Thursday, October 1, 2026
First graders at St. Agnes Cathedral School celebrated their love of literacy by embarking on a unique “Create a Book” project.
Their journey began in the St. Agnes library and media center that contains more than 10,550 books. Tapping into their life experiences, the students completed a graphic organizer for their stories, focusing on the creation of characters, setting, and plot.
The project continued with the assistance of parent volunteers who met with the students on a one-to-one basis as they guided them through the process of formulating ideas and writing them down through to the finished product — a bound book.
With the help of their computer teacher, Mary Brower, and a program called “Kidpix,” the students also created digital illustrations for their books.
The final literacy celebration commenced with a school visit from Elizabeth Uhlig a published author and illustrator. Uhlig explained the process of bookmaking from the beginning to the final stages of the printing of her books in China. She showed the students the vast variety of techniques that she uses to create her books’ illustrations, including needlepoint, cut-paper collages and fine water color portraits. She brought her original artwork to share with the students on their literacy journey.
