Montello students researched, wrote and videoed the subject.

LEWISTON – Zanader Maleki’s fifth-grade students at Montello Elementary School undertook a project to tell about head lice, which became a public health service referred to as a Kid2Kid project.

The students researched information about head lice and wrote fictional tales based on the true facts about head lice trying to find homes.

The project was inspired by a commercial product head lice video that the students saw in class. They felt they could do a better job, having already produced a Creature Feature video for October.

The students wrote story drafts, then put the project aside. Later they resumed research. The students and teacher worked from May to June, after all school formalized testing had ended, and complete the project.

The students worked on individual stories, then partnered to combine stories for better writing fluency and authorship. They also illustrated the stories, first with storyboarding and ending with final illustrations. The class worked the way real life authors and illustrators do, collaborating on ideas and presentations.

As an application of music studies using the prerecorder, the students performed the background music as well as singing a song especially worded for the project, “I am just a little louse,” all used in the video. The orchestrations were conducted by student Casey Conroy. Another student, Olivia Green, played the violin. The music opens and closes the video, with Maleki as the camcorder crew.

By-products of the “Louse Tales” video are a hard-copy book of the stories, including other stories not on the video, and a digital copy of the book on CD.

Video copies have been given to the Montello School Library and the state Department of Education, school nurse’s office and the project grant benefactor.

Copies of the book have been donated to the above places, as well as to the Lewiston Public Library. The e-book version is also on file at Montello Elementary School.

One of the “Louse Tales” stories can be found online at the classroom’s Web site: www.teammaleki.eboard.com. E-book copies are available to schools by request through Montello Elementary School, Attn: ZMaleki-Louse Tales.