Day 10, Session 2, Drama Writers

Today we enjoyed two practices before our guests arrived.  We handed out playbills so that our audience members would know in advance in what order our performances would occur.  


What fun!  These were our very own scripts and we did so well!  


When we all finished performing, we took a bow for our guests and thanked them for coming.  Then, we eagerly hurried to our snacks and beverages!  Drama is serious work, but so much fun!  

Day 10, Session 2, Author Adventures

Today we were eager to receive our guests for our final day celebration, although it was difficult to stop typing -- how we love our computer lab!


We each read at least one piece to our audience and we did a terrific job!  We had a visit from the Penn State Nittany Lion and we posed for pictures.   After we we finished our readings, we enjoyed some cookies, chips, and beverages.  We left quite ready for writing into the new school year!

Day 9, Session 2, Comic Strip Creations

Biographies, Synopsis, Photoshop touch up

Camper Spotlight: Today we finally finished out comics, everyone (...) was working real hard.

Day 9, Session 2, Drama Writers

Today we continued working on props for tomorrow's performance.  We worked together to write our playbill and took a group photo.  Haley brought in her computer and took headshots to include in our "Meet the Cast" section.  She worked hard to get the playbill typed just right.  Thank you, Haley! 

Also thank you to ALL campers!  You are stellar writers and performers who continue to work hard each day on your pieces, such as your monologues and scripts.  It will all come together beautifully .  We have two additional practices before the big event at 2:45 p.m.   No worries (even if we all have the jitters today).   ; )

And of course, thank you, Anna!  You have been such a help with last-minute changes, role playing, and artistry! 

Day 9, Session 2, Author Adventures

Today we explored different ways to generate writing ideas, such as using license plates to create stories.  Maybe we'd write about a vacation or what license plates we may see when we are around Dorney Park.  We played with numbers and letters from license plates.  For a Connecticut license plate, we wrote about 3 mummies in Egypt and how we'd never want to get Lost with them there! 

We read The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow, paintings by Wendell Minor.  In this picture book, a boy asks his mother "What is the seashore like?"  We noted delicious or juicy words in the book and then used our own describing words both before and after handling shells tucked in sand.  We found that after touching and examining the shells, our words were richer than when we had taken a quick look at them.  Sara was inspired to write about seashells in a poem that she shared with the class. 

Speaking of poems...Ms. Greenspan actually rapped a poem-- twice ( we begged).  It is called "School Daze Rap" that is in a book called Lunch Money and Other Poems about School.  She promised that if she does it again in the fall, she will wear rapper clothes. 

Finally, we spent additional time in the computer lab finishing and printing pieces that we want to share for Friday's event.  We are very excited!

Day 8, Session 2, Drama Writers

Today we practiced for the plays we are going to perform on Friday. We also practiced some monulogues too. The place were we practiced is the audortorium.  All the plays were very good! After we came up from the auditorium we made a bunch of props for all of our plays. It took a long time but it was definitely worth it. We made some awsome props.


Written and typed by Neil

Day 8, Session 2, Author Adventures

Today we explored our sense of smell! We smelled 3 different kinds of scents without knowing what they were. We cast our imaginary fishing lines into memory clouds .We filled each cloud with words that described what we smelled and what memories were attached to each scent. Then we each wrote about one memory.

We also discussed tall tales like Paul Bunyan and exaggerated expressions. Together our camp wrote a tall tale called Old Man Jenkins. We voted on everything in our tale like his name and how his parents had a problem because his hiccups kept causing tornadoes . It was a lot of fun!



Typed by a Drama Writer, Yousef.

Day 8, Session 2, Comic Strip Creations

Coloration, Digital Editing, Progress Toward Final Comics

Camper Spotlight: Today we played around with the programs Comiclife and Adobe Photoshop to collor and letter our comics. I finished a page, and then we played an activity where we drew pictures and people had to guess what they were. --Kiran

Day 7, Session 2, College Bound

Highlights: For our starter today, we wrote about what makes us unique as students and as individuals, in preparation for college admission essays. Then, some of us looked at college essay tips and samples, while those who wished to continued their creative writing. A Penn State admissions officer came and talked to us about the admissions process. The college essay group wrote our own college admission essays.

