How might we help reverse the ‘summer slide’ in literacy skills of first and second graders?
Open Book Adventures Summer Camp is a free, three-day long literacy mentorship camp experience for underserved youth in the greater Boise area. 30 little buddies were paired one-on-one with a high school Adventure Guide for a jam packed camp exploring the outside world and practicing skills of reading, writing, penmanship, phonetics, and building a love of stories.
Campers enjoyed field trips to the Boise Watershed, JUMP, the Library! and Zoo Boise. Each field trip corresponded to vocabulary building activities and the practice of finding words “in the wild.”
One Stone Adventure Guides gained skills in problem solving, leadership, creativity, and all gained valuable mentorship experience. The Open Book Adventures Camp planning team learned how to manage themselves and their peers, how to engage young learners in literacy activities, and why literacy is such an important area of growth. Mostly, high school Adventure Guides remembered what it was like to fall in love with reading and stories, by spending afternoons sprawled out on blankets surrounded by books and dreaming up their own creative spin on classic fairy tales.
Outcomes:
100% of parents said they would recommend OBA Summer Camp to a friend or family member
100% of parents reported their child’s favorite activity was spending time with their high school Adventure Guide
From OBA Adventure Guides:
“I learned that every kid is different so I'll take that with me. The knowledge that you just have to be patient because different kids can be at different levels.”
“I learned from my buddy to stick with hard things. She had a really hard time with reading and writing but she put a lot of effort into improving.”
The top skills OBA Guides reported practicing during OBA Camp: being a leader, communicating with children, and acting with empathy.
From OBA Parents:
“Greta loved her one-to-one experience with Franny. She really enjoyed the friendship she established with her, which is very special and positively enriched the entire experience and all the activities.”
“My son enjoyed teaching his adventure guide, Adam, all about his love for reptiles when they were at the zoo.”
“I didn’t know much about One Stone before, but am thoroughly grateful for the opportunity to learn more about it through our daughter’s experience with Open Book Adventure Camp. Having lunch and snacks provided and that there was no cost is wonderful for so many in our community. It was a great experience for our daughter, who is the youngest of three kids with two older brothers, to have ‘her own thing’ and a positive role model.”
