What Does a Day Look Like at Redwood's Immersive Structured Literacy Summer Camp?

“I didn’t know a reading camp could be fun, but I have fun here!” - Redwood Summer Camper, 2023

Redwood has hosted summer programming for years – a delightful, doesn’t-feel-like-school way to make new friends, build foundational literacy skills, and prevent the academic losses of the worrisome “summer slide.” This year, for the first time, we’re offering a full-day literacy intensive summer camp – on Lake Michigan! This is our seventh summer. Every year it gets a bit sweeter and more successful. 

Redwood’s Mantra

One of Redwood’s mantras is, “We are always learning and growing.” We’re constantly getting better and better at what we do. We ask the same of our students, and this summer intensive will be an excellent opportunity to build upon the school year’s gains or launch their literacy instruction for the first time. All while having a bunch of fun.

Designed for Success

Housed at the Redwood Day School in Edgewater, the summer intensive is designed for young folks with dyslexia who are significantly behind in their reading skills. If your child is struggling in school – perhaps there’s a new IEP, maybe a teacher-recommended reading tutoring over the summer – then this literacy intensive will be a powerful way to close that gap. Or perhaps your child has only recently been diagnosed with dyslexia and doesn’t know any other kids who struggle in the same way. This summer camp is an opportunity to normalize the struggle, learning alongside other students whose brains are similarly gifted and similarly strained by the written word. 

Morning Academic Interventions

Every day will include a morning full of engaging, evidence-based academic intervention around all things literacy. Students will get 90 minutes of the Wilson Reading System®, which focuses primarily on the word recognition side of things: accurate decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) which, with applied practice and immediate error correction, leads to fluent reading and strengthens comprehension. Additionally, students will get 90 minutes of Writing Our World™, which focuses on vocabulary acquisition, background knowledge building, written expression development, language semantics, and assistive technology. This comprehensive approach ensures that students make significant progress across the board, building all the literacy skills that make us confident and independent readers and writers.

Afternoon Enrichment Programs

After an hour-long lunch and recess break on the beach of Lake Michigan, students will transition to an afternoon enrichment program with a different focus each week: 

Week 1

At art camp with Megan Hamm, the art instructor at Redwood Day School, your kids will explore various art forms, culminating with an art show for parents at the end of the week. Megan taught for many years as a public school art teacher and has extensive experience working with students with dyslexia.

Week 2

During music enrichment, students will learn from two professional musicians. Joe George is an Emmy nominated film scorer and founder of a Chicago music venue, The Red Room. He’ll be leading an electric guitar workshop in which students learn to use various pedals to achieve different sounds. Michael Austin is an Irish drummer who teaches at the legendary Old Town School of Folk Music and performs all over Chicago. He’ll be teaching your kids how to play percussion on a bodhrán, a traditional Irish drum. 

Week 3

On the third week, Kait Feriante, founder and CEO of Redwood, will lead a business fair. Students will learn how to build a small, profitable business and walk away with a plan they can actually execute on. Kait is an experienced entrepreneur and founder of several small businesses. She’ll also be bringing in other Chicago business owners to give feedback, encouragement, and notes to students on their new business ideas.

Week 4

The fourth week will be STEM week, led by Erin Machemer, a beloved Redwood Day instructor. Coming with years of experience teaching STEM in the public school system, as well as extensive experience educating students with dyslexia at Redwood Day, Erin will be designing a robust week that culminates in a STEM fair that parents can attend on Friday afternoon before pick up. 

Week 5

For the fifth week, we’re bringing in AYSO to run a soccer camp. Regardless of your child’s skill level, they will receive fun and explicit soccer instruction, learning teamwork and building technical soccer skills while getting a lot of movement in – both in the gym and out on the beach. Growing up in Albania, Kait spent hours playing soccer out in the alley with the neighborhood kids – one of her favorite childhood memories. We’re so excited to have AYSO bringing a structured soccer camp to Redwood students!

Week 6

For the final week, Shaina Toledo, local Chicago actor and intervention specialist at Redwood Literacy, will be leading your kids in a filmmaking class. Each group will write, direct, rehearse, film, and edit their own one-minute microfilm, inspired by the Dare To Fail Film Festival in Nashville, TN. On Friday afternoon, we’ll host a very special film screening for parents to attend before pick up. 

End of Summer Deliverables

At the end of the summer, your student will walk away with a progress report that outlines all of their academic progress over the course of the six-week intervention, as well as recommendations for future instruction. Last summer, we ran a half-day version of this camp in partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education and UIC, and we saw incredible gains in our students’ reading and writing skills. This year, we are thrilled to offer our flagship half-day program at Alcuin Montessori School in Oak Park as well as introduce this exciting full-day program at the Redwood Day School location. 

These are special programs with limited seats, so sign up soon – we hope we get to meet your child and partner with you to support them in their academic and social-emotional journey. Specialized, intensive programs like this are pricey to put together, but we’re working hard to secure financial aid options. 

It’s going to be a great summer of learning new skills, making new friends, and building new confidence. Also, kicking a soccer ball around on the beach and shredding on guitar with some wicked distortion. It’s an honor to serve your children, and our service this summer will be the best it’s ever been. See you there.

Enroll your child in the Immersive Structure Literacy Summer Camp now!