Yesterday was the last day of my bookworm camp! I am thrilled with how it turned out and I’ve already started planning for next year. The campers were wonderful and we had a lot of fun!
We spent yesterday finished Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead. We read for about 40 minutes before lunch and 40 minutes after lunch and you could hear a pin drop in the room. When we weren’t reading, we took some time to learn about Seurat and practice pointillism (so hard!). We also watched a clip from Sunday in the Park with George (because I am a Broadway geek and I love introducing kids to musical theater).
We also took some time to try some spying of our own. We went outside and sat on the college campus, taking notes on the comings and goings of the college’s students and visitors. It was a lot of fun!
We ended the day with an evaluation of the camp and I handed out a whole lot of ARCs and extra review copies I had received. It was like Christmas morning when I told the campers they could take home as many books as they wanted!
Feedback on the camp was FABULOUS. The only suggestion the campers had was to focus on four books and a read aloud next year. They suggested that I stick with three novels and add a graphic novel. Definitely something I am considering!
One of the campers sent me an email last night and I just want to share a few of her thoughts here. If you are considering running a bookworm camp next year, this should help solidify your decision!
First, ‘Book It’ camp was a fantastic experience for me. I especially like the way it was taught, or rather, not taught.You let us campers have open discussions on any and all topics, which was a pleasant surprise…our talks on the books evolved into debates regarding the ethics of GloFish being for sale in pet stores. In fact, in this camp not only did I learn about books and how they are made, but also the culture of Korea, the impending supervolcano apocalypse, whether or not it makes sense to have ‘dolphin jails’, how the first Disney movie was Snow White, and countless other things.I really appreciated how you…spoke to us as equals- listening to our opinions on subjects like they mattered, and not acting as though we had no idea what we were talking about just because of our age.Another great thing about the camp was ‘Liar and Spy‘… you have a talent for reading aloud!I wanted to express my gratitude for all you have done this week. Because of you I was able to experience the perfect camp for me, meet others who shared my interests, and even speak with an author!
Filed under: book camp | Tagged: bookworm camp, graphic novel, liar & spy, rebecca stead, seurat, spying |
The Reading Zone 
I have enjoyed reading your posts and am envious of the week you were able to share with middle-schoolers. Actually, you have inspired me to consider ways I might follow your model in developing a bookworm camp in my community. My granddaughter is an avid reader who sounds much like the young lady from day one–the one whose book was so rudely torn from her hands and tossed away like a rag. Kudos to you–you’ve inspired more people than you originally intended! Thanks for sharing!
Bookworm camp sounds amazing! I’m looking forward to checking out the books you’ve used with your campers–When You Reach Me is one of my favorite books to read aloud to students, so I’m excited to try Liar and Spy, and the other three books sound like they’d generate lots of great discussions, too. Thanks for being so generous about sharing your curriculum and your enthusiasm! I’m a middle school English teacher gearing up for the school year, and reading your posts this week has made me eager to get back in the classroom.
I am so impressed with your blog and your Bookworm camp sounds like a great idea! I am going to keep your blog bookmarked for future ideas in my new librarian role. =)
Thank you!
[…] You Reach Me is one of my all-time favorite read alouds. Sarah on “The Reading Zone” recommended Liar and Spy as a terrific read aloud (and shared some excellent activity suggestions which I plan to use), and as soon as I started the […]