Camper Spotlight: Claire wrote, in response to an SAT prompt,
"On broader, more historic terms, if people simply accepted who they are and what they have, society would be at a standstill, not just individual lives. There would be no thinkers, philosophers, inventors, and scientists. Everyone would be content to play jacks and marbles as children, read under the light of a candle, and succumb to diseases like smallpox. The books would still say that the universe is geocentric, and the earth is flat. It is only due to the desire for better lives that human beings went from stone, to metal, to glass, to plastic."

Drama Writers, Session 2, Day 7

Today we went to the computer lab to finalize our scripts for our performance on Friday.  We discussed props and what is still needed.  We printed our materials and timed our performances.  So much collaboration! 

Invitations will go out today!

Day 7, Session 2, Author Adventures

We started watching Arthur to get ideas for our writing. Then we went outside to play with bubbles using them as speech bubbles.Then we came in and had snack.Then we read a story to help us start our writing.

Thanks to Brooke for typing this post!

Day 6, Session 2, Comic Strip Creations

Introduction to computer imaging applications, coloration, editing


Camper Spotlight: Brennan


We inked, edited, and finished our comics. We got to know Photoshop and Comic Life 2.0

Day 6, Session 2, College Bound Writers

Today, in our Writing course, we focused on SAT writings and prompts. 
Example: Do we benefit from learning about the flaws of people we admire and respect?

Camper Spotlight: Collin Geschwindt

Learning from your mistakes is always encouraged, but when a seemingly perfect role model decides to do something wrong or simple lies. We, as a society would try to make an example out of them, and sometimes might even run them out of town. When President Richard Nixon lied about Watergate, he was forever known for this, instead of his success. Flaws in humans is natrural, but when a superior leader decides to make a single mistake, peole rip into them about it.

Day 6, Session 2 Drama Writers

Today at camp, we saw the auditorium.  It was pretty cool.  We played a drama game based on our names.  We discussed what we are to bring in (thank you to those of you who brought in props!).  Until the end of the day, we worked on the computers for a good amount of time to work on our scripts!

Thanks to Neil and Yousef for working together to write this post!

Day 6, Session 2, Author Adventures

Today we continued role play with our child/parent paddles.  We discussed dialogue and created and decorated character disks.  Some were based on the Wild Things we created Friday.   Others were based on people, including ourselves. 

We were hard at work today in the computer room working on our pieces, getting ready for our guests on Friday!

Day 5, Session 2, Drama Writers

On Friday  we watched commercials.  We wrote scripts and worked on monologues.
We played charades with the Headbanz game.  When we finished working in the computer room, we shared our work. 

This post was typed by Divik. 
Thanks, Divik!

Day 5, Session 2, Author Adventures

Friday, we read Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and created our own silly monsters, which are posted on the wall.  Wait until you see them next Friday! We went to the computer lab and wrote about our wild things.  We also worked on stories.

Day 5, Session 2, Comic Strip Creations

Finish Line Drawings of Comics, Title Pages, Back Pages, Biographies

Camper Spotlight: Today we got down to work. It's hilarious watching everyone rush to finish their work.--Taha

Day 4, Session 2, Comic Strip Creations

Attention to detail, verbal and non-verbal expression, visual interpretations


Camper Spotlight: Willa

Today our focus was attention to detail. We started by writing a detailed description of a character, then giving it to someone else to draw the character. We worked on our comics, for the most part, after that, then played a game called "Something that is," and some people were a little too into the game.

Day 5, Session 2, College Bound

Today we wrote a review of our favorite or least favorite book/movie/musical/story etc. We generated lists of topics about which we could write persuasively, and learned how to avoid making logical fallacies in our writing.

