Themed Family Night

Resources:

http://www.ptotoday.com/sfn/family>reading>night http://pilotmountainnews.com/view/full_story/21245652/article>Campout>themed>Family>Reading>Night>held>at>Westfield>Elementary http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top>teaching/2013/01/family>reading>night> —>lets>go>camping

Grades: K-8

Prep time: High

Instructions:

Host an evening of storytelling at school and invite students and their families to attend.

Pick a variety of themes that students will enjoy, and designate a different classroom for each theme.

Have teachers or parent volunteers reading stories in each themed room. Invite attendees to dress up, bring props, and share food related to the theme of their choice.

Alternately, one overarching theme works well too. For example, make it a camping theme and bring the outside in with fake rocks, twinkling lights, and campfires; sing campfire songs; eat s’mores, and divide the different age groups to read books about camping and the outdoors in smaller groups.

Why it Works:

Invited students to enjoy books in a new way, involves parents and caregivers in encouraging the students to read for pleasure, and builds enthusiasm around sharing books as a community.

Materials:

Emails or flyers for communicating event information Volunteers to lead storytelling Books for each theme Decorations for each theme