Clark-Shawnee elementary students, families participate in literacy night

Clark-Shawnee Elementary hosted their annual literacy night for young students and their families to help them support reading and learning at home.

The Title 1 Literacy Night event is for kindergarten and first graders and their families who receive Title 1 reading, tutoring or intervention services.

“This educational community event is important to help support families in our district,” said elementary principal Kyle Phelps. “Our goal is to educated the parents and guardians on how they can encourage and support literacy and reading within their homes to their school-aged children as well as younger siblings who are not school-age yet.”

During the night, families participated and listened to a modeled read-aloud with a group of students, learned about sight words and how to help their students practice them at home to improve their fluency while reading, and learned about letters and word families.

Families had the opportunity to connect with the Clark County Public Library to learn about more resources and programs they offer and get a library card. They also had the chance to sign up for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which is a program that mails free books to children from birth to age five.

This event started as an opportunity for families to learn more about the importance of early literacy and provide practical ways they can support their child’s education at home.

“Family engagement has always been an essential part of our Title I programming,” Phelps said. “We thought a family literacy night would be a refreshing new way to engage families, encourage reading at home, and share information about our Title I services.”

The district has close to 100 students in kindergarten and first grade who receive tutoring services through the Title 1 Team, including teachings and reading specialists, tutors and reading tutors, and 35% of students in those grades also benefit from additional tutoring support throughout the school day.

Title 1 programs are designed to help children meet the state content and performance standards in reading, language arts, and mathematics. It’s a federally funded supplemental education program that provides financial assistant improve educational opportunities for educationally deprived children.

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