Thanks SO much for all of the suggestions for activities for our upcoming
Family Reading Night. Below is a HIT of all of the wonderful
suggestions/advice:
For our FRN, PTA starts at 5:30 or 6:00 selling hot dogs and nachos in the
cafeteria. That is followed by a short PTA meeting or FCAT (testing) tips
from principal and/or teachers, etc. Then around 6:30 students and parents
read and take AR quizzes together in the library and computer labs for
about 45 minutes. Then everyone returns to the cafeteria for their free
books and a wrap up at 7:15 or so. This has worked well for us for a few
years, but we are looking for way to improve.
***********************************
We have had successful Family Reading Nights for several years. We also
plan for an hour. We divide the students into primary and upper
elementary for read aloud/storytelling. We have had a reading specialist
work with parents on reading tips while kids were involved in their
activities. This year we had our best turn out with 400 people attending
when we challenged the students to come see the if the principal would eat
a worm (gummy worm) in order to get them reading. The local paper was
there and there were pictures on the front page the next day. Each
student got a gummy worm and a new book (we bought the books from
Scholastic--100 books for $99 with grant money for the occasion).
Everyone had a great time. We are thinking next year of bed time
stories--pjs and blankets. Good luck.
***********************************
I have helped at reading nights from both the teacher's and librarian's
perspective. When I was teaching, (first grade) we had our students and
parents come with flashlights, pillows and sleeping bags or blankets to
spread out on the gym floor. They read by flashlight for a set amount of
time (about 15 minutes or so) and then we would have a group story. Then
they would read for 15 minutes while we set up activity stations. They
would circulate through the activity stations and then go back to
reading. We had them sign in for door prizes, etc. And we gave out he
goodie bags.
When I participated in the reading night as a librarian, we concentrated
on modeling reading to the adults and children so the adults would hear
the expression and see how we tracked the words or talked through the
story to increase understanding and anticipation. (more than just an
introductory book talk) There were about 8 of us reading around the room,
including some of our varsity football players, FTA cadets,
Superintendent, etc. We timed ourselves so that our stories would end at
roughly the same time, so when the monitor rang a bell, all of the parents
and children could circulate. By the time we got done with that (just
over an hour) everybody went to activity stations and to the snack
station. When they had completed everything, they could go home.
For the activity stations: The first year, we had a couple of parents
that were giving us trouble that their children couldn't really read
because they were using the pictures for clues. :( So, one station used
a book where we had covered up the bottom half of each line of text on one
story and they found they could still figure out the story by using the
picture clues and the remaining part of the text. We tried covering the
title on an unfamiliar book and make them guess the topic and possible
title from the cover picture. We wanted to be subtle while we made our
point!
We had out word searches, simple follow-the-directions-to-make activities,
like making a book mark, decorating a sugar cookie, and some alphabet
games. The stations were general educational activities that tied to our
theme and that parents could re-create easily at home. I think the one
they liked the best was the mountain of shaving cream on a table to write
in and then "erase" and do again. The kids loved it!
I hope this helps.
*************************************
At Springfield Elementary we have a Family Reading Night twice a month.
It is in the media center. Parents and students take books off the
shelves, sit down and read together. We have AR so then, the child takes
their test with the parent watching and yes some help I'm sure. The
emphasis is on the family reading together and no other kind of program is
planned. Picture was taken this past Monday night.
Several teachers are available to assist.
We have simple refreshments doughnuts and punch available.
***********************************
We do 2 Family Nights a year at our K-2 school....Family Reading Night and
Family Math Night. We do a combination of activities. The night begins
at
5:45 in the auditorium for a brief PTA meeting. As parents and students
come in, they are given a color-coded ticket. (There are 4 different
colors
of tickets). The tickets list the activities of the night and what time
each
starts. One may look like this:
Activity: Time:
Place:
Pizza, Popcorn and Pepsi 6:00-6:20 Cafeteria
Storytelling 6:20-6:40 Auditorium
Reading Games 6:40-7:00 Gym
Book Fair 7:00-7:20 Library
Another colored ticket would read:
Activity: Time:
Place:
Book Fair 6:00-6:20 Library
Pizza, Popcorn and Pepsi 6:20-6:40 Cafeteria
Storytelling 6:40-7:00 Auditorium
Reading Games 7:00-7:20 Gym
After the PTA meeting, the parents are instructed to go to the activity
that
is listed first on their tickets. We usually have between 150-250 people
present, so this helps break them up into smaller groups and this way they
can enjoy the activities more.
