Fifth Grade Novel Writing Project at West Mercer Funded By MISF Grant

Roz Ray in Julie Langley's fifth grade class at West Mercer working with students on their class novel writing project

Mercer Island, WA, March 26, 2025 – Since 2013 fifth graders at West Mercer Elementary have completed a novel writing project with local author Roz Ray that is funded by a grant from the Mercer Island Schools Foundation (MISF).

“We do the project annually because it is of high interest for the students,” said West Mercer fifth grade teacher Kirsten Bourke. “They are excited to write and create a novel together. They like working collectively to generate the characters and plot.“

Each of the three fifth grade classes at the school come up with the characters and the plot for their class novel and Ray breaks the plot up into chapters, and each student writes one chapter of the novel.

“The writers delight in being published with a book that can actually be purchased. Roz's personality is joyful and engages the students immediately. She makes them feel heard and valuable in the process,” continued Bourke.

“When I first heard that an Author was coming to my classroom, I literally freaked out. I mean, a professional! I think it is a great experience to create a book and work together with your pals,” said Audrey, a student in David Baxter’s fifth grade class.

The novel writing project follows the district vision of moving projects out of non-authentic work and into the real world. It allows and demands a high level of collaboration amongst the fifth graders, many of whom take leadership roles in the editing and production of the book.

Students in each class must collaborate and learn to work with a group in order to produce a cohesive chapter book. The fifth grade teachers at West Mercer find their higher-performing writers often working in concert with their lower level writers on their own during this project.

The project concludes with a professionally published book available for purchase on Amazon.

The project includes seven in-class sessions with one lesson a week.

CLASS SESSION 1: Intro to Project & Characters - (Ray reads character sheets and chooses cast of characters)
CLASS SESSION 2: Plot Part I (Brainstorming)
CLASS SESSION 3: Plot Part II (Structure) - (Ray breaks plot up into chapters)
CLASS SESSION 4: Chapter Assignments & Outlining
CLASS SESSION 5: Craft Talk I (Dialogue)
CLASS SESSION 6: Craft Talk II (Description)
CLASS SESSION 7: Revision & Editorial Board Meeting - (Ray publishes novel)

“It has been a little frustrating, but a lot of fun too! Even though my character wasn’t chosen to be in the cast, I am still excited to get to use other people’s characters and combine it with some of my own!”, said Emma, a fifth grader in Baxter’s class.

“We are excited about this project because it follows tightly with our standards and practices for writing,” said fifth grade teacher Julie Langley. “This project provides a mechanism of high interest for our emerging writers, and our writers who struggle, to produce and create a real-world product and feel a sense of pride in their work.”

“The class book so far has been great! In our last class we talked about back stories of the main characters and their traits. We are all having fun with the amazing character and our author Roz,” said Aria, a fifth grader in Baxter’s class.

The Mercer Island Schools Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) public service, non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing and improving the quality of education provided to ALL Mercer Island School District students by obtaining contributions for the public schools.

Started in 1981, MISF has raised over $27 million thanks to our generous community.

Since its founding, the Foundation has become the catalyst for the Mercer Island community to guarantee every teacher has access to the most up-to-date, innovative educational materials that guarantee exceptional teaching and learning experiences for every student.

The tremendous success of the organization lies in the simple fact that the Mercer Island Schools Foundation was born in a community that places value on quality education. Learn more about the impact of our community’s commitment to education.