Dog Ears Bookstore will once again offer free summer programming for local students. The week-long camps are designed to help build reading and writing skills, as well as comprehensive skills that target the needs for each specific grade level. Throughout the camps, participants will learn helpful tips, skills and strategies that will carry across all subject areas and transition into the NYS Common Core Curriculum. However, lessons and activities will be fun, interactive and hands-on and will utilize multiple methods of instruction to meet the varied learning styles.
Sign-ups will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 2 at Dog Ears Bookstore.
All sessions will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and are limited to 20 students per camp. Please note “entering grade” for the 2026-27 school year. There are no exceptions as camp lessons are aligned with grade level expectations.
• July 6-10, students entering grades 4-6
• July 13-17, students entering grades 2-3
• July 20-24, Camp Kindness for students entering grades 6-8
• July 27-31, students entering grades 4-6
• Aug. 3-7, students entering grades 2-3
• Aug. 10-14, students entering grades 7-8
• Aug. 17-21, Camp Kindness for students entering grades 6-8
Please note that there are three different types of camps and that each participant can sign up for only one.
Camp Kindness participants will plan and take part in fun service projects in the community and then journal about their experiences. This is also an opportunity for students to meet community service hour requirements.
Camps for the youngest participants are open to children of all reading and writing levels and will consist of morning activities which include — but are not limited to — music, sports, animals, drama, literature, arts, community awareness and other topics. Students should bring their own bagged lunch (or lunches will be available for purchase at Dog Ears Café) each day. After lunch, participants will break into small groups to reflect upon, write about, and share thoughts about their morning experiences and achievements.
The camps for the two older groups will be slightly different. Participants will be introduced to “speed book dating” and literature circles to broaden the scope and exposure to different types of literary genres, styles, influences, authors and cultures. Different forms of writing, along with the processes that go into each one, will also be explored. Youth in the 7th and 8th grade camp will participate in Writer’s Workshops that will be based on a pre-chosen novel. Students should bring their own bagged lunch (or lunches will be available for purchase at Dog Ears Café) each day.
All facilitators that plan and teach all camps are New York State certified. All supplies and portfolios for writing pieces will be provided.
Camps will be held at Dog Ears Bookstore, which is located at 688 Abbott Road, Buffalo, near Mercy Hospital. Sessions will be held upstairs of the bookstore (enter through the front entrance). Adults must be mindful of the drop-off and pick-up times and are welcome to wait for their children at the end of the day in the café, which will be open for food and beverage purchases. All students must be signed in and out of camp each day by an adult.
Sign-ups will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 2 at Dog Ears Bookstore. No sign-ups will be taken over the phone. Children can register for one camp only and parents and grandparents can only register their own children. (I.E. you cannot register multiple children on behalf of other families.)
Pre-registration is required and participants are expected to attend the entire week that they are signed up for. Each registered participant must commit to attending all five days.
The free camps are made possible through funding by Erie County Youth Services and The Office of South District Council Member Christopher P. Scanlon. For additional information regarding the camps, please contact Tom McDonnell at tom@enlightenthedog.org.
Evening sessions for students entering grades 9 to 12, to help with required reading and reading skills, will also be offered this summer. Information will be released soon. Please check the Dog Ears Facebook page for updates, or e-mail Tom at tom@enlightenthedog.org.
