Mrs. Jessica Ecker, Sixth Grade Teacher at Stanley G. Falk School’s Roosevelt campus, discovered the Young Writers SOS Saga Collection competition and thought it was a great opportunity for her students to practice their creative writing skills. This year, sixteen students were selected to become published authors and have their story featured in the collection.
Each student was challenged to write 100-word sagas to submit for a chance to be published in the collection. “The competition starts around Halloween, which adds a fun element to the spooky season,” said Mrs. Ecker. ““It also challenges students to really think about word choice since they only have 100 words to use.”
Every year, there is a new theme students base their stories on that’s usually a mystery to go along with Halloween. One student wrote a story titled “The Missing Person,” where the protagonist has nightmares about a person who got lost in a dark, abandoned forest. Other stories included an abandoned carnival setting and a possessed doll.
“When I told the students their stories would be published, they were so excited to be in a book,” emphasized Mrs. Ecker. “Their stories were so creative, and they worked hard to perfect them. It’s rewarding to see their thoughts come to life and witness their reaction to something they didn’t anticipate would happen.”
Mrs. Ecker plans on having her students read their stories aloud to the class when the book is published. Congratulations to the talented sixth graders in Mrs. Ecker’s class on becoming authors!