It’s sort of like soccer camp or drama camp–only instead of kicking a ball or performing on stage, you play with words and explore lots of different kinds of writing.  For the right kids, it is just the camp they have been looking for. 

One of our campers favorite parts of writing camp is choosing “club time.”  Our writing clubs from past years include:

• Poetry Party
• Secret Agent Spy Writing
• Fractured Fairy Tales
• Claim to Fame–Places to Publish
• A Game of Clue–Writing a Mystery
• Essays Made Easy
• So You Want to Write a Novel . . . or Listen to What I’ve Written So Far!

We also include a day of professional author visits and books signings. Our guest authors in the past have included:

• Brandon Mull
• Jessica Day-George
• J. Scott Savage
• Ann Cannon
• Melissa Kantor
• Becky Hall

Other “stars” of our camp are our interns.  They are themselves budding authors who are involved in honors programs in their high schools or studying writing at a university.  (One of our interns, Kate Coursey, recently won the Scholastic young novelist contest and is now working with her New York agent!)   A club choice is always the “editor’s table” where campers work on stories one on one with an intern.

My experience with this camp is students leave feeling like real writers.  They then approach writing projects confidently and with a positive attitude because they “love to write!”  It also serves to give the kid who doesn’t exactly fit the playground-king-mold a chance to shine.  Writing is an interest that isn’t often celebrated by peers–and it is fun to be in a place where the written word is top!

• Date:  June 17th-21st
• Place:  Westminster College
• Morning Session 9:00-12:00 for 2nd - 4th graders.
• Afternoon Session 1:00-4:00 for 5th -7th graders.
• NEW SESSION 1:00-4:00 for 8th and 9th graders.
• Cost:  $139.00

For more information check out our website at www.writeonworkshops.com.

More on Today’s Mama:

Building Confidence in Young Writers

The Summer Journal

Four Secrets to Listening and Responding to Your Child’s Writing

Children and families can Go-Go-GO on a Winter Wonderland Adventure with the Cat in the Hat, who will be at both events at the Viridian Library in West Jordan on Friday, November 9 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. and at the Salt Lake City Library on Saturday, November 10 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

The family events, in partnership with the Salt Lake City and County libraries, will help kids learn about winter animals and environments through LEAP Into Science hands-on activities.  Kids will learn about hibernation by making a “Groundhog in a Cup.”  To learn about balance they’ll create an Arctic Tern (a seabird) to balance on their hands.  To explore reflection and light, they will study their reflections in both ice and water.

After the hands-on activities, children and families will be able to see a sneak preview of  The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Christmas! followed by a story time related to arctic animals. They’ll also enjoy an icy treat. Children’s books related to hibernation and arctic animals will be on exhibit.  In addition, each child attending will receive a book to take home, a reading log and bookmarks for the 20^th Anniversary Reading Marathon.

We encourage you to spend some time reading with your kids during the holidays and then log your reading minutes for an invitation to the 20th Annual Super Reader party in January.   We have some big things planned you won’t want to miss.   You can see a gallery of previous years’ activities at www.kued.org/reading in the gallery.   PBS Pals will be on hand to celebrate with us as we celebrate your reading achievements with our friends at the Clark Planetarium, Discovery Gateway, Thanksgiving Point, Mad Science, Red Butte Garden, Girl Scouts of Utah and of course our friends from the libraries and so many more.

Stay in touch with us on our KUED Kids Facebook page, where we post information about events, information from PBS and programs and ideas for you and your family.   We often have competitions and drawings around programs and events we are hosting in the community.

For over 40 years KUED and PBS  have been a friendly and trusted face in your home and we hope to build on that relationship with new resources,  information and events for you family that engage, educate and entertain.   Won’t you be our neighbor?

But what is the “Summer Reading Slide” and what can you do about it?  Remember the phrase, “use it or lose it?”  That’s precisely what happens during the summer reading slide.  Children who are not provided opportunities throughout the summer to keep up their reading gains from the school year will lose almost 22% of that skill by the end of the summer.  The consequence is that children once back in school  spend time catching up and relearning before they can move on to actually learning new things.

