BY MELISSA GLENN, CERTIFIED EDUCATOR AND READING SPECIALIST
Inside: Boost your students’ writing with an engaging writing celebration! Discover how publishing parties increase motivation and confidence and create a love of writing.
I scanned the rows of heads bent over desks, pencils scratching quietly across pages. My students were immersed in our daily writing time, their faces etched in concentration. Yet, as I circulated the room, looking at paragraphs and stories, I felt a pang of sadness.
Their writing was technically fine but lacking heart. My students saw this as just another assignment to trudge through, not an opportunity to unlock their creativity.
Where was the enthusiasm I remembered having as a young writer myself? I wanted to see their eyes light up as their words spilled onto each page.
These tiny authors needed a real purpose. They needed someone actually to read their work and appreciate it (besides their teacher). Their voices deserved to be heard!
I knew about publishing parties. But it was too easy to rush through them or even skip them altogether to stay on pace with the curriculum.
My students’ writing needed more energy, which made me realize that writing celebrations in the classroom were not optional. They were necessary.
Turning a writing unit’s end into a celebratory event could give students an authentic audience and make their hard work feel valued. This realization made me determined to prioritize these publishing parties in my classroom. I wanted every student to feel the excitement and pride of being a published author in our classroom community.
Table of Contents
The Magic of Publishing Parties
Hosting another classroom event might seem like just another thing to add to your list. But, hosting a publishing party as a writing celebration for students in your classroom has many advantages that make it worth the effort and planning.
Here are just a few of the benefits of hosting a publishing party as a writing celebration for students:
- It Builds Confidence: When students present their work to others, it provides a sense of pride and boosts their confidence. It also helps them fully understand that we write for an audience when we write.
- It Motivates: Knowing they’ll share their finished piece incentivizes students to put forth their best effort. After all, they aren’t just writing to get a grade or finish an assignment. They’re creating a piece to share with their classmates and others!
- It Provides Closure: Marking the end of a writing unit with a celebratory event provides satisfying closure. This helps your students feel accomplished and also gets them ready to transition to learning something new about writing in the next unit.
- It Makes Students Feel Their Writing Is Valued: The time and effort dedicated to publishing parties shows students that their work matters. It sends the message that “This is a big deal! Your work is a big deal!”
- It Inspires Other Students: Hearing their peers share creative stories or informational reports inspires other students’ future writing. They may find ideas or inspiration.
- It Involves Families: Inviting families to attend allows them to share in the excitement of their child’s achievements. They get a chance to see what the students in class have been working on, and their child views themself as a writer.
- It Creates Lasting Memories: Publishing parties become cherished memories everyone involved can look back on proudly.
When you stop to think about it- writing celebrations for students are 100% putting time and effort into!
The Perfect Time for a Writing Celebration
When it comes to events, planning is everything. And to plan a successful event, the first thing you need to consider is when.
Here are some recommended times you could host celebrations of student work:
- End of Writing Units: Hold a party at the conclusion of narrative writing units, informational writing units, poetry units, or any lengthy writing project. Make sure to give students enough time to take pieces through the writing process, from pre-writing to publishing, before celebrating.
- After Book Completion: Once students have completed writing and illustrating their own “books,” host a publishing party for students to share their masterpieces. This works well after nonfiction research projects.
- Bi-Monthly: Another option is having students select one piece every month or two to share at a publishing party. This allows students to present works in progress and get audience feedback to improve their skills.
- End of the Year: Hold an end-of-year publishing party for students to present their best writing from the entire school year proudly. Share growth and achievements. Have other writing pieces from throughout the year on display.
Once you have a date/time for your publishing party- put it on your calendar and set a reminder for a couple of weeks ahead to start planning and preparing.
Prepare to Celebrate Students’ Writing
Proper planning and preparation ensure your writing celebration runs smoothly.
Here are some tips:
- Create a Writing Display: Hang up student work on clotheslines or bulletin board displays. Place completed books in baskets for guests to browse. Showcase all of the students’ outstanding efforts!
- Decide on the Audience: Decide whether your writing celebration will just be you and your students or whether you will include the families of your students, other teachers/staff members, and administrators. Inviting guests elevates the importance of your event to your students- plus it’s exciting!
