what we do
The Porter Publishing House is a special place within the school designed to bring parents together with teachers and students to publish books the students have written within their class program (i.e. language arts, socials, sciences or fine arts). Publishing House has been in operation now since 2009 and we have published over 2400 books with the help of parent volunteers and our wonderful Porter Street staff.
how we do it
There is a lot of preparation that occurs before a class publishes. Teachers and students are busy developing stories, poetry, journals or other work to a ‘best work’ level for publishing. Parents are necessary to help prepare/cut materials, help facilitate (with the teacher) special art projects like marbling of paper for the inside cover of the books, and to help the teacher bind the books on publishing day.
Most parents I have spoken with are very excited to receive their child’s book. They see how proud their children are of their accomplishments. It encourages reading and writing skills with the anticipation of producing a book worthy of a special spot on their bookshelf or as present for someone special.
what you can do to help
If you are interested in being involved with Publishing House please drop us an email. We are looking for volunteers of all sorts to develop a “volunteer pool”.
Some of the jobs you could help with include:
- An hour once in a while for ‘work parties’ to help prepare the supplies
- Helping with a class (not necessarily your own child’s class)when we don’t have a manageable parent/child ratio
- Running the class with the teacher on marbling or binding day
- Joining our core team (liaising with teachers, scheduling, sourcing products as needed, planning, organizing help for classes etc)
who to contact
If you have questions about Publishing House please contact our Publishing House Coordinator.