It is a situation teachers would prefer to avoid but plan for in the early weeks of school.  Just a few additional activities in the summer can prevent or at least mitigate this occurrence.   Mommy blogger Michelle Powell provided a great list of summer reading links earlier this month. You should check it out.  My suggestion would be to choose a few close to home, like your local library and then some that perhaps you might not usually think of. All libraries throughout the state are using the Dream Big – Read! theme.  While activities may differ by location you will find activities from both the libraries and educational partners throughout the summer at most locations.  Don’t think just elementary and preschool.  Many branches like the Salt Lake City Public Library are hosting reading events for the “tweener” in your family. The Salt Lake County Library system is hosting an art contest. Learn more by clicking on the picture to the right.

Sneak in a little fun reading during the heat of the day by visiting a couple of “reading sites” like PBS Kids Go, Blue Ribbon Readers,  Reading Rockets by PBS Station WETA that is in both English and Spanish, and  Scholastic.  Without your kids thinking about it as “reading” playing a few of these online games weekly can help them keep up their reading skills.   The rule of thumb is to switch things up a bit.  Keep things interesting and don’t enforce particular reading rules unless your kids are into that kind of thing.

One of the things we suggest here at KUED is what we call the “View, Read, Do.”   Find a program, video clip or movie that interests your child or children, watch the show and then get exploring.  Find out where in the community there is an event, program or activity that is related to themes in the program and attend the event.  You can then extend the learning by checking out a few books from the library that are age appropriate.  There are several child friendly movies coming out this summer that could easily lead to greater exploration and learning. If you check in with the KUED Kids Ready To Learn team on Facebook we will also be posting weekly ideas and suggestions.  Let us know what you are doing or have done this summer and an invitation to the 20th Anniversary Super Reader party will wing it’s way to your mailbox in the fall.

PBS has teamed up with IVillage.com  to host it’s own summer reading challenge with lots of free prizes and challenges during the six week program. It starts on June 18th and after you register, parents will received daily e-mails with literacy-building tips and activities from experts at PBS KIDS and Scholastic.  Book suggestions, discounts and free PBS Kids show downloads are also part of the program.

My friend Emily and I started Write On! Workshops Summer Camp six summers ago because it was just the kind of summer camp we wanted to find for our kids, but couldn’t.

The first summer, our camp was filled with our own children, nieces and nephews, and lots of our neighbor’s children who believed we had something good to offer. It was, admittedly, a little bit scary. But we secured rooms at Westminster College, booked author Ann Cannon as our guest author, and spent the week writing with and celebrating the writing of our young summer campers. It worked.

Six years later, we are still doing it. We were even given an award from Salt Lake Magazine as “The best summer camp for young authors.”  We fill notebooks, write outside, play “spy club” to create cool characters, sign up for all kinds of “writing clubs,” enter writing contests, and publish camp magazines. Guest authors through the years have included Jessica Day George, Scott Savage, Julie Wright and last year we had New York Times best selling author Brandon Mull.  Our oldest daughters are too old to come as campers and come back to work in our high school and college intern program.

Our camp now fills up by the first of May thanks primarily to recommendations from teachers and librarians and campers who keep coming back. One little writer arrived early on the first day of camp last summer. She said she had been trying so hard to remember what camp looked like. “It’s good to be back,” she said.

There are sport camps and drama camps, but not too many writing camps. And for certain super cool kids, it is the perfect place to be. We are currently taking registration for year six.

June 11th-15th, 2012

Westminster College

Morning session grades 2nd to 4th

Afternoon session grades 5th to 7th

www.writeonworkshops.com

More on Today’s Mama:

Responding to your child’s writing

Confident Communicators

 Write On! Camp

1. BEFORE THEY WRITE:  Talk to your children about how teachers often hear when students and parents are unhappy, but they don’t always hear about the good things. A Christmas card is their chance to tell them thank you for making a difference.

What I said to my children: “Please write SMALL. Don’t say, ‘Thanks for everything,’ say ‘Thanks for helping me learn that hard dance step’ or ‘Thanks for making math fun.’ Those little details are what are going to mean the most to your teachers.”

Together we brainstormed a few ideas of what they could say. It helps to write it out loud first, then the writing itself goes much easier.

2.WRITING THE CARD: Have them write in pencil so that they have lots of chances to erase if they need to. Be right there to encourage and help with spelling. Write the most common words they might need on an index card and leave it right by them.

Your older children might treat cards like a secret diary and seal up the envelope before you can even sneak a peek. Respect this and hope for a chance to help and read their writing another time. Your younger ones will probably be much more open and eager for your approval.

