When Rhonda Menke walked into the fifth-grade classroom Monday with a large box, gift-wrapped in blue paper, the students couldn't contain their curiosity.
"What is it?" they wondered aloud. One boy thought it might be a car.
Then Manuel Brown, 11, figured it out.
"It's our books," he said. "That's a huge present."
Fritsch Elementary School students spent the first of the year writing and illustrating books about themselves, under the guidance of Menke, who was hired this year as the school's writing coach.
The books were bound and later passed out to their authors on Monday.
"This is the first book I ever made," said Dillon Dodge, 11.
And they looked just like any other book.
"I like how it says our last names on the spine," said Katherine Reyes, 10. "If I put it on a bookshelf, I can see it has my last name on it."
Teacher Regina Ford said the students dedicated much time and effort to the project.
"They took a lot of pride in it," she said. "There were days we did nothing but write all day long just to make our publishing date."
And the work paid off, Menke said.
This year, nearly 62 percent of the student body passed the state-mandated writing test, up about 8 percent from last year.
"They've figured out writing can be exciting," Menke said. "Writing is a life skill, and we've really lit a fire under our students."
Kindergarten through second-grade students wrote books as a class, while third- through fifth-grade students wrote them individually.
"It's very exciting because we worked on them for a long time and to finally get them is amazing," said Matthew McCarthy, 10.
They also learned the perils of writing on deadline.
As they read through their books, they noticed misspelled words and other errors.
However, Josh Rowell, 10, was astonished when he opened to the family picture he'd drawn.
"I forgot my sister's head," he said, then showed the page to all of his classmates.
Reading activities will continue at the school today when children's author Gary Hogg hosts writing workshops and assemblies during school hours, followed by a book signing in the evening.
- Contact reporter Teri Vance at tvance@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1272.