Camper Spotlight: Jessica Rocchino

John Green’s first novel, Looking for Alaska, tells the story of a boy named Miles, who leaves his home in Florida and goes to a boarding school in Alabama. The book consists of two parts: before and after. “Before” appears very shallow - riddled with classes, parties, swearing, and various illegalities. “After” is what gives the book meaning and makes it heartbreaking and beautiful. The countdown from before to after is only noticeable in the beginning, and the event that it counts down to is extremely unexpected. The question throughout is how to “escape the labyrinth of suffering,” and it calls for readers to look for meaning in things that they normally don’t. The main characters study world religions - not to believe, but to find common things across cultures and try to understand how the world views death and suffering.

Day 3, Session 2, Comic Strip Creations

Inspiration, Story line development, Revisions

Camper Spotlight: Kiran
        
Today we were told how to flesh out our stories and what key elements to put in the beginning, middle, and end. We then worked on our comic book projects for the majority of the class, and at the end, we played jeopardy with a comics theme. I won. Yay!
   

Day 3, Session 2, College Bound Writers

Today, we focussed on the Domains of writing and how to incorportate them into our writing, in order to improve out work. We also worked on sentence branching, or how to add different words in a sentence where a blank is given.


Camper Spotlight: Fahim Mobin
    Of all the seasons, only two exist that do not involve blazing heat and humid days. Autumn and Winter. These two seasons aren’t like any of the others. Spring is colorful, this is true, but the humidity is sometimes unbearable. Summer is too hot for most people, and takes the humidity from Spring and brings it up at least ten thousand notches. Winter and Autumn on the other hand are beautiful, cool and refreshing. Autumn provides a broad spectrum of colored leaves, while Winter colors the night sky with a calm shade of pink that indicates that snow is to come.

Day 2, Session 2, Comic Strip Creations

Character Development, Developing Storyline, Thumbnails, Brainstorming

Camper Spotlight: Today we played Pictionary with movie titles and characters. The whole thing was completely hilarious!!! We had to do it with thumbnail sketches and couldn't use words. It was really fun! -Gretchen

Day 2, Session 2, College Bound Writers

Today, we started the day off with a writing prompt.  Write about a place where you have lived.  We then prewrote and we began drafting out the prompt.  When we finished our time allotted for our starter, we took time to think about people, places, events, things, and ideas to write about.  Then, we wrote about anything we wanted to.  After we wrote we wrapped up class by sharing parts of our stories.

Camper Spotlight: Taj Singh
 Here is a small part of my prompt from this morning:

My house on Stephens Road in Orwigsburg Pennsylvania was the first place I ever lived in and grew up on.  There are few houses around were I used to live; only two neighborhoods.  My old house is one of the few houses that is not in one of the two neighborhoods, making the area quiet and peaceful.  Everything dovetails and there are never any problems or disputes.  One of the reasons Stephens Road is so buttoned-up and placid is because a majority of the area is an immense tree farm and farmland.

Day 2, Session 2, Creative Composers

Going outside to listen for sounds at snack time. We wrote stories about sounds we like, are neutral about, and dislike.

Camper Spotlight: Elyse wrote a lovely story about being quiet for a whole day.

Day 1, Session 2, College Bound Writers

Highlights: We got to know each other a little bit today including what each person wanted to gain from the experience.  We created several six word memoirs and explored the writing process.  We did some pre-writing and shared with each other our different approaches.  We also created a list of cool-sounding words like scuttle, pungent, egress, and bodacious.

Camper Spotlight: Spotlight is on all eight campers today:  Claire, Collin, Fahim, Jessica, Katherine, Lexie, Rachael, and Taj.

Day 1, Session 2, Creative Composers

Highlights: We used pictures to inspire our writing today!

Camper Spotlight: Colin wrote an intense tale about a spy and missing computer documents!

Day 9, Creative Composers

We worked extensively in the lab conferences, revising, refining, and publishing our creative writing. There was alot of creative energy flowing in today in the Creative Composers Writing Workshop.

Camper Spotlight: Today, Julia and Alison worked on their stories that are connected to each other. Julia's character and Alison's character are best friends who attend school together.
Jennifer worked on her cat poems, who was inspired by her cat, Tyler.

Day 7, Wanna-Be Writers

We made dialogue and postcards. Also, we refreshed similes and metaphors.

Campers Spotlight: Nur shared her funny dialogue with me.

