Booting Up for Family Literacy Night!

Planning a Family Reading Night? Back to School Night? Family Literacy Event?No matter what you call it the purpose is often the same; to engage in fun educational activities, to empower parents to support young learners, and to strengthen the connection between home and school. If they have fun, feel connected and empowered they are more likely to come again next time. Here are a few ideas to help you plan a terrific event.

Have Fun!

• Choose scripts from TeachingBooks’ more than 700 ready to use readers theater scripts. Set up a theater space, let families read together. This can be very casual and cozy with people sitting in small groups reading together. It can be big and flamboyant with a box of costumes and groups volunteering to perform. You could even set up a recording studio, so students can watch themselves.
• To help families select titles for independent or read-together books, create QR bookmarks for suggested titles featuring trailers or author readings. Have devices handy so families can scan and listen to help them choose books.

Empower Families!

• Share access directions with families so they can easily use TeachingBooks.net from home.
• Provide a short training for families. If computers are available, let parents explore while staff provide support. This short video demonstrates basic use of TeachingBooks.net and will get families started.

Connect to the Classroom!

• Create & Share lists of titles by class or grade level. This encourages parents to explore resources to understand what is being read at school.

Suggest some specific ideas for homework support. For instance,

• Look at book guides and lesson plans for a specific title to help students think about what they are reading.
• Access readings of whole books. Students benefit from listening and reading at the same time.
• Listen to author readings to build context for titles being read.

After an enjoyable evening of shared reading experiences, families will leave with a deeper understanding to support their students. You can continue strengthening this relationship with families by sharing literacy resources throughout the year. Armed with resources and strategies to nurture and support learning, they will look forward to the next time they can read together.

Please share additional activities/ideas that you have implemented for Family Literacy Events!