San Diego Area Writing Project

Young Writers Camp

Newsletter
July 24, 2015
Margaret Epperson, Lisa Madanat,
Izzie Ojeda, and Arianna Young

YWC campers enjoyed an enriching first

week filled with a variety of engaging
writing experiences. We know that you
have already heard about many of the
activities in your own childs classroom.
We thought that you might also enjoy
reading about the events happening
throughout camp. This newsletter is
filled with a few highlights from each
group.
You are invited to our sharing celebration open microphone reading at
Barnes and Noble in Encinitas on July
30th at 6:00 p.m. Dont forget that you
are also invited to final day classroom
festivities on Friday, July 31st from 8:30
to 10:30 a.m. Camp will conclude immediately following classroom visits at
10:30 a.m. that morning.
Lesly Easson, Kerry Ojeda,
Katie Ward, and Kira Nolan
Campers and teachers in our group
kicked off the first week with an alliteration activity to introduce themselves
to their new writing community. Ms.
Lesly Easson, Ms. Kerry Ojeda, Miss
Katie Ward, and Miss Kira Nolan have
been busy teaching their students about
writing through the use of mentor
texts, which provide excellent models
for writing. After listening to the books
Hailstones and Halibut Bones and The
Black Book of Colors (in which a visually impaired boy describes colors), the
students went out in the garden with
magnifying glasses to investigate color.
After being inspired by this activity, our
young writers wrote their very own
color poems.
Another focus this week has been on
how great writers paint pictures with
their words. The students are learning
that they can achieve this through the
use of sensory language and thoughtful detail. The students wrote about a
special place, created descriptions of
monsters, and worked with similes and
metaphors to create incredible images
with words. It was interesting to see
and hear about the wide range of

Getting to know yougetting to know

all about you. This song resonates as a
depiction of our first few days of camp
together.
Through a variety of writing techniques, weve created a writing community that promotes trust, new
friendships, a sharing of ideas, and help
for all.
places that were important to each of
the students and the various ways in
which they recreated those places using detailed descriptive writing.
Other favorite activities this week have
been creating a super hero and attaching a story to it, with special attention
to the back-story and character development. The students also wrote how
to pieces that consisted of anything
from learning how to take care of
guinea pigs to how to do division in
math. We have very creative campers!
We also had guest speaker Judy Leff
speak to the class from a writers point
of view about celebrating the ordinary.
The week ended with a field trip to the
beach, working with observation, and
a lesson on writing a nonfiction piece.
Next week, the campers will work on
persuasive/opinion writing, continue
with writing response groups, and
much more. We are looking forward to
seeing all of you at Barnes & Noble on
Thursday evening, and here for parent
day on Friday morning!

We started with an activity where the

students partnered up, interviewed
each other, sorted answers using a
Venn Diagram, and wrote a paragragh
introducing their new friends. We
concluded with oral introductions of
our partners. The campers practiced
their speaking skills and added to the
community feel.
Another technique we learned was how
to create an infographic. First we studied a mentor text from the magazine
Storyworks. After carefully noticing the
illustrations and writing used in the
infographic, the students then created
their own. We finished up with a gallery walk to view what other campers
wrote.
Campers also wrote pieces that
scraped their hearts, mystery stories inspired by the photograghs and
captions from The Mysteries of Harris
Burdick. They also had a look at legends using animal characteristics.
Sprinkled amongst these activities,
campers worked on how to revise in
groups, use dialogue effectively, and
strengthen a piece with properly placed
colons.
Were looking forward to a second
week filled with field trips, descriptive
poetry, and an opinion piece about a
donut. We are blessed with a creative,
diligent group of young writerswe
cant wait to see what they will come
up with next!

Trish Dentremont, Scott Leonard,

Skye Easson, and Maddie Ho
Some people begin their day with jumping jacks, others read the newspaper,
many drink a strong cup of coffee. Here
at YWC, we begin our day with sacred
writing time. This is when we all we
sit in a circle and quietly write to music.
After about fifteen minutes, pencils stop
moving, and we turn the music off. The
magic begins as authors share what
they have written with the whole group.
Sharing has become a bit contagious,
and more and more of our authors are
giving voice to their writing by sharing
it. This is such a wonderful way to start
our morning at camp!
If you were to read the story of our
group, you would discover a cast of
characters ranging from mindful mathematicians, jovial jokesters, active athletes, quiet questioners, and boisterous
bibliophiles. Could you guess that our
theme for camp is characterization?
Weve shared our own character traits.
Weve analyzed the character traits of
popular villains, and weve considered
how narratives change depending upon
which character tells a story. Scott gave
a fantastic reading of The True Story
of the Three Little Pigs. Come to find
out, the wolf was falsely accused of his
crimes!
We have already seen so much growth
in this group, not only as individual
writers, but also as members of a
whole. We have seen old friendships
rekindled and new friendships blossom
with writing as a catalyst for connection. The campers in this newfound
community have become more confident in their writing abilities and are
also becoming more willing to share
their work with peers during writing
response groups. Here in Cardiff, the
excitement to write radiates from within every writer, and with an abundance
of writing styles explored, they have all
found a niche where they feel comfortable writing.
Our day at writing camp ends with
writing response groups, or WRGs. The
students, who have been working hard
all morning on honing character development, practicing their figurative language, and writing from different points
of view, get a chance to share their
creativity in a small and safe group
setting. Writing response group time is
when we get the privilege of hearing
even the most quiet students share their
awesome and unique ideas.

Writing response groups help open up

our more reluctant students, and they
provide opportunities for encouragement and constructive feedback from
peers. Although its only the first week
of camp, many of our students already
get excited about writing response
groups and some have started to
request even more time to share their
stories!
Were looking forward to using our
field trips to VGs Donuts, the statue of
the Cardiff Kook, and Seaside Market Plaza as inspiration for character
development. As we walk to our various
destinations, we will make observations
of the characters we see along the
way, and then we will take the time to
write, and write, and write.

Inspired by Special Guest Judy Leff

An Excerpt from Nature
by Lauren Lakin
Every time you look, new life appears:
a bee, a butterfly, a moth! Could it be,
I asked: Was it a fly or a beetle? It was a
metallic blue as deep as the ocean
waters. Bees flying around with pollen
on on their fragile little legs, like
yellow orange leg warmers.
Capture
by Fenna Candy
Capture the sweet,
sweet smell of the leaves,
hanging off, hanging off,
hanging off trees.
Feel the chill of the breeze
and take in the vibrance
of the the floweres and bees,
vibrance of, vibrance of
flowers and bees.
Hear, hear, hear the birds sing,
sing to the tune,
the tune of the wind.
Capture the sweet,
sweet smell of the leaves,
hanging off, hanging off,
hanging off trees.
An excerpt from Strawberries
By Audrey Song
My feet are tangled in the vines, swirling in the wind. Strawberries are growing. The leaves protect them from the
strong breeze and shade them from the
sun.... Tiny little strawberries are hiding from the real world. A little stump
is near the strawberry patch. When
I tap my magic wand (my pencil) it
makes a beautiful sound...nature.

Upcoming YWC Activities

July 28- Anthology cover contest
submissions due by 9:00 a.m.
July 29 - Anthology pieces due
by 9:00 a.m.
July 30 - Writing About Writing
contest entries due by 12:00 p.m.
July 30 - Sharing celebration (open
microphone) and fundraiser event at
Barnes and Noble in Encinitas at 6:00
p.m.
July 31 - Families are invited to classroom celebrations from 8:30 to 10:30
a.m. Camp ends at 10:30 a.m. on the
final day.