Time didn't stand still during High Tea for first-graders at Rockburn Elementary School April 18, but it surely left lasting memories.

The girls wore colorful wide brimmed bonnets and the boys crisp, neatly knotted bowties.

Teapots and flowers adorned tables covered with pink table cloths. Cookies were arrayed on sparkling platters next to pitchers of lemonade and punch.

Welcoming guests to the tea was first-grader Jennifer Spar, holding a basket of flowers and curtseying as she greeted each person. First-grader Christopher DeCarlucci, helped with sign in, and assisted guests with directions to the first-grade classrooms.

By the start of tea time, the entire first-grade team area overflowed with parents who came to share in an authors tea and listen to story books written and illustrated by their children.

Many grandparents came, too, and even a great-grandmother, Helen Gienapp. Gienapp flew in from Ferndale, Michigan to join her great-grandson, Evan Aguilera, and hear the book Evan wrote about bears dedicated to her.

First-grader John McGuire's grandmother, Marge Bunting, was there. Coming from Catonsville, she didn't have to come quite as far keep to keep the invitation to the afternoon tea from her grandson.

"He was so excited when he called me up," Bunting said.

John's paternal grandmother Rose Mary McGuire had more of a drive, coming from York, Pa.

"I wouldn't have missed this. It's wonderful," McGuire said.

John read the story he wrote, "Megatron vs. Octmus Prime." The story didn't come as a surprise to his grandmothers or his parents, Gina and Jim McGuire. "It's a real boy story -- good versus bad," Bunting said.

Amy Weber said she wasn't surprised either by the plot of the story her daughter, Erika Weber, wrote about dogs. "Erika wants a dog," she said.

"Cabpoo Dogs," by Erika, tells the tale of two dogs, Kate and Chuck, who don't like each other when the story begins but after a sleep over the two become friends.

"I love dogs, all kind of dogs and especially cabpoo dogs," Erika said.

Party a school-wide effort

"The tea party was to honor the children for working so hard to write and illustrate their own books," first-grade teacher Kayla Johnson said.

They also had to learn how to read a story to an audience, how to enunciate and speak loudly, and how to hold a book when reading to others. "I told them not to show pictures to the ceiling" Johnson said.

Writing the story though was the hardest part for the children.

"Writing evolves from within, Johnson said. "It's a hard subject to teach."

Johnson said she sat with each child to help him or her edit the book. Some students had trouble staying on topic, others with sentence structure or spelling. "The writing was different levels," Johnson said. Although they all learned something important, she said.

Writing their own stories and then reading them to significant people in their lives helped students understand the power of words. They gained more than a lesson in writing, Johnson said.

Seeing the pride in Robbie Dyke as he read his story, "The Good Dog" was all that a teacher could want, said Kelly Suber, Robbie's teacher. "It was priceless."

Robbie's grandmother, Helen Scrivnor, from Catonsville, his parents Denise and Bob, and his bother, C.J., were all there to hear Robbie read his story of a boy named Ben who wanted a dog. In the story Ben is told no by his parents. Then one day, Ben falls into a hole and is rescued by a dog named Blue, and Ben's happy parents let their son keep Blue. Robbie said he dedicated his book to his grandparents "because they were nice."

The tea party was truly a school-wide effort -- the staff and parents all contributed, Johnson said. Volunteers from the Rockburn PTA typed the stories and then bound each one into a hard backed book.

Roxanne Smith, one of the custodians at Rockburn, changed into street clothes to be a guest for students whose parents weren't able to attend, Johnson said.

First-grader Arianna Lysiak dedicated her story, "Three Penguins," to her mother, Natoka Heral. In the story the penquins have to leave their hotel but are rescued by a zoo keeper who takes them in.

"I like penguins so why don't I write about them," Arianna said.

At the end of the day that's what it is all about, Johnson said.

E-mail cdumle@theviewnewspapers.com

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