Elementary Writing Conference 2022

Some students from the Howard Suamico School District enjoyed a day of learning at the beautiful Brown County Stem Innovation Center. The goal of the writing conference was to provide young, aspiring and talented writers a chance to engage in a day of enrichment where they could participate in different types of writing. The students were also able to connect socially with students who have similar interests from other districts. This one day writing conference was sponsored in part by the CESA 7 Gifted and Talented Consortium.

The students had a little taste of college life. Throughout the day, they rotated between four stations in UWGB's Innovation Center. Some of these stations were even taught by professors. UWGB students continued to take their classes in the building in adjacent rooms. In addition, the elementary students toured part of the beautiful UWGB campus.

JOURNAL CREATION

The journal creation station was led by Chuck Rybek, a Professor of English and Humanities at UWGB and Author. Prior to the field trip, all of the students read the book, One Word, with their teacher. Then, they choose the "one word" they would like to live by. Each individual student's "one word" was etched onto a wood journal cover using one of the amazing machines at the Innovation Center. Students assembled their very own unique journal using hardware and hot glue.

JOURNAL WRITING TECHNIQUES

Students completed a variety of journal writing techniques with Rebecca Meacham, Professor of English at UWGB and Author. These techniques emerged the students in their writing and taught them how to generate ideas when you have "writers block."

STORYTELLING CREATIVITY SCRIMMAGE

The Storytelling Creativity Scrimmage was facilitated by Dennis Rockhill, Jedi Maker and Mindset Master for the Einstein Project. He guided the students through interactive and sometimes hysterical creative writing experiences.

What is this half octopus-half monster, you may be asking? This was a creation from one of the creativity exercises. Half of the students in the group drew the top of a monster, while the other half of the students drew the bottom of a monster. Students at the same table were under the assumption that they were putting their monster top and bottom together, however, there was a twist and a random swap of monster tops and bottoms. Then, the students wrote a story about their monster.

SENSORY LANGUAGE IN NATURE

Kelly Koller, Howard Suamico School District Technology Integration Specialist, taught the students how to dig deeper into their writing skills through the use of sensory language. First, the students met in a classroom to discuss different types of sensory language. Then, they headed out to experience their senses at work outside. Students become one with nature as they recorded what they heard, saw, felt, and smelled. Such a powerful experience!

ENJOYING THE BEAUTIFUL UWGB CAMPUS

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