Reading is fundamental, and Riverside School District 96 is taking that sentiment to a new level Wednesday with its new Family Literacy Night.
The district will host the event from 6:30-7:45 p.m. at L.J. Hauser Junior High, targeting not only pre-K through fifth graders, but their families as well.
It’s the third year for the district’s family learning event series. Two years ago, it hosted Family Math Night, while last year the topic was science. Past events have drawn hundreds of people.
Like the others, the objective of Family Literacy Night is to get parents more engaged in their students’ learning in the areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening, said Sara Hickey, a district instructional coach who splits her time throughout all district schools.
Hickey and Board of Education Superintendent Dr. Martha Ryan-Toye co-facilitate the district’s Family and Community Partnership Strategic Plan Committee, which is made up of teachers and parents. The committee meets several times over the course of the year where it examines ways to improve family interaction with the district.
“Attending events like this, we want families to seek out their passions,” Hickey said. “We want them to support student learning and what they are passionate about.”
Ryan-Toye couldn’t agree more.
“It’s important, it’s exciting,” she said. “When we started this committee, the teachers very much wanted to do this. There was a lot of eagerness and enthusiasm to celebrate student learning and family connections.”
Wednesday’s event will feature literacy stations hosted by district staff and junior high students. The event will kick off with a craft for students, while parents attend a literary information session, which Hickey said will level-set how students are engaging in literacy, how families can take literacy knowledge back home, and information about the district’s new English-Language Arts (ELA) resource, Amplify CKLA, or Core Knowledge Language Arts.
Amplify provides a deeper expertise in content, Hickey said, and allows students to become more detailed writers and thinkers, creating the ability to spend a longer time on more specific writing.
“It incorporates skills children need to need to acquire the skill across the grade-level spectrum,” Ryan-Toye said. “It introduces high-quality literature to kids. They are looking at historical, multi-cultural stories. It’s engaging and interesting. A lot of districts in the area have adopted Amplify recently.”
Additional activities include the Escape the School Challenge, which might seem counterintuitive to the idea of bringing families together for a literacy event, but dig deeper. It’s really a high-interest way to get students problem-solving around literacy tasks. Students will complete several tasks, each with a secret code. Getting all the codes “frees” the students.
Students can also peruse the Free Little Library, where they can take home any books that strike their fancy.
Author Abby Regan, a former Central Elementary School and Hauser student, will read her book “Not Your Average Oatmeal,” with copies available for purchase and signing.
Family Literacy Night is going to be a good bet for English as a Second Language families. Hickey said the family learning events are designed to be inclusive to Spanish-speaking families, with parent presentations and activities in both English and Spanish.
Family learning events have become a popular event for the district. Two years ago, 50 families, or about 100 people, attended Family Math Night. Last year, that number jumped to 200 families for Family Science Night, which included STEM topics, math games and parent presentations.
“We’re expecting about 200 families again,” Hickey said. “We feel like that’s a solid number.”