Guadalupe Elementary students write community novel

Guadalupe Elementary students in Veronica Velasquez’s fourth grade class wrote, illustrated, and published the novel “Memories of Southern Conejos County:

Guadalupe Elementary students in Veronica Velasquez’s fourth grade class wrote, illustrated, and published the novel “Memories of Southern Conejos County: Recuerdos del Pasado de Conejos del Condado” exploring the rich history of their community.

Each student was responsible for a different aspect of research from historic buildings to local folklore to industry. Not only did students use electronic resources, they also conducted interviews with community members to gather information. Students then drew illustrations to accompany their research and writing.

Shyannne Martinez said while learning about the courthouse she “interviewed [her] mom, grandma, and great grandpa.” While her mom described what the courthouse was currently like, her grandma was able to tell her about the old courthouse, and her great grandpa “helped put out the fire at the courthouse.”

Trinity McCellan wrote about education in Antonito, “I interviewed my grandpa because he used to go to school in the old high school and he said that got taught by nuns.”

Gia Cisneros-Gomez said, “I enjoyed thinking about what to write & research and getting to learn about it. I learned about who built SPMDTU and that it was created to help farm families.”

Copies of the book are available online at studentreasures.com/ordercopies; use the pin number 7116611 to purchase their novel.