3.  EDITING: When they finish, read the card together aloud. Keep the pencil in your child’s hand. When you notice grammar errors, gently ask questions like, “What do you do at the start of a new sentence?” or “Can you find a stopping place where you need a period?”  You might find that they have forgotten a word. Reading it aloud will help them to hear the problem and they will most likely correct it themselves. Don’t worry about perfection, just help them to make it readable. Your goal for this experience (besides a sweet note to a teacher) should be to have a positive real world writing experience. Editing moments like this teach children ten times more than a worksheet in a classroom because it is a piece of writing they care about.

4. WRITING WITH PRESCHOOLERS:  If you’ve never tried this, it’s makes the BEST cards ever.  Simply prompt your preschooler with opening phrases and you be their scribe. Be sure to read it aloud to them when you are finished and let them add their own art.

This is my four year old’s finished letter to her pre-school teacher.  The phrases I supplied are in bold:

Dear Miss Catherine,

“I love when you do groups with us.  I love you because you’re so pretty.  I love you that you do funny things to us like you have food monsters–but they’re not real. Thanks for helping me on the singing programs.”

I am careful to put these messages in quotes because I want her teachers to know that these are her own words.  But in this message, I doubt there is a chance Miss Catherine will mistake her words for mine. (How would I know what a food monster is?)

This is a little more work than a “To and From” card, but it gives children a chance to invest in their holiday wishes for their teachers and try out their words in a forum that matters. In the end, I think my girls were excited about their cards and eager to share their thanks.

More Christmas:

Best Christmas lights in Salt Lake

Do you know what you’re giving your parents for Christmas?

Christmas decor for the front door 

In case you’ve been busy doing the million things mamas do, you might not have remembered that April is National Poetry Month. Everyday this month, I’ve been quietly celebrating by reading “30 Poets in 30 Days” from Gregory K. Each poem he has introduced me to has been a treasure.

Here’s one I really loved. It helped me to stop doing my millions of mama things and remember how many things are right.

Be Still in the World
by Charles Ghigna

Be still in the world wherever you are,
Listen to life’s lullaby;
The heartbeat, the breathing, the giving, receiving,
The sun and the moon and the star.

They all shine true through the essence of you,
A beacon of boundless light;
The father, the mother, the sister, the brother,
All are within you tonight.

Let the flow of the seas, the lilt of the breeze,
The rush and the calm of all time
Carry your dreams along rivers and streams
And let you be still where you are.

©2011 Charles Ghigna. All rights reserved.

I was feeling a little regretful that I’m not running the Salt Lake Half Marathon today. But this poem made me laugh at myself. It only sounds romantic to run when you are thinking about it from your warm bed.

I Am Huffing, I Am Puffing

by Graham Denton

Dear Whoever Composes the Sky
by April Halprin Wayland

Hi.

I look up tonight at the black and the light
at the faint and the bright

I like how you do it.
I like what you’ve done.

I shiver. But I won’t go inside.
I want to stay here, want to watch the stars quiver.

They’re wallpaper, ceiling, they fill me with feeling
that this is what’s real.

Just being out here
in the nippy night air—

you: way up there.
Me: way down here.

I came out to say hi.
And say thanks for this sky.

©2011 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.

I’ve been intending to all month, but you’re the first ones I’ve shared these poems with. My daughters are next. I’m glad the month is only half-way gone. There are lots of poems to celebrate.

And also understand why I awoke at 2:30 in the morning to shrieks from my ten year old’s bedroom. Thirteen had finished Mockingjay and had to tell someone about it. To her joy, ten is an eager listener. Even if her thirteen year old sister wakes her up at 2:30 in the morning.

When I walked in the room, they both jumped. Were they seriously surprised someone else could hear them? Thirteen’s face was flushed and edging on tears. She honestly was borderline hysterical. Books can do that. I can’t carry her anymore, but I dragged her to her bedroom, checking for a fever. “Mom! I’m not sick!” As I forced her into bed, I almost had to gag her from spilling the ending. Her final words were, “I’m not tired.” Mine were, “Too bad.”

This morning she kept slipping little hints like, “I’m just going to tell you one thing that doesn’t have anything to do with the story.” I told her I don’t want to know. Not even one thing. Not even the color of Peeta’s shirt. Or what Katniss ate for breakfast. And especially not who she ends up with. Nothing.

