By Ms. Tegria Jones
The Varnett Southwest and Early Childhood campuses held their annual Family Literacy Night event on Thursday, October 26, 2017 at the Southwest Campus.
We had a spectacular turnout of roughly 120 families.
Parents, students, and staff from three campuses (Southeast, Southwest, and Early Childhood) attended the exciting event. Special guests were a representative of the Houston Public Library, Ms. Laura Ray, and Clifford the Big Red Dog.
Varnett staff greeted families at the sign-in area where they received a literacy bag containing items such as reading strategies, a free homework pass and other goodies.
Some of the Southwest Campus fifth- and sixth-grade students served as hosts and hostesses. Students had the opportunity to play different literacy games and earned books as prizes.
There were more than 250 books given away as prizes. Some of the activities were letter recognition, blending letters, rhyming words, using context clues and making inferences.
After completing activities, students had the opportunity to visit the storytelling corner and listen to a story read by the Early Childhood team. The book fair was open to families and hosted by the media specialist, Ms. Deloris Jackson. Students were able to purchase books and other literacy items.
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The campus PTO served food and drinks to families and assisted in giving out books.
The purpose of Family Literacy Night is to increase student and parent knowledge on the importance of literacy. Studies show that reading 20 minutes at home each day will increase student comprehension and performance in the classroom.
Thanks to all of the parents who attended.
Ms. Jones is instructional coach at Southwest Campus
Photos by Mr. Peter McConnell, Varnett's communications director, and Ms. Miesha Thorne, Southwest administrative assistant.