Kaija Johnson Heads Youth Programming at Write On

Remember those teachers who made you love anything you were learning, believed in you, supported you, accepted nothing but your best and made you feel excited to go to school? Kaija Johnson, Write On, Door County’s Youth Program Coordinator for this summer’s classes for elementary-aged children and teens, is just such a teacher.

Kaija, daughter of restaurant owners Kris and JJ Johnson, grew up in Sister Bay and attended Gibraltar Schools in Fish Creek. Following graduation from the University of Wisconsin – LaCrosse, where she earned her teaching degree, she spent time working in the Dominican Republic organizing art and English classes for disadvantaged youth. She returned to Door County to teach fifth grade at Gibraltar Schools where she was involved in starting a fifth grade after-school writing club that helped start Write On’s programming.

Kaija took part in a summer writing program at Columbia University’s Teachers College led by Lucy Calkins, author of many well-regarded writing resources. She looks forward to teaching children to write with love as well as to develop a love of reading and writing.

She is now a fourth grade teacher in the Appleton Area School District at Janet Berry Elementary School. She will be in Door County through the summer and is excited to play a more involved role with Write On. Kaija will lead the writing center’s free family activities, such as Walk in the Words and Stories Under the Stars, as well as classes for young children, including Traveling Trolley Tales and All Weather Poems. For a complete list of activities for children, teens, and adults, visit writeondoorcounty.org.