Creative Writing Summer Camp

For years my students' parents have been asking for referrals to summer camps to help the students become better writers or to simply work on creative writing.  I finally had the opportunity to design my own camp.  

Camp description:  Students will discover fun new ways to unleash their creativity through collaborative group storytelling and personal writing.  Campers will use familiar characters in new settings, work on poetry, and use fun prompts to inspire creative writing projects.

Camp was offered to students entering 4th-8th grade.  I ended up with three girls and one boy who attended two of the four mornings.

I discovered an online adventure writing contest, and it turned out that my campers were highly motivated to enter the contest, win $50, and see their writing published online.  They spent the first two full mornings working on their stories for this contest, and one of my campers used the entire week to complete her 1500 word adventure story.

The campers were all entering 5th and 6th graders.  They had their own Gmail accounts through the school, so they wrote their stories on their laptops in Google Docs and shared them with me.  I was able to open their files and talk through editing and revision suggestions with them throughout the writing process.  I am hopeful that the repeated, regular exposure to the proper format of dialogue will carry over into their future writing.  

We spent one morning creating Duck on a Bike stories based on the lesson found on Corbett Harrison's site.  

We took a break and went outside to play on the playground each day mid-way through the three hour writing block.  It was often difficult to pry the writers away from the computers!  They would have written the whole time if allowed.  I offered them food and snacks each day, and they ate a lot more than I would have anticipated!  They talked non-stop.  

A fun aspect to writing with computers is when the writers realized they needed research about their settings.  One writer decided her story would take place near Hollywood, California.  She wondered how close it was to the beach, to the Hollywood sign, and which shopping centers her character would visit.  She also wanted to feature an animal with a disability, so she was able to quickly open a new tab and Google her topics.  We all learned more about animal shelters that exist solely for the purpose of caring for and finding homes for animals with disabilities.

Graphic Novels in Social Studies

I have a couple of fifth graders who dislike reading, but will tolerate graphic novels.   A few, in fact, have read every fiction and nonfiction graphic novel in our school library.  As I was preparing my Westward Expansion unit, I wondered if there were actually any graphic novels written based on the people we needed to learn about.  I immediately checked Amazon and found The Lewis and Clark Expedition, a graphic novel, pictured below.  Finding this book inspired me to create a project-based learning unit focusing on the Westward Expansion.  My students would create their own graphic novels based on the major events of the 1800s.

My students learned about the major historical events of the 1800s, including the Louisiana Purchase, The War of 1812, and many aspects of the Westward Expansion.  We used a variety of resources for our day to day learning;  Safari Montage videos, our social studies textbook (sparingly), literature excerpts, and many wonderful websites.  After each lesson, we made anchor charts for students to refer to as they worked the details of history into the story with their characters.

The students began their novels by creating a character.  Some chose animals, others chose current-day people who went back in time to observe the events.  Others told the story from the perspective of a Native American.  The character was supposed to act as a tour guide of the historic events.

Photos of a few pages of finished projects:

                                           
After we studied the Indian Removal Act of 1830, I surprised the students with an experience activity called The Recess Relocation Act.  I pulled the class together after lunch and read a proclamation, supposedly from the school board, stating the need to move the 5th graders to another location on school grounds.  We assembled in an area called "the stockades" and then marched a trail to our new, less desirable recess spot.  Students lamented the fact that they didn't think to bring soccer balls or any other typical recess accessories with them.  Some pretended to be injured or dead along the way, figuring out rather quickly that this was yet another simulated learning experience.
https://www.facebook.com/LetsGoSaints/posts/10155346793920321

A writing task was set up via Google Forms immediately following the relocation activity.  Students wrote that they were angry and sad to be moved, and they felt sad for the Native Americans who had to endure this permanent relocation, losing loved ones along the way.

When the students completed their graphic novels, we gathered together in our school's Gathering Room and set up the books around the lunch tables.  Pens and sticky notes were available for positive comments and compliments.  We invited other classes and our administration to read our books, and the students had a great time viewing each other's completed work.

One mom stopped to tell me that her daughter was very motivated to work on her project each evening at home.  Several responded that they remembered learning about these topics in school, but they didn't recall details in the way that their children were learning.  I heard over and over that this project-based learning method was highly effective for their students since it encouraged creativity and "stick-with-it-ness!"

Links for Teachers About Graphic Novel Projects:

http://www.ncte.org/library/nctefiles/resources/books/sample/03920chap01_x.pdf

http://www.penguin.com/static/pdf/teachersguides/you_can_do_a_graphic_novel_TG.pdf

http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/activities-projects/comics-graphic-novels-30296.html?main-tab=2#glossary

http://www.scholastic.com/graphix/scholastic_bonediscussion.pdf

http://www.readwritethink.org/resources/resource-print.html?id=30581

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/30581_rubric.pdf

My student instruction page can be found here:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rol9aX_ZicqiAwlWJst7U7sq_EodwZukdWBg2p0xVB8/edit?usp=sharing

Make a copy for yourself to customize.