In Readers and Writers in the Garden, children build a love of reading and find joy in writing through authentic, hands-on garden activities. Like our popular summer camp, this class is designed for students who would benefit from an extra boost in reading and writing in a fun, camp-like environment.

RWIG word scientists develop critical literacy skills in:
- reading and understanding text
- enjoying text and using it for a purpose
- building oral and print vocabulary
- making connections between spelling and meaning
- writing independently and fluently

Students apply scientific practices to studying language as well as the natural world by:
- observing closely
- recording data
- making predictions
- comparing evidence to hypotheses

Children experience the power of literacy in their own lives through engaging, hands-on garden activities that require reading and writing, such as:
- reading about the best soil conditions for earthworms, and then recording data from a wormbin over time
- documenting similarities and differences in culinary herbs, choosing adjectives to most precisely capture their observations

Hesitant readers and writers thrive in this small group environment, becoming more confident through connections with their learning in school. Curriculum is drawn from the Readers and Writers Workshop approaches of Columbia University, as well as Structured Word Inquiry and general research-based principles for systematic, structured reading instruction.