Kids’ writing camp planned for June at Wilder Elementary

Writers in the Schools’ Creative Writing Camp is coming to Pearland for the first time. Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary School will host the camp, which will focus on imagination and storytelling.

Some Pearland-area children this June may find themselves visiting outer space, traveling back to prehistoric days, or maybe, reliving some of their favorite memories.

There’s no telling where the students’ journeys will take them when they participate in Writers in the Schools’ Creative Writing Camp, WITS Executive Director Robin Reagler said. The camp, offered in partnership with Rice University’s School Literacy and Culture program, is coming to Pearland for the first time this year.

“A lot of camps that children have a chance to go to are great,” Reagler said. “One of the neat things about our camps is they’re taught by professional writers and excellent teachers. I really don’t know of a better experience for children.”

A camp devoted to writing may not sound like a child’s summer dream at first, but the program isn’t about school assignments and stress, it’s about imagination and storytelling, Reagler said.

“Creativity is a thing that’s really important in children’s lives. This is a chance to tell their stories and make up other worlds.

“We bring in books that are funny and have

the children act them out. They act out their own stories, too, and they do skits. It just comes to life for them.”

Pearland’s camp host, Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary School in the Alvin Independent School District, already has seen WITS in action.

The nonprofit organization has sent teams to work with the school’s second grade students last school year and again this school year.

Principal Aeniqua Flowers contributed school budget money to pay for the visits, combined with proceeds from the school book fair donated by librarian Sheri Howard.

Second grade is when students first learn the fundamentals of writing, Flowers said, and she and Howard looked to the WITS visits to build up students’ confidence and enthusiasm, along with their basic skills.

“We had such good feedback from the parents, and the children loved it,” Flowers said.

“The children’s published work at the end blew me away. It’s a fabulous program.”

When Flowers approached WITS about delivering more programming to the school, WITS offered to bring its summer camp there.

The timing was perfect, Reagler said. The camp got its start within Houston’s Interstate 610 Loop.

As part of the program’s growth plan, WITS brought the camp to Sugar Land last summer and planned to introduce it to the growing Pearland area this summer.

Creative Writing Camp, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, is divided by grade level.

“Storytellers,” grades kindergarten through two, delve into creative play, reading, dictation, journaling and independent writing.

“Writers,” in grades 3-5, write stories, essays, poems and plays and do daily exercises designed to teach literary techniques.

The “Inventors” in grades 6-8, experience literary genres in a supportive writing environment.

And the “Authors” in grades 9-12 experiment with genres and emerging art forms to help them excel at advanced writing.

From what Flowers has seen at Wilder, children respond well to the WITS teams and their approach.

“They work with a variety of topics, and the props they bring are real,” Flowers said. “I love the interaction they have with the students.”

While Wilder Elementary will be hosting WITS’ summer camp, the program has been promoted for all elementary school students (K-6) within Alvin Independent School District and the Pearland area as a whole.

Sessions will run 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, June 15-25 at Wilder, 2225 Kingsley Drive.

Families pay $495 for the first child and $445 for siblings.

In Pearland, WITS has agreed to sponsor five students selected by the Wilder administration.

Creative Writing Camp is one of several Houstonarea writing camps offered by WITS. Additional options include:

University of Houston Downtown will host oneweek writing camps in June and July at locations throughout Houston.

The cost is $260 per person, per session.

Discovery Green will host free Saturday morning creative writing programs through June.

Duchesne Academy will host two-week writing camps in June and July. The cost is to be announced.

WITS may announce additional camp programs as well.

For more information, visit www.witshouston.org or call 713-523-3877.