Jefferson Elementary recently welcomed another published author, Ann Burg, to help students discover the joys of writing. Burg is the author of seven books currently in print, including E is for Empire: A New York State Alphabet. During her day at Jefferson, she met with Mrs. Cathy Cathell and Mrs. Mary Zanta's fourth-grade students and gave a lesson on writing historical fiction.

Burg spoke with students about her most recent book and about the immigrants who came to the United States through Ellis Island. She said, "Sometimes when we just learn about dates, we forget about the feelings attached to those dates."

After giving students a variety of historical facts, she had them write a diary entry in which each student pretended to be an immigrant coming to or already at Ellis Island. Burg said, "I want you to be there. What does it feel like to be one of the 5,000 people who passed through every day?"

Burg's lesson tied in with fourth graders' study of historical fiction as a genre. She also spoke with Grades 1 and 2 about how writers use their senses to create stories and with Grades 3-5 about how children can be writers because they have the same tools as adults and their perspective is just as important.