夏令營：與已出版的小說家一起寫書或故事

Summer is the perfect time to write a short chapter book or a long story! It's so much fun, and you'll be amazed at how much your child's writing improves when they tap into their imaginations. 

**Make sure you look for a message from me with things to expect in the camp and to help them brainstorm a story idea and main character before class. It will also show you how to share your work.**

This camp will help any child become a better writer and develop their confidence and skills in every area of writing. They will either write a short chapter book or a long story. They can illustrate it outside of the camp time if they like. I'll give them prompts to help them write. We have a lot of fun, and they'll improve their writing. After this, maybe they'll want to write a longer book, and they'll be ready for my more advanced weekly classes. 

In this camp, give kids a camp guide with bonus videos to help them write outside of camp. 

They can sign up for more than one week of camp if they want a longer chapter book. Every week is different. 

My style is gentle and kind, and I like to laugh a lot with the kids, and use multi-sensory prompts, which is why they'll bring fun and unique objects to every class. 

Here are the skills we'll work on each day of camp. If we don't work on the skill in the actual class, they will have bonus videos they can watch if they like.

DAY ONE

Chapter One - The Beginning
Story Questions: How do you write your beginning so that you hook the reader? How do you describe the setting and characters? 
Writing focus - Details, use of colors and light, voice and personality
Grammar focus - POV, capitals and periods, paragraphs, and quotation marks. 

DAY TWO

Chapter Two: Pursuing the Goal
Story questions: What is the main character's goal, and what are the obstacles? How do you balance thoughts, reactions, dialogue, and actions? 
Writing focus - Describe using all the senses, learn to use metaphors and similes, dialogue
Grammar focus - Use correct punctuation for dialogue.

DAY THREE

Chapter Three - OH NO! The Problem Gets Worse
Story Questions: How do you build your chapter with tension and excitement? How can you write a twist? 
Writing focus - Use specific nouns, use strong verbs, and start each sentence differently.
Grammar focus - Indenting paragraphs, verb tense (present/past)

DAY FOUR

Chapter Four: The Climax and Ending
Story Questions: How do you end your book? What is a climax? 
Writing focus - Reveals, Beautiful Language - Alliteration, Repetition, Onomatopoeia
Grammar focus - Use correct punctuation for dialogue especially. 

STRUCTURE OF THE CLASS

10 min: Brainstorming and talking about the chapter beginning
5 min: Write your hook and setting description
10 min: Talk about the skill of the day and look at an example from a favorite book like Harry Potter, Wings of Fire, The Magic Treehouse
10 min: Write your chapter
5 min: Share creativity objects and spin the wheel for a story idea.
10 min: Continue to write your chapter.
(This leaves five extra minutes for a game or a lively discussion.)

EVERY WEEK IS DIFFERENT

You can sign up for multiple weeks because every day is different. If your child wants to keep writing a book, but the camp is too much of a challenge with your plans, you can start a weekly class or the flex chapter book summer class.

COMMUNITY

I love to build a positive community in my classes. We don't have time to read aloud because I give them a lot of writing time, and also, the Zoom environment is not great for reading aloud. However, students can always post stories to the classroom so everyone can read. We say only positive things. Everyone encourages each other!

FEEDBACK

I offer feedback ONLY if the student types their book. Handwritten journals are hard to read. Kids can learn to type at eight, and my experience is that they love their writing much more because they can improve it. Also, you can "publish" their books. I encourage you to type it up for them if they are writing by hand. Positive feedback helps the most at this age because it builds their creative confidence and makes them MORE eager to write. I give mostly positive feedback with one thing to work on.