Frontier College’s Summer Reading Tent once again is in action around the Downtown Eastside this summer. Tent Coordinators, Katie Kiwanuka and Sharnelle Jenkins-Thompson, explained that the aim of the Reading Tent is to provide fun opportunities for children -who may otherwise not have access to books, reading,and word activities - to develop their literacy skills. Specifically, the Reading Tent brings with it a spread of games mixed with engaging literacy activities around such themes as dinosaurs, space, Vancouver, travel, insects,and plants.It’s first stop in the community was at Woodland Park on July 5th. Katie and Sharnelle spent time under the tent with 15 campers (ages 6-12) from the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre. The theme for the day was ‘Vancouver’ and campers were invited to share where their favorite place in Vancouver was. The aquarium, PNE, and “my home” were some of the places named by the children.
After a moving-around game out on the grass, campers played some ‘Vancouver Bingo’ under the canopy of the tent. Many of the older campers volunteered to read the text on the Bingo sheet aloud (e.g. “Someone who has been in Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Gardens”). Through this activity, the children were able to practice both their counting and reading skills.Some of the younger campers drew pictures showing their favorite place in Vancouver and wrote a few words about it. One camper drew a picture of his grandmother’s house and wrote “My grandma’s house is fun”. During the activity, another camper excitedly exclaimed: “We usually don’t ever write at Day Camp!”
Katie believes that having the tent outside in the park allows campers the freedom to move about and participate in the literacy activities as they feel comfortable. The program also provides campers with healthy snacks and prizes such as pencils, erasers, mini-notebooks, and bubbles.
The Reading Tent will once again return to Woodland Park to spend time with campers from the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre several more times this summer. At the end of August, campers will be presented with their own book to take home with them.
