If your middle schoolers gets really inspired after participating in the Teen Poetry Contest in my earlier post, then NC State University has a summer camp that might be right up their alley. The Young Writers' Workshop, sponsored by the NC State College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of English, is a two-week, nonresidential summer camp with daily afternoon activities to help students in late elementary and middle school to develop their creative writing abilities.
The students spend two and a half hours on campus each afternoon with lessons on four different tracks: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and drama (each students lists their preferences, and are placed in two different areas). Established professional writers, most of whom also teach at area colleges or high schools, give lectures, assign writing activities, put students into small groups to discuss or create something together, or work with students one-on-one on their writing.
The students-to-teacher is kept low (a maximum of 12 students per instructor) to assure that all writers get individual attention. The teen writers get instruction in such creative writing components as plot, character development, conflict, action, and more. On the final day, students invite friends and families to celebrate the creativity of the group through a public reading of the work they have produced; they also get to take home a journal of work created by themselves and their peers.
The Teen Writers' Workshop costs $250, and is open to rising 4th through 8th graders. They are now accepting applications, which require students to express what they hope to achieve through their participation as well as to submit up to two pages of their current creative writing. The deadline for applying is Monday, June 3.
For more information, check out their website or contact the program director, Laura Giovanelli, at lbgiovan@ncsu.edu.
Showing posts with label summer camp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer camp. Show all posts
Monday, April 1, 2013
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
MathPath: A Summer Camp for Middle School Mathematicians
Even though it is only February, it is time to be thinking about summer camps and other activities. Some of the best ones in our area fill up before spring, so you have to apply early to get your child into some of the most popular summer programs.
If you have a middle school child who is gifted in math, you might be interested in MathPath. This is a national program that provides a 4-week residential math education program at a college campus for students aged 11-14 who show outstanding interest and ability in math. According to the website, it is unique in the US for providing advanced mathematics summer camp activities geared towards middle school students.
The daily schedule at MathPath contains 3 all-inclusive sessions--1 on math history, 1 on some mathematical topic, and 1 analyzing solutions to test questions. Then each student choose 2 breakout courses per day (each breakout course runs for 1 week). This allows students to spend time on the topics and levels that are appropriate to each of them. Finally, there is unstructured time for informal activities, including the Problem of the Day (prizes available!), talking with staff or guest lecturers, working on interesting problems, or math games.
Each year the program is held at a college campus, which helps prepare students for their postsecondary studies. This year, the camp will take place at Colorado College in Colorado Spring, CO, from June 26-July 24, 2011.
The cost for the entire camp is $4,500, which I think is reasonable for a 4 week residential camp of this nature, but is still a good chunk of change. However, there are both merit-based and needs-based scholarships available.
While this is not my arena of expertise--I was an Arts and Humanities gal, not a Math and Sciences woman--people in the math field that I respect say this is a good program. And while I'm not an expert, it seems pretty unique for this age. So if you have an 11-14 year old math geek (and I mean that in a good way), then you should at least check it out.
If you have a middle school child who is gifted in math, you might be interested in MathPath. This is a national program that provides a 4-week residential math education program at a college campus for students aged 11-14 who show outstanding interest and ability in math. According to the website, it is unique in the US for providing advanced mathematics summer camp activities geared towards middle school students.
The daily schedule at MathPath contains 3 all-inclusive sessions--1 on math history, 1 on some mathematical topic, and 1 analyzing solutions to test questions. Then each student choose 2 breakout courses per day (each breakout course runs for 1 week). This allows students to spend time on the topics and levels that are appropriate to each of them. Finally, there is unstructured time for informal activities, including the Problem of the Day (prizes available!), talking with staff or guest lecturers, working on interesting problems, or math games.
Each year the program is held at a college campus, which helps prepare students for their postsecondary studies. This year, the camp will take place at Colorado College in Colorado Spring, CO, from June 26-July 24, 2011.
The cost for the entire camp is $4,500, which I think is reasonable for a 4 week residential camp of this nature, but is still a good chunk of change. However, there are both merit-based and needs-based scholarships available.
While this is not my arena of expertise--I was an Arts and Humanities gal, not a Math and Sciences woman--people in the math field that I respect say this is a good program. And while I'm not an expert, it seems pretty unique for this age. So if you have an 11-14 year old math geek (and I mean that in a good way), then you should at least check it out.
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