Kids’ Writing Camps: Summer Stories

Presented byPat Braun, Illinois Writing Project Co-Director (pbraun09@yahoo.com)Jen Reichardt, 5th Grade Teacher, Flossmoor Hills Elementary School

Mindi Rench, Literacy Coach, Northbrook Junior High (mrench@northbrook 28.net or on Twitter: @mindi_r)

You can find this presentation at http://slideshare.net/mindi_r

Why Kids’ Camps

For the Illinois Writing Project, kids’ camps were a logical progression from our Summer Leadership institute for teachers

A good deal of time is spent writing during the institute

We plan lessons and organize ideas for writing workshops in schools

For students, summer writing camps are beneficial in helping to reduce “summer slide.”

The Beginning

When we first began exploring the idea of writing camps, we invited the adults in our summer institute to bring their children to participate in the nontraditional camp.

When we saw the enthusiastic response, we decided to set up more camps.

Jen’s Story: Year One

Northbrook Junior High

students in grades 5-8

focused on writing and the power it gives the individual

6-traits based lessons

Anthology of writing produced at end of camp.

Jen’s Story: Year Two

Hendricks Elementary School, Chicago, IL

Offered free to students through a grant from the IRC

Theme: Writing Colors Our World

Each day focused on a color of the rainbow

Students participated in writing activities and were served a snack in the color of the day

Challenges:Hottest week of the summer meant some students did not attend for health reasonsHigh percentage of English Language Learners

Celebrations:Instilling the joy of writing in participantsMoving students to independence in writingSeeing students share their writing with participants in the Summer Leadership InstituteThe pride evident in both students and parentsForging a future relationship with Hendricks

Linda Bailey, another IWP Leader, continues to work with a group of Hendricks students during a lunch time writing club!

Northbrook Junior HighBuilt on Jen’s work the previous yearSubsidized by a grant from the IRCFocus was on short pieces, especially poetry

Heather’s Story

ChallengesHot weather pre-empted writing marathonStudents weren’t necessarily there by choiceAge range (incoming 5th-8th graders was too bigNot enough time to truly revise and polish writing

CelebrationsCamp built on the workshops taking place in District 28 literacy classesStudents were enthusiastic writers Students were able to experiment with a variety of short writing forms, including haiku and other poems, they might not experience in their regular classroomsHaiku Throwdown!

Kids are enthusiastic writers when given VOICE and CHOICE

Kids who never saw themselves as writers now have a new lens through which to view their worlds.

Without the cloud of assessment hanging overhead, kids have the freedom to explore their ideas and be creative

It’s possible to put on a great camp even with limited resources

Lessons From Camp

About the Illinois Writing Project

“The Illinois Writing Project provides professional development on teaching writing, reading, and the application of both skills for learning across the curriculum and across whole schools.”

We offer a two-week summer leadership workshop as well as a one-week Teaching Writing workshop each summer. For information, visit http://illinoiswritingproject.com/illinoiswritingproject.com/Home.html

In addition, we sponsor a fall program to celebrate the National Day on Writing and a spring conference, both at minimal cost to participants and open to any teacher who is interested in attending.