Day 7, Literacy Lab

Today we continued our Pirate Theme by writing a collaborative Class Pirate Adventure. We made pirate hats and then typed up our own Pirate Proviles. We played "pass the gold coin" ouside in the shade.


Camper's Spotlight:


Savannah's favorite camp was writing about the things she treasures most. 


Own enjoyed writing his story and the time he (as a pirate) went through a pond while on his trasure hunt adventure.

Day 7, Author Adventures

Our day began with some writing in which we used a diffferent point of view-that of a pencil. We wrote about our adventures of escaping from a pencil sharpener. Afterwards, we became poets and authored our own diamantes. Our morning finished with a few more writing pieces and then the computer lab.

Camper Spotlight:

Zachariah- "The diamante because it made me think hard."

Lucas- "I like the diamante because it is fun to draw in different shapes."

Day 7, Comedy Writers

Campers started the day by completing their original comedy sketches. Then it was practice, practice, practice! We practiced our character monologues and original comedy sketches. Characters are beginning to come alive. Please remember to practice and memorize scripts at home.

Campers Spotlight: William sang opera for us today and Ahbishek, Chloe, and Anika performed their skit which has a very demanding restaurant customer.

Day 6, Creative Composers

Today we enjoyed Writer's Circle and Author's Craft discussion.  We set writing workshop goals for developing creative writing that we started last week. 


Cijin worked on developing a strong introduction to her story about Rude Isabella by writing a character profile descriptive paragraph with lots of showing details and specific examples.  This is to help the reader imagine right at the start of the story just how rude Rude Isabella is and wonder what might happen in the story.

Day 6, Literacy Lab

Our theme today was all about pirates!


We read three cool books about pirates and learned lots of things.  We began developing a pirate adventure story, filled out a "Pirate Profile," and then made our own Treasure Map with places we really like.  


We went on a Pirate Treasure hunt, following clues throughout the campus.  We mapped our path and worked on sequencing in deciding what came first, second, third, etc.  


Camper highlights:
Pirate gold coins are Sam's favorite treasure!
Dominic's pirate's name is Captain Blue Seas!

Day 6, Robot Invasion

We enjoyed working on capture the flag program and building a new robot. 

Day 6, Comedy Writers

Wow!   What a busy day!  We were able to complete our "morning punchline" activity and watch some "So Random" skits for inspiration.  Campers will be practicing group skits and monologues all week.  Please be sure to take some time to practice at home!  


Campers are finishing up the writing of their original group sketches.  We can't wait to hear from them!


Camper spotlight:  
Gayatri is a very upset farmer and Laura is a hungry Canadian in their performance of the "The Cat."   Praneel presented his monologue as a spunky "Barney" fanatic.

Day 6, Author Adventures

We started off our Monday by reading and solving our riddles from Friday.  Some were easy, but others were very tricky!  We also started two new writing projects: an adventure story and a description of our animal/monster discoveries. 


Joy:  I like when we did the monster stories because I was creative.


Jasmine:  My favorite writing today is the monster pictures because it was like making a masterpiece!

Day 6, Wanna-Be Writers

Today we made an "I am" chart that will be shared on Friday.  We also made invitations using Wordle.  

We have a new student today, named Ghianna. Welcome!

Day 5 Creative Composers

Highlights: Today we learned about adding dialogue. The students worked in groups and created dialogue using their favorite movie characters. Of course the most popular was Harry Potter! We looked at the different ways to sue punctuation with dialogue next we learned about using senses details in our writing by closing our eyes and feeling, tasting, or smelling various items. We discussed the importance of showing the reader what it is like to be in our stories as if they are experiencing it along the way.

Camper Spotlight: Creative Composer Riki, says: I really liked the touching, smelling, and the eating lesson. I think it was interesting because it helped me put more details into my stories.

Day 5 Literacy Lab

Highlights: Today's theme was "Camping and Sharing a Story." We started the day by finishing the writing of our Ocean Facts on Sea Life Cut-outs and placed them in our classroom ocean. We wrote and drew about everything we knew about camping! We discovered that we all love to eat S'mores! Our fun collaborative game today was called "We're Going on a Bear Hunt." We listened to the song and watched the video as we all pretended to go on a class bear hunt. After going on the bear hunt, we made our own binoculars and went on a Penn State scavenger hunt! At the end of camp today, we sat around the "campfire" and shared our writings with one another.

