A fun week of camp-style writing classes for elementary/middle students taught by experienced, credentialed teachers. Teachers demonstrate techniques and confer with young writers during workshops.

Courses Offered at Cumberland in 2019

3rd Grade: Writer's Playground
Love writing? Fantastic! Hate writing? No problem! The aim of this workshop is to instill joy in the writing process for all students. We will play writing games and provide students with mini-lessons across a variety of genres, including fiction, poetry, graphic fiction, and informational writing. Come have fun with us and leave bursting with creativity and craft.

4th Grade: Write Your Passion (And Get Better for School at the Same Time)
Writers write better when they write about what they love. What do you love to do? What are you already an expert on? Come write about your passion, and learn fun tools you can use to make all your writing even better.

5th Grade: Superheroes 101: Create Your Own Graphic Novel
Heroes are everywhere-- lighting up the screen, filling up the page, even standing out in real life. In this workshop you will create an original story about the adventures of a courageous figure and transform it into a graphic novel you can share. You’ll be prepared to write your first draft by examining mentor texts, followed by brainstorming and discussing ideas. Then, you’ll revise and publish your graphic novel.

6th Grade: Dancing with Minotaurs
This workshop uses poetry, short stories, one act plays, myths, and legends for students to explore creative writing. It culminates in the production of an illustrated myth created by students.

7th Grade: Adventures in Visual Storytelling
Do you love reading graphic novels? Do comics spark your creativity? Do you take photos whenever you can? Join this class to create a visual component to your stories or to tell a story strictly through visuals. This class will include experiencing and analyzing visual art; time to write and create visual art; discussion and feedback from peers and instructor; and direct instruction in both your writing and art. If you are a novice artist, do not fear—there will be many options available for all levels of writers and visual artists.

8th Grade: All Stories Are True! (Sort of)
What's your story? We'll use creative and unique methods to come up with old and new ideas for stories, poems, plays and cartoons. We'll experiment with different ways to tell and share stories through theatre and the power of our voices.