After the second draft, however, I wanted them to hear a different perspective on their story. I teamed up with Mrs. Musone's third grade class to be our top secret, surprise editors (my students knew they were being read by "professionals", but they didn't know who it was going to be.) When my students finally received their edited drafts, they were overwhelmed by the attention and focus demonstrated by the third graders.
This small collaboration was a meaningful and important addition to the project. For Mrs. Musone's third graders, they received a lesson in editing, primary source integration, and the elements of storytelling. Her students also received the final draft of the stories and did a Skype chat with the authors (my students). Later in the year, they also ended up working on book reviews with my student's stories!
If you have examples of cross-grade collaboration, I'd love to hear them!