LM_NET: Library Media Networking
I am sharing some ideas for Family Reading Night request that I made. I had
several who asked for a hit.
We have 2 Family Reading Nights a semester at our school. These first two haven
been very well attended. The first one was enjoying 31 children's memorized Shel
Silverstein poems. I gave the kids a few weeks to sign up and memorize. They
"acted out" a few of them-the parents thoroughly enjoyed it, along with the kids.
the last one was puppet called Gerbert seen on PBS (his kids go to our school) and
he read them a story, talked about the importance of learning to read, and made
them laughed- the sound is something you don't want to miss. Our attendance was
the highest yet.
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Illinois the state sends out materials to all schools for Family Reading Night,
which is Nov. 18. We get posters, bookmarks, post cards, stickers, and pamphlets
for parents which include suggestions to foster reading. These help us promote an
evening event. At our school teachers volunteer to be readers, and families are
invited to the LMC for an hour to listen to various stories. We send each child
home with a couple of cookies in a baggie.
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I had a family reading night for several years at a former school I worked at. Our
Title I program worked very closely with me on this. They did all the publicity
and provided occasional parent programs. I couldn't have done it without them. My
goal was to get families to use the school library by providing an evening once a
month when they could come and bring the kids. We had staff members reading
stories in several classrooms. We had some special guests (Amelia Bedelia, Miss
Viola Swamp). I issued family cards.
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We had a great Family Reading Night this year, and plan to repeat it this year
near Christmas. One day the last week before break was PJs reading day. Students
and staff wore pajamas, robes, slippers,a and brought their pillows, favorite
stuffed animals, etc. The entire day focused on lots of reading activities in the
classrooms. That evening, families were invited to bring blankets, quilts to the
cafeteria. We served hot chocolate and one of the teachers read the Polar Expesss.
Each child present received a jingle bell on a red ribbon to take home. I pulled
all the Christmas and holiday related books from the library and had them on a
cart for families, to select from, and everyone shared books with their families.
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I had have Family Reading Night for the last 4 years and found that the biggest
attraction is having guest readers who read to the grownups and the children. The
parents just love hearing the stories read and it is a great incentive to get back
to some family reading time. I usually do them round a theme. In March we
participate in Read Across America, in May there is BEAR carnival. I usually have
a book fair going at the May night.
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Kids and their parents rotated between sessions (about 20 min in length). One
might be a storyteller, another making books, etc. When they finished each session
someone in the room would punch out a card, etc. We were planning on having one
session that would be to go to a book fair and as a reward at the end we would give
everyone a chance to choose a free book from a collection of books we have
purchased with grant money.
We were thinking of doing a theme like a train and the host in each room would
dress like a conductor, et. Each would have a pass to get punched or stamped at
each session.
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Kay Stith
Director of Library Services
Manhattan, Kansas
kays@manhattan.k12.ks.us
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