Slackwood teachers Erin Cook and Heather Ramirez read bedtime stories to students during Family Literacy Night while parents meet separately and learn about literacy development on March 21, 2014.
Slackwood Elementary School kicked off its Family Literacy Night series with bedtime stories on March 21.
While students listed to their favorite stories read aloud by teachers, parents participated in an open conversation about what literacy means to them.
Library media assistant Kathy Saretzky, language arts support teachers Pam DeRiso and Lisa Kapp and first grade teacher Mary Ellen Wallauer led the parent session which focused on ways to help support parents’ efforts to help their children become lifelong readers and learners.
The goal of Slackwood’s Family Literacy Night series is to encourage parents and their children to read together, read forever. To support this philosophy, the school partnered with the Family and Community Engagement division of Scholastic and tailored the kick-off evening to reflect a true partnership.
Slackwood staff researched what its families are already doing, what they’re struggling with, and how the school can assist home efforts.
The conversation included the importance of reading aloud from birth as well as a discussion of literacy development stages and how parents can encourage all of it.
Additionally the group explored Dog Ears, Slackwood’s new literacy newsletter.
Slackwood launched its new Family Literacy Corner on its website the same evening. With a few clicks, families now have access to research-based sites, links, videos and book lists for their child. There are links to school, district and community-based literacy events. Included are highlights from within Slackwood classrooms and timely articles, tips and suggestions focused on early literacy development.
The next Family Literacy Night is scheduled for the end of May and will set the stage for summer reading, delve into book selection, and reflect on feedback from families.
More information is online at ltps.org.