One activity we have is "Reading Games". Each teacher at our school is
responsible for creating a "parent friendly, age-appropriate, K-2" game to
demonstrate. These games are set up on tables in the gym, and a teacher or
assistant teacher is there to explain the game. Some games offer handouts
or samples of the games for parents to take home. [One of my favorites and
one of the easiest ones to create is one where the teacher took comic
strips
from the newspaper and whited out the words in the cartoon bubbles. Kids
are asked to create their own story to fill in the bubbles. This helps
with
writing skills and story sequencing.] But you get the idea, the games are
simple and inexpensive enough that parents can easily adapt them at home.
Parents and kids walk around the game area and try out as many games as
they
can in the time allowed. (some years we do 20 minute intervals, some years
we've done 30 minutes). At the end of that time, a bell is rung and the
principal announces on the intercom that it is time for parents to take
their kids to the next activity listed on their ticket.
(Parents must show their ticket at the door of each activity. This helps
us
with crowd control...because in the past groups would pick only one or two
of the 'best' things to go to and it would put our groups way out of
balance
and disrupt the activities.)
Another activity they go to is "Pizza, Popcorn, and Pepsi" in the
cafeteria.
Our community sponsors provide refreshments and families are able to eat
for
free, which is what helps us get the attendance that we do! This activity
was a problem area before we came up with the color-coded tickets. At the
door to the cafeteria, the ticket-checker gives each member of the family
3
red tickets (the perforated kind you buy at Walmart on a roll). Each
ticket
is good for a food item (drink, pizza, popcorn). This prevents confusion
caused by kids wanting second helpings and trying to sneak in twice, etc.
Another activity is "Storytelling" in the auditorium. A local storyteller
or children's public librarian entertains the audiences with stories,
songs,
puppets, whatever!
The fourth activity is usually the Book Fair in the library. I try to
plan
my book fairs around these events, because it really helps boost my sales.
Another thing we do is put a 'reminder sticker' on each student's shirt on
the day of Family Reading Night. This helps parents get one last reminder
to
come.
****************************
While I never have done a Family Reading Night, my two cents is that you
will get a much better turn out if it is geared toward the kids. I base
this on experience of planning of other school events for years as a
parent in PTA.
****************************For our family night we conducted it like a
conference
in that children and parents attend workshops of their
choice. Families stay together as they attend
sessions. Here are a few of the things we have done:
-had the public librarian explain why reading aloud is
important and present resources available at the
public library
-had the rep from our system's parent center come and
present reading/language arts resources available
through the center
- open the computer lab and place baskets of AR
picture books in there so families can read one book
together and take a test on their individual student's
account
-have an art/project session for families to
design/make a bookmark, book jacket, etc.
-have our reading specialist present a session that
allows each family to complete a make-it & take-it
project (usually a folder game for reinforcing
reading/language arts skills
-have storytellers or interpreters present a story.
(One year our superintendent come dressed as Paul
Revere and recite Longfellow's poem.)
Hope this helps.
***************************
I do a Read with Dad night once a year. It is a very informal event.
Students bring their Dads, Grandpas, uncles, friends, (very older
brothers), neighbors, etc. and drop in for reading. We hold it for two
hours, kids and parents can come and go as they please. We start at 5:30
and quit at 7:30. Somewhere between 6:00 and 6:15 depending on the size
of the crowd, I welcome them, hand out some suggestions of titles and
authors that they might want to read to each other. In years' past I have
always told a story. I should have done that this year as well, but for
reasons due to the hurricane I didn't. It is always a fun evening. The
first year, I served coffee, cider and popcorn and it was a mess. I quit
doing food, and we still get a great turn out. Keep it simple at first,
see how it goes and build on that.
********************************
We have done a similar program several times. We have teachers
volunteer to be readers and we set up stations. Kids and their parents
rotate on a schedule and hear 3 stories (20 min each). When we do it
in late spring we ask the kids to dress as a favorite book character
and we begin with a parade (ala Halloween) around the playing field. {
Could do it like a slumber party and have kids come in PJ's and skip
the parade.} As the parade enters the building the first so many are
directed into say a kindergarten room (large spaces), the next so many
into the media center and so on. We had about 6 stations as I recall,
based on number of volunteer readers. As the popularity of the even
grew so did the number of teachers volunteering to read.} We had the
readers move from station to station rather than moving the large group
of students and parents. Each group heard 3 different stories read by
costumed adult readers. At the end of the final rotation everyone went
home, might have had cookies and punch in the A.P. room some times my
memory is a bit fuzzy on that.
*********************************
We do a combination of both and call it Family Literacy Night. We had 600
families at our last event in November.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Brenda Young, Library Media Specialist
Rose Hill Elementary
Omaha, NE
brenda.young@ops.org
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