the completed forms in the fall, we will be able to complete this step in the 1st half of year, thus spreading out our workload. We realize that some students do not complete Publishing Center books, however since the vast majority do, we believe it will be a huge help. Thank you!

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