But if I wait too long it will all slip out. My girls will discuss it in this sort of code language that is supposedly designed for my protection. But even if I plug my ears, clues will seep in and little by little I’ll think, “I was expecting this.” This happened so often with the Harry Potter series that I almost gave in and let her tell me whose side Snape was on. But I didn’t. I wanted to discover it for myself. Not like a reader traipsing over everyone elses’ tracks, but as if I am the first one ever to turn the page.

Knowing my children as I do, I better hurry.

It’s my turn.

My thirteen year old kept saying all summer, “Eighth grade is going to be awesome.”  It sounded like a daily affirmation–prepping herself for this very day.  I was glad of it, but wondered if she had more specific goals in mind.  After dinner the other night, I pulled out a magic wand (we happen to have several in this house of girls.)  I told the girls to pretend they could wave this wand over their school year.  What would the perfect school year look like for them?  They wrote down their answers on notecards.  They said things like:

• I will like my teachers.
• I will have good friends.
• I will have very good grades.
• I will be interested in the lessons and activities.

It was interesting to hear what they think would make a “perfect” year.  Their cards almost read like a set of class rules.  But beyond saying, “this year is going to be awesome” it seemed important to have them envision what an awesome year would look like for them.    I’ve been listening to Brian Tracy’s Flight Plan.  He says that part of the reason people don’t succeed is they haven’t decided what it is that they want.  I want my girls to decide.

Next I had them choose one magic word they thought would help make their best year come true.  I used this list from Ali Edwards to help.  They scrolled through and we brainstormed together until they found one they liked.

Then I let them paint their magic words with acrylic paints on small paint canvases I found at Big Lots for $1.00.

I did not pin these magic words to their shirts yesterday, but I did put them on display in their bedrooms.  I hope that each morning it helps them to remember the magic they plan to make this year.

Go girls!

I know. What was I thinking?

Yet there are a few nevers from this list I’ve held on to.  One of them is to never pay my children for getting good grades.  Even when I was earning grades, I never understood the, “I’ll pay you $20 for every ‘A’” program some of my friends were on.  The grade is its own reward, right?

But before I could say junior high school my husband offered our thirteen year old a trip to New York City if she could get straight A’s through seventh grade.  He thought it would get her off to a good start.

So like most things on my list, this one died an early and deserving death.  Turns out my husband, who doesn’t make a lot of lists, had it right.  Junior high school report cards are a big change from elementary school.  Instead of being one of twenty-five darlings in the classroom, you are one of over one hundred.  And sometimes you are not even you–you are a number on the roll.  Our junior high daughter had to learn to play a grade game she hadn’t played before.  What’s more, we had never put much emphasis on the letter grade before.  The big trip incentive was a way of saying that grades matter.  And they will continue to matter for several more years.       

There were a few close calls.  At one midterm, she had a “D”  in Algebra.  But she held tight, learned to check her grades often, and even followed up when she thought there may be an error.  During a time when teens are searching for identity, part of her identity became “the girl who gets good grades.”  Not a bad place to begin junior high. 

When her final 4.0 report card came home, we spent four days in New York City.  We haven’t spent that much time alone with her since she was a baby.   It gave us time to talk.  Time to explore.  Time to pick up the pieces from seventh grade  (it was not an easy year) and remind her how much we believe in her.

It was such a magical time that my revised list reads: never skip a chance for a one-on-one trip with your thirteen year old.  Even if (especially if?) it means paying her for good grades.  For us it was totally worth it.

The lines weren’t too bad, but waiting for Rattlesnack Rapids seemed to take forever.  And the sun was hot.  To break the monotony, I leafed through the book to page 225:  “Standing In Line Games.”  Here are the games that saw us through:

Fun Initially

Players take turns asking questions that the others much answer in two words beginning with his or her initials.  So Sam Chases’s favorite food could be Swiss chesse and Beth Gifford’s most prized possession might be her baseball glove.  If a player takes longer than a few seconds to answer, he’s out!

Would You Rather?

One child starts by asking the other, “Would you rather . . .” and offering two different but equally appealing or unappealing options: win the lottery or meet a magic genie;  be lost in the woods overnight or hear noises in the attic when you’re home alone.  The game does not produce a winner or loser, just lots of interesting discussions.

Other chapters in the book include “Grocery Store Games,” “Restaurant Games,” “Car and Airplane Games,” and “Mom is Busy Games.”  This little book is dog-eared, water warped and a staple ingredient to my purse.

At the end of the day, we voted Rattlesnake Rapids our favorite ride.  The dip under the waterfall, and the wait to get there, were both a lot of fun.