Prairie Elementary School Focuses on Reading and Literacy
Principal Yavonnda Smith says the evening was designed to allow families to drop in, read with their kids, and learn about the importance of literacy. The students filled out a reading sheet showing the teachers how many books they read, and the kids were able to take a book home. Smith said, “We’ve done family reading nights in the past, but this year I really pumped it up with announcements over the intercom and told them ‘don’t let me be the only one here tonight.’”
The students were very excited to read with their families. Shamario is in the fourth-grade at Prairie and he says he’s glad his reading skills are improving. He said, “Ms. Smith inspires me to do better and to read more books.” Shanell Fleming is a sixth-grader at Urbana Middle School, and she brought her three brothers to Family Reading Night. She knows first-hand the importance of reading at the middle-school level. “By the time they get to sixth grade it’s going to be real hard because (in sixth-grade) you have to know how to sound (words) out, you have to know how to say the vocabulary words right, you have to read chapter books and pass the grade level (tests), and do book projects,” Fleming explained. Family Reading Night is just one of many programs at Prairie Elementary School this month to highlight the importance of reading. |
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Prairie Elementary students have already read hundreds of books this year as part of a school-wide reading initiative. On November 27, Prairie Elementary was open late in order to have students and their families gather together and read.
Smith also explained that there were a variety of books available to the students and parents to highlight different reading skills. “There are fluency books (your typical nursery rhymes), and there are other books that have sight words highlighted in them, so there are different types of books to build on the literacy the students are working on,” she said. Smith also was pleased to see so many parents out to the event. “Reading is so essential because if students can’t read they can’t do anything else. Reading is the foundation for everything,” Smith explained.