- Send Invitations: Send home invitations to give families and other guests advance notice. For limited space, have a set number of guests per student.
- Plan Simple Decorations: You can use balloons, streamers, motivational banners, and student artwork to make your room festive and build energy. However, this is entirely optional. (I prefer to keep things simple).
- Arrange the Presentation Area: Consider setting up a “mock stage” or “author’s chair” for students to use as they share their writing. If you are having guests attend, request chairs from the custodial staff at your school or have students sit on the floor/rug so guests can use the student chairs.
- Get Student Input: Increase engagement by having students contribute ideas for decorations. Allow them to make invitations, signs, displays showcasing their work, and motivational posters with writing quotes to transform the classroom or library space.
- Create a Program: Design a program listing the schedule of student presenters. This builds anticipation and allows you to balance authors. Have students take turns as emcees introducing each presenter.
- Prepare Certificates of Completion: Award each student a personalized certificate highlighting their accomplishments at the end of their presentation. This can be as simple as a nicely decorated piece of paper.
Please do not feel like you have to do all of these things! These are just some suggestions- pick and choose what works for you.
Put a Spotlight on Your Young Authors
The presentation portion is the highlight of any publishing party. Think about how you want things to go.
Make it memorable by incorporating some of these ideas:
- Students Read Aloud: Let each student author read their entire piece or an excerpt aloud to showcase their hard work.
- Teacher Shares Fun Facts: Build excitement by having the teacher introduce each student author and share fun facts about them. This adds a personal touch.
- Authors Share Inspiration: Give student authors 2-3 minutes to share their inspiration or writing process before reading their work. This provides excellent context.
- Q&A Session: After reading their piece, students can answer questions from the audience about their work, including the challenges they faced.
- Positive Peer Feedback: Have classmates provide specific compliments on details they enjoyed after each presentation. Model providing thoughtful feedback.
- Author Chair: Let the student author sit in a decorated “author’s chair” while classmates offer praise.
- Student Anthologies: Photocopy each student’s published writing piece and compile it into a booklet to send home with students and families.
- Author Autograph Session: During the party, authors can autograph their specific story or report in the anthology, making it an extra special keepsake. This is a meaningful, low-tech way for students to have a tangible collection of the incredible work accomplished.
Take the Writing Celebration to the Next Level
Refreshments and takeaways are unnecessary, but they can provide the cherry on top of your publishing party sundae!
- Themed Snacks: Tie snacks and treats to book topics or writing themes. Ocean animal books? Serve goldfish crackers. Fairy tales? Make princess or dragon treats.
- Special Beverages: Offer a fancy beverage like lemonade, apple cider, hot chocolate, etc. Small bottles of water or juice boxes are always a hit, too!
- Potluck Contributions: Send home parent sign-up sheets for item contributions like cookies, fruit, or chips. This provides variety at a low cost.
- Take Home Writing Collections: Assemble anthologies of student writing pieces and illustrative quotes to send home with families after the writing celebration.
- Autographed Books: Allow students to autograph extra copies of their books or pieces for classmates to take home and enjoy. Signing their published pieces makes student authors feel like celebrities!
Fun Writing Projects to Inspire Your Writers
Guiding students through an engaging writing project and providing helpful resources along the way is key to maximizing student success.
My differentiated animal research project guides students step-by-step in crafting an informational report with versions available for all ability levels. Complete the project with students and celebrate their new knowledge by hosting a fun publishing party for students’ animal reports!
If you are interested in writing projects you can do throughout the year, consider my bundle of pennant report projects for heritage and history months. This resource allows students to research and write about a diverse group of influential individuals.
Wrap up the unit with a publishing party where students can proudly share their learning and achievements. Equipping students with the tools to build knowledge will make learning more meaningful and worthwhile.
Here’s YOUR Invitation to Celebrate
Hosting a publishing party may seem involved, but seeing the faces of your proud student authors as they share their creations makes every ounce of effort completely worthwhile. Not only will your students remember the fun celebrations for years to come, but publishing parties will also build critical communication skills, confidence, and a love of writing.
Are you ready to get started? Sign up above to receive a free editable publishing party invitation template you can customize for your classroom writing celebration. Get ready to celebrate your students’ outstanding writing and fuel their future success. Let the publishing parties begin!