Camper Spotlight: Braden liked making Cheetah binoculars and going on a bear hunt. Ava wrote about bats in the forest for our camping theme!

Day 5 Wanna-Be Writers

Highlights: We worked on pressing, blessing, and addressing eachothers' works for the anthology.

Camper Spotlight: We all tried to write a story with only 55 words! Wow, what a challenge that was!

Day 5 Author Adventures

Highlights: Today we practiced our descriptive writing by using our senses and writing a 5-lined poem called a cinquain. We also are preparing to trick our fellow campers through riddles.

Camper Spotlight: Teja said that her favorite part of today was writing riddles because they're hard to solve and your brain has to think a lot! Mackenzie said that she liked writing about her favorite season, winter.

Day 5 Comedy Writers

Highlights: We continue to practice our conventions every day by correcting the "Morning Punchline" jokes. Campers presented their character monologues to the group. We will be practicing all of next week to perfect our appearance movements, and voices. Finally, campers had a chance to continue brainstorming, in smaller groups, ideas for their own comedy sketches.

Camper Spotlight: Jasmine became a male character with a wonderful British accent and Haley S. turned herself into a 92-year-old granny who loves to read. Melena's character loves money and became a bank president!

Day 5 Robotics Camp

Highlights: Today we have been programming the robots we have created and have also created "funky" attachments to add on to the robot. We also had to complete the challenge that was presented to us this week, which was to have our robots following various lines.

Camper Spotlight: The campers had a great challenge racing their robot creations! It was quite the challenge to keep those robots on a straight line!

Day 4 Wanna-Be Writers

Highlights: Today we explored the world of inanimate objects. We wrote poems about our favorites and we wrote a poem about the Nittany Lion statue.

Camper Spotlight: Great Job, Lara, on your sneaker poem! It was fantastic!

Day 4 Creative Composers

Highlights: Today we continued to talk about developing characters in writing by using descriptive words, thoughts, and feelings of the characters in our fictional stories. We read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and created character trading cards. The trading cards focused on the personality and physical appearance of our characters. Some students sketched a picture of their main character, while others used Google Images to find a picture that reminded them of their character.

Camper Spotlight: (by Charlotte P.) Today we made trading cards for our characters. It helped me summarize my story. I liked how we read the The True Story of the Three Little Pigs because it helped me think about dialogue.

Day 4 Literacy Lab

Highlights: Today's theme was Ocean Explorers! We talked about fiction and non-fiction and became ocean explorers as we hunted for turtle eggs (with facts or stories) in shredded seaweed. We loved the story, Ocean Commotion, and used the facts in the book to create a classroom ocean to write our own summertime poems.


Camper Spotlight: Gia most enjoyed playing in the sand and writing a poem. Krish wrote about "wild coconuts and cold things."

Day 4 Comedy Writers

Highlights: We started our morning with our "Morning Punchline," an editing activity to practice using correct conventions. Campers had a lot of questions and great ideas about how to dress and act like their character for their monologues. Don't be surprised if they ask to bring items to use as props! Our theater game today was called "Look Up Dude;" a focusing exercise useful for getting a cast to function as a unit and for evaluating how well an ensemble is working. Finally, campers spent time typing in the computer lab and practicing, practicing, practicing their group skits and monologues!

Camper Spotlight: Lily and Haley B. were the winners of each of our two games of "Look Up Dude!" Alex and Jazzy performed their "Insurance Salesman" skit for the group. It was hilarious!

Day 4 Author Adventures

Highlights: We wrote about Bubble Adventures and started working on sensory writing. We used a chocolate kiss as our inspiration.

Camper Spotlight: Sam's favorite part of Author Adventures today was going outside adn blowing bubbles to see what it would be like to be a bubble!

Welcome!

It's official.  Camps are well underway and campus is buzzing with student writers of all ages.

Be sure to check this blog each day for a peek into the day's activities!