How to Set Up a Literacy Night

Each fall, primary school teachers are bombarded with requests and questions from parents regarding how they can help their children learn to read. At my school we set up a "Literacy Night" in which we outline ways parents can help their children at home. Here are some of the topics we cover and tips for covering them.

Things You'll Need

• A large room to meet with parents

Instructions

1. Pick a date for "Literacy Night" and make it late enough for working parents to attend (6:30 p.m is usually fine).

2. Provide daycare. You will have a much better turnout if you provide daycare for the kids who are not present during the presentation (it would bore them to death!).

3. Assign each teacher a different topic to present.

4. Cover fine motor skills including pencil grip and letter strokes. You might want to mention how writing is tied into the literacy process. Provide examples of ways to improve fine motor skills such as coloring books, mazes, dot-to-dots and writing in shaving cream on a table.

5. Cover the difference between "reading TO your child" and "reading WITH your child."

6. Cover phonics exercises and give them some games to play at home with their children.

7. Cover how to choose a good book for your child.

8. Explain phonetic spelling and what your expectations are regarding the student's spelling.

9. End the presentation after an hour, any longer and you will lose them!

Resources

• Rock and Roll Kindergarten