TAMPA, Fla. — Ashley Dull is a teacher at Roosevelt Elementary School. She pours her heart and soul into the job. She also pours a lot of her own cash into her Tampa classroom, too.
“I’d like to keep doing so,” Dull says. “So I thought I’d make some extra money this summer starting this program.”
Her program is “Camp Classroom.” It is a fun relaxed online reading club for rising 4th and 5th grade students in the Tampa Bay area.
The camps are two weeks in length. Each session is one hour long and held Mondays through Thursdays via Zoom.
On this day a handful of students are reading Operation Frog Effect by California writer Sarah Scheerger. A little later, Scheerger herself will Zoom in to take questions from the kids. It is a very cool scene.
Dull initially thought Camp Classroom would be more popular with parents than kids. After all, the main purpose is to keep kids learning and prepping for the next grade.
In other words, avoiding that infamous “summer slide.”
“I’ve been so surprised about the conversations we’re having here,” says Dull.
This is a weird summer after all. During one session, all the kids agreed reading in a group is way better than reading alone in their room. There has been more than enough of that.
For Camp Classroom fees, registration and more, visit campclassroom.mystrikingly.com.
