Summer Programs
Summer Writing Foundations: Keyboarding and Written Expression Workshops, Grades 4–12
Our summer writing programs are aligned with Canadian elementary and secondary curriculum expectations and integrate instruction on using assistive technology to support writing and learning. To ensure meaningful progress, students select one or two areas of writing skill to focus on over the summer. Each program is intentionally designed to build depth, confidence, and mastery in a specific skill. Families who wish for their child to develop multiple writing skills are welcome to enrol in more than one program.
Each writing skill workshop runs for four weeks, three times a week for 30 minutes, for a total of six hours of programming.
Crafting Strong Sentences:
This summer program helps students master the building blocks of effective writing. Through engaging and interactive lessons, students learn to identify and construct complete sentences, avoid fragments and run-ons, and recognize different sentence types. They will explore techniques for expanding sentences, creating smooth transitions, and strategies to craft clear and compelling topic sentences. By the end of the program, students will have enhanced their ability to write coherent paragraphs with strong opening and closing sentences, setting a solid foundation for advanced writing.
From Ideas to Strong Paragraphs:
This program helps students develop confidence and skill in writing clear, focused, and well-structured paragraphs and compositions. Students will learn strategies to organize their ideas effectively, build persuasive and analytical arguments, and plan multi-paragraph writing with clarity and coherence. By the end of the program, participants will have a deeper understanding of how to craft thoughtful, polished writing that communicates their ideas with impact.
Writing Made Visible, From Ideas to Expression:
This program helps students turn their thoughts into clear, organized writing. Through guided practice, students will build confidence in generating ideas, planning and drafting their work, and setting goals to produce writing that is focused, coherent, and engaging.
Mastering the Mechanics:
This program helps students strengthen the technical foundation of their writing, focusing on the essential mechanics that make writing clear and effective. Students will build skills in using punctuation correctly, understanding how periods, commas, question marks, and other marks guide meaning, clarify ideas, and help readers follow their writing. By developing these skills, students gain confidence in producing polished and readable work.
Storytelling: Crafting Compelling Narratives:
This program helps students develop the skills to plan, structure, and write engaging stories. Through guided instruction, students learn how to organize ideas, incorporate essential narrative elements, and create stories that capture the reader’s interest. The program also introduces strategies to avoid common pitfalls in storytelling, helping students build confidence in expressing their imagination across a variety of genres, forms, and audiences.
Summarizing with Purpose:
This program helps students strengthen their reading comprehension and writing skills by learning to analyze and synthesize information from multiple sources. Through guided practice, students will develop strategies to analyze grade-level appropriate texts and provide concise and accurate responses to questions. The program also supports students in building self-regulation skills and confidence in summarizing and responding thoughtfully to a variety of texts.
Responsible Use of AI:
This program helps students explore how artificial intelligence, including tools like ChatGPT and Claude, can support writing and learning. Students will develop strategies to use AI responsibly, critically evaluate its outputs, and ensure accuracy and originality in their work. The program also addresses ethical considerations and provides guidance for students with learning differences on leveraging AI to enhance their writing skills and creative process.
Unlocking Word Power:
This program helps students strengthen their vocabulary and word knowledge by exploring the building blocks of language. Students will develop strategies to understand unfamiliar words, expand their vocabulary, and confidently apply word-formation rules to enhance their writing and communication.
Mastering Different Forms of Writing:
This program helps students understand and apply the major types of writing used across school subjects (compare/contrast, narrative, descriptive, opinion/argumentative). Through structured, research-informed strategies, students learn how to plan, organize, and produce clear writing for a variety of purposes and tasks. By building independence and confidence, the program supports students in transferring these skills to grade appropriate writing assignments across the curriculum.
Evaluating, Revising, and Editing for Stronger Writing:
This program helps students develop the skills needed to improve their writing through thoughtful evaluation, revision, and editing. Students learn how to assess their work for clarity, organization, and effectiveness, while keeping purpose and audience in mind. Through guided practice and feedback, the program builds critical reading, self-reflection, and self-regulation skills that support stronger writing for assignments and academic tasks.