Empowering confident readers and lifelong learners: Resources for Parents. 

K-3: 
Literacy Bootcamp: Summer bootcamp for young students to be the centerpiece for early learning in literacy. Students will be given activities, tools, and games by local librarians. This would be all summer long from about June to August. Monday through Thursday to supplement not having school during the summer for students K-3.Students will be taught different literacy skills, especially students who need phonic skills, vocabulary skills, phonological awareness, writing and comprehension skills. 

Literacy Camp for Adults: This would be a specific program to help parents with literacy skills to help teach their own children at home with. This would be a great resource to have the parents learn new strategies and skills to help with early literacy skills. The parents would meet every Wednesday evening for a month for 2 hours each time. This is for parents K-3rd grade. This teaches parents how to use literacy skills at home, tips and more to get students more engaged outside the classroom. Especially with breaks and summer, parents can learn skills to teach those students. (Reading Rockets, n.d).


Yoga literacy skills: A fun, entertaining yoga event for parents and students to do yoga poses while learning new early literacy skills. Such as phonics and decoding skills. All Mondays in April in the evening from 5-7pm. All K-3 families are welcome to join for new literacy skills of the week. Students will be stretching out new story time while learning new skills such as new letter/sounds and decoding skills. 


Superhero Literacy event: A local superhero comes to school and reads stories to students. Students can meet and greet a local superhero while reading about what they do. Wednesday, October 21st, 2026, students and families K-3 will be invited to join us from 5-7pm. Families are welcome to join. A local “superhero” such as a firefighter, police officer, nurse, doctor, ect. will read a few stories to students and have hands-on activities for the students such as touching the fire truck and more. 


Read with Santa and hot coco: Students K-3 will come read a story with Santa while drinking hot-coco. Santa will read the story “The Polar Express”. Wednesday, December 16th, 2026, students and K-3 families will be invited to join us from 5-7pm. Families are welcome to join. Students will come to read a story with Santa and drink hot coco by giving them listening comprehension skills, communication skills, speaking and more.
4-8th:
Drawing with Purpose: Students will read a story with an adult and after talking about the story have time to draw about key details from the story. This will happen every Wednesday throughout the school year (unless a holiday occurs on that date) from 3-4pm after school. Students from 4-8th grade are welcome to join. Students will listen to a story by an adult or later in the months, read a story with the group and then after talking about key details in the story, students will have a fun time drawing what they listen to and learned in the story.
Game Show: Students and families in 4-8th grade will compete in a game show event competing in literacy questions. Wednesday, November 4th, 2026, from 4-6pm for students 4-8th grade and their families. Students are to answer game-show-style questions with their adults and define the terms. It’s a fun entertaining game where students will use their literacy skills to answer questions and win prizes. (Lexia, 2023).

Judge a Book: Students will create their own books by creating a cover first and then creating a story behind it. Students will meet after school on Tuesdays from 3-4pm for 3 months. This is for students in grades 4th through 8th.Students are creating their own books and using those mechanics of writing and literacy skills, plus reading comprehension. This gets students thinking about stories and be able to write their own based off the cover that they make in the beginning.  

Family Reading Night: Students and families are welcomed to join teachers and staff for a family reading night. This will be on Tuesday, November 17th, 2026, from 5 to 7pm. This event is for all families k-8th but especially for students 4-8th and their families. Students are welcome to join us in reading event with reading-themed activities, games, crafts and story telling activities.

Reader’s Theater: Students will perform a play during school for their classmates and other grades based off the reading selection that they are on. Students will perform this twice a year, once in December. Each grade band will perform their own play based on the reading selection that they are on. 1st one is on Friday, December 11th, 2026, and the next one will be on Friday, May 7th, 2027.Students will have a selected reading in each grade band. Students are to create character development as well as speaking to other students. Students are to perform for the younger grades at their school.
9-12:
Cooking up Literacy skills:
Students will create their own cook book and cook up the foods that they create. 
Students will meet every Tuesday and Thursday for the remainder of the school year after school from 3-4pm. 
Students are creating novels/cook books that others can be able to read and follow along with. Students are learning literacy skills and comprehension while adding in mathematic skills in the mix. 

Literacy Escape Room: Students will participate in a fun Literacy escape room by solving problems to escape. Students can participate once a month on Thursdays after school from 3-4pm. Students ages 9th through 12th grade attend. Students solve reading comprehension questions, vocabulary, inferences and grammar clues. Each month will be a different theme that will help students escape from the “escape room”. (Shaped Staff, 2024).

Multimedia creation: Students are to use different multimedia platforms to help students to make speeches and presentations for others. Students are to meet after school every Monday from 3pm-4pm. This is for students’ 9th through 12th grade. Students use different senses to use comprehension and retention skills especially for students who struggle with decoding written words. Making audio books, speeches, presentations, ect will help students access that content easier especially using images as well.

Making a Newsletter: Students can create a newsletter to hand out to the school to talk about the different events going on and news around the school. Students will meet after school on Tuesdays to create the newsletter and Thursdays to fine tune it and print them out for the school. Students grade 9-12th will meet from 3-4pm.Students will use writing and revising methods and practices, vocabulary growth, awareness of their audience and how to fine tune what is going on around them. Students also must read what they wrote and edit it and it creates a component of modern communication.

Poetry Fun: Students are to create their own poetry and present it to the other students. Students have the ability to show their creative styles in their poetry. Students will meet every Thursday after school to create poetry. Students’ 9th through 12th grade will meet from 3-4pm.Students will use rhythm and rhymes to strengthen reading mechanics, vocabulary and comprehension. It uses phonological awareness, decoding and phonics skills as well. (Wizard Team., 2024). 

Tips for Parents:

K-3:

  1. Read to your student at home to support literacy skills. It expands their vocabulary skills, creates reading comprehension skills and helps students in the long run.
  2. Play literacy games at home with students. Such as sight-word Go fish, reading hopscotch, silly sentences that they can cut up from paper to from sentences and building words with Play-Doh.
  3. Pointing out words and vocabulary everywhere you go. If you see a sign, point it out and read it with your child. Use those words to help build their vocabulary skills.
  4. Trace and write letters in different forms such as flashcards, sand, Play-Doh and more that help students use letter/sound colorations.
  5. After reading a story to your student, create real-life connections to the book or problems in the book. (Gill, Jennifer., 2020).

4-8th Grade:

  1. Ask students deeper level questions about the stories that they read or that you read with them. This helps them connect to a deeper level of thinking.
  2. Link book themes with real-world events or their own personal experiences. This helps them connect on a deeper level of understanding and thinking to make those personal connections.
  3. Listen to audio books and break down words in the book by asking questions or even having students write/draw about it.
  4. Find stories that are based off your own child’s favorite hobbies or interests. Students stay more engaged that way.
  5. Make reading and writing a regular activity in your home. Turn off the TV and read/write with your student but also make it fun as well. (Shanahan, Timothy., 2015).

9-12Th grade:

  1. Merge books with movies. Most books these days are becoming more popular with films. Students can read the book and watch the movie later with you to compare the similarities and differences.
  2. Reading adult books will pull in their interests more and encourage them to read more.
  3. Let them listen to audiobooks. They can take an audio book basically anywhere that you have headphones at. They won’t look “uncool” because they are listening to it in their headphones.
  4. Keep reading materials around students as well. Even if it’s magazines, books, ect. Especially if they have pictures on them that will capture their attention.
  5. Take kids out to musicals, plays and more. Storytelling in live action teaches students a lot of different skills.