Family Literacy Night

Friday, Mar. 06, 2015

SANDY — Blessed Sacrament School held its first Family Literacy Night on Jan. 29, in the school gym. This event was sponsored and executed by members of the School Board, which in the past has hosted a Math & Science Night. This year, the school has adopted the social justice theme of literacy and the right that everyone has to an education. It was decided that a Family Literacy Night would tie in with the social justice theme for the year.

The purpose of Family Literacy Night was to promote literacy, support the school improvement plan, build family/school connections, and engage the community. The entire community was invited to the free event, which included approximately 25 booths with a variety of hands-on activities to engage children from 3 to 13 years of age.

Booths included “Make a Headline, Write a Tweet,” where laptops were used for children to learn how to tweet a newsworthy item; “Create a Hat” of one of your favorite characters; “Story Sounds,” where an older student read a story to younger students, who then used instruments to create sounds to convey the tone of the story; “Fish Pond,” where students could fish for a book; “Continuous Story,” where students took turns writing a piece of realistic fiction or fantasy and then other students would add on; and “Star Gazing,” where students had a chance to write a book review on a paper star.

Donations collected throughout the evening were sent to Heifer International; the $285 is enough to send a girl to school for a year.  

Approximately 300 community members attended the Family Literacy Night; it is anticipated that this will be a biannual event.

The year-long theme of literacy at Blessed Sacrament School encompasses a variety of activities. The school hosted its first annual Read-a-Thon in January. In addition, during art class, students in Kindergarten through Grade 8 created manuscripts that were on display during Family Literacy Night. The school participates in “Stop, Drop, and Read” at least once a week, so students are always prepared with a reading book on hand. The social justice project, “All About Books,” included collecting pillows, pillow cases and new books. Students in the Community of Caring Club will decorate the pillow cases, then the pillows and books will be bundled and donated to Catholic Community Services’ Refugee Resettlement Program. This project’s goal is to put books in to the hands of as many children as possible.