Well, welcome to Night Zookeeper,

The co-creators of Night Zookeeper stopped in Hamilton County on Wednesday to visit classrooms and meet students participating in the innovative, international creative writing program.

Night Zookeeper is an online writing platform designed to inspire elementary school students to create, write and illustrate their work. Students utilize grammar, spelling and composition skills through different skill exercises. Developed by educators, it encourages students to explore and experiment with writing styles.

Night Zookeeper’s British creators Pat Hutson and Sam Davidson are on a three-month tour of the United States in order to meet all the students who are using the program in their classrooms. The platform is also available to students worldwide who can exchange stories and drawings. The highlight of the academic year is Creative Writing Month which is held in the spring.

— Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Teresa Wood Northeast Hamilton Second Grader Zane explains his creation to Night Zookeeper co-founder Sam Davidson during Davidson’s visit to the Blairsburg school on Wednesday. Co-founder Paul Hutson visited the Webster City elementary schools. The Night Zookeeper is a creative writing and drawing platform that is available on the web worldwide. The British creators of the program began a three-month tour of the United States in September and are visiting participating classrooms and schools.

Co-creator Sam Davidson visited several Northeast Hamilton classrooms and worked with the 5th – 6th grade students who participated in the program last year in Laura Seiser’s reading classes. Davidson then introduced himself to the younger students.

The magic of Night Zookeeper is that the zoo is only occupied by animals that don’t exist anywhere else in the world, Davidson explained to Emily Sletten’s second grade students.

With that, the students’ imaginations were unleashed and they set to draw and write about their imaginary animal which also possesses super powers. Unicorns with the power to fly and tigers that can time travel, instantly came into being.

“From what I’ve seen, Night Zookeeper instills a love of writing with kids,” said NEH Principal Jessica Hector, who saw the program used in the Webster City Middle School last year. “Students love the writing. It builds on that love of writing and through practice, the students become better writers.”

The introduction of Night Zookeeper into the classrooms fits in with a new emphasis in Iowa education, said Hector.

The state is now putting a greater emphasis on writing, explained Hector. In fact, the Iowa Statewide Assessment Student Progress tests are replacing the Iowa Basis Skills Tests and a requirement in the baseline testing is a writing component.

In recent years, NEH’s curriculum has been emphasizing writing and the Night Zookeeper engages the students imaginations that helps them develop their writing skills, said Hector.

“It’s a cool online platform that the kids really like,” said Hector.