Family photos came to life at Hirsch Elementary School’s first family-writing workshop Wednesday night.

About 80 students and parents brought their favorite photos to the school’s cafeteria. They were challenged to describe scenes and memories in detail through poems and short stories. Students were also asked to describe candy using all their senses.

Seven-year-old Julia Mullen wrote exhaustively about her favorite candy, See’s Candies chocolate-covered marshmallows.

"It’s brown, smells yummy and tastes chocolatey," Julia wrote.

West High School social studies teacher and three-year member of the California Writing Project Tom O’Hara helped organize the night. The California Writing Project is a group of teachers who work together to excite writing in the classroom.

"There’s something about writing," O’Hara said. "It’s almost like magic when you can sit down and turn a blank page into something great."

He brought the results of the workshop to a copy store to turn the stories into a book for each young writer.

The high turnout for the school’s first writing workshop spurred talk of a family math-and-science night at the school. Similar writing nights at Bohn Elementary School have also drawn a fair number of people.

"Families here are very eager for their children to do well at school," Hirsch second-grade teacher Jody Price said. "If we invite them to a fun event, they jump at it."