Teachers, Parents Strive to Improve Student Reading Skills

The staff at hosted the monthly reading program titled "Kids Who Read, Succeed!" Tuesday night for families with children in kindergarten through second grade.

The event was attended by about 50 families and featured several different stations aimed at helping children improve their reading skills. The theme of Tuesday's event was rhyme time.

One of the main attractions of the program was the ability for students to be videotaped reading nursery rhymes. The student performances will be shown on the Rocky Hill public access channel later this month or next.

"It was a real draw," said Darlene Brown, coordinator of Language Arts for the public schools. Brown organized the event, along with first grade teachers Kristyn Carter and Sandra Amoroso.

Another station located in the media center computer lab allowed parents and students to learn about TumbleBooks, an interactive reading program that helps students read on their own and lets them play games as rewards.

Several stations were set up inside the cafeteria and all were named after nursery rhymes. There was a snack station where students practiced following directions, a retelling station that checked children's reading comprehension and a word building area where little readers practiced making sentences. Other stations encouraged writing, helped students understand vocabulary words and developed motor skills.

A book swap was set up in the main hallway where parents could take three books for their children. Families with older students donated over 200 books for the book swap. Parents have been asked if their student loses interest with the books to return them to the school or at future events.

The Cora J. Belden Library had students sign up for library cards in advance, so they could recieve the cards last night. At future events, the students will be able to take out books from the library. The library station was a way of promoting reading in elementary students, Brown said.

The event had musical accompaniment provided by substitute teacher and professional musician Brett Sandler. He had the students sing nursery rhymes, which showed "literacy can be fun" and "we can learn through singing," according to Brown.

Parents should receive information about the program from their student's classroom teacher. The program will have a different theme each time and will meet five more times this school year.