Project Overview

The Amazing PreK/K Superheroes was written and illustrated by a group of pre-K and kindergarten students from the Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. Students created this comic book as one aspect of a Learning Expedition on Everyday Heroes. The primary purpose of the expedition was to encourage thoughtful and pro-social behavior in students new to the school environment. Because of this, students learned about heroes from the perspective that heroes are defined by what you do rather than what you are. They learned about how every person can be a hero and that being a hero is a choice. Students also learned that you can be a hero in three different ways – with your head, your heart and your hands.

Creating the class comic was an opportunity to show students that they have the power to create books, as well as to read them or have them read aloud. Each student created a page that tells a story about an everyday hero, putting himself or herself in the starring role. The stories have themes such as helping a younger sibling, cleaning up a mess or finding a missing item. Text was dictated to an adult, who then handwrote the words in “bubble” captions. Each page has multiple drawings, which along with the text helps to give context.

See also entry #493a - a product created by different students who engaged in a similar investigation in which they interviewed local heroes and shared an example of being a hero in a small way in their own life.