A local community reading program called Naperville Reads gave rise to "Meadow Glens Reads," a month-long family reading program for students in the Illinois school of Meadow Glens Elementary.
"Our overall goal was to increase literacy," recalls Lisa Vaughn, a parent and member of the School, Family, Community Partnerships (SFCP) team. "The focus was on family literacy. We started with the community's program through the library, which typically spotlights an author who writes for adults and one who writes especially for children."
The theme for the program, "Expand Your World," complimented that of "Naperville Reads" and targeted multicultural literature. At an introductory event, participating parents were given a list of appropriate titles to read to their children, and some of those books were highlighted at school to generate interest in the program among the kids. Families chose at least one book from the list and read it as a family. They also received pizza boxes to create a "book jacket" based on a book from the reading list.
"Later, the students brought their book jacket art projects to school on a Monday, and the evening culminating event was scheduled for that Wednesday," reported Vaughn. "We had many projects, which was promising, but I think we all [the organizers] held our breath until the night of the event. Although there was a snowstorm, the outstanding turnout proved that the program was a success."
During the culminating evening event, teachers, students, and parents enjoyed dinner, storytelling presentations, teacher-led book discussions, and a virtual scavenger hunt. The positive feedback from families during the first "Meadow Glens Reads" program led to a second the following year. While the first year's multicultural extravaganza featured a raffle for prizes to encourage participation, the second had no such facet, and Vaughn believes that no one missed it.
"The most impressive thing about this program was the family participation," Vaughn told Education World. "Most of the families that registered followed through and attended the culminating event. The trend for growth that was shown in the two years of this program has been striking."
Teacher involvement is crucial to the success of "Meadow Glens Reads." Not only do the teachers offer book talks, encourage families to join the program at open house, and "talk up" the program in their classrooms, they are also involved in the culminating event -- "checking in" participants, serving pizza, and leading small group discussions.
As a leading contributor to the committee behind "Meadow Glens Reads," Vaughn petitioned the SFCP to make it an annual event. Now, when each year's new theme for "Naperville Reads" is unveiled, this committee meets to decide how to adapt the theme for the elementary school.
The ideas for articles in this Partners for Student Success series come from the resources of the National Network of Partnership Schools. Established by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, NNPS is dedicated to bringing together schools, districts, and states that are committed to developing and maintaining comprehensive programs of school-family-community partnerships.
"Based on more than a decade of research and the work of many educators, parents, students, and others, we know that it is possible for all elementary, middle, and high schools to develop and maintain strong programs of partnership," NNPS director Joyce L. Epstein told Education World.
NNPS provides a wide range of resources to help schools and school districts build strong partnerships. Click the links below to…
… learn more about how your school or district can join NNPS.
School Makes "Community Read" Its Own
The ideas for articles in this Partners for Student Success series come from the resources of the 