Kids, parents, teachers share a night of stories

The purpose of Seymour-Jackson Elementary School's annual Story Night is simple.

"The more you read, the better reader you are," said Reading Recovery teacher Laura Smith.

The event was for Title I students and their parents, and they joined together Tuesday night to hear teachers read books.

Stations were set up in the hallways and classrooms throughout the school. Four were for kindergarten through second-grade students and four were for third- through fifth-grade.

"A child would start at a station and rotate to each of the four stations and listen to a teacher read the story," Smith said. "The teacher was dressed in character of the book, which makes it a lot of fun. At the end of the story, each child receives a copy of the book that the teacher read."

Tammy Hubbard is also a Reading Recovery teacher at Jackson. She said with those books come themed activities, so the parents and children can do them together at home.

"It's to encourage literacy in the home as well as at school," Hubbard said of Story Night. "The families can read (the books) at home, do the activities, which just encourages parent involvement, and it also adds to their home reading library."

Smith added, "We want to try to get books in the hands of children and in their homes so that children can read more."

Title I is not something required, Hubbard said, but it is there for students who qualify. Reading Recovery is funded through the Title I program, which also supplies some materials for teachers and classrooms.

"We assess all students in the school," she said of the targeted assistance. "It's how they score academically on assessments. They are not required to take our services, but it's there for them if they want it."

Among the benefits, Hubbard said, is that "Those students are students that might possibly need extra services to help them achieve success in school. Those students might not otherwise get those services, they might not be provided those services in their home or be exposed to different things that we can give them."

The services include after-school activities, tutoring, newsletters, activities to do at home, Story Night and parent involvement.
"Those students and parents are invited to come in and we have activities for them to do," Hubbard said of parent involvement, which consists of a team of Title I parents who develop activities to do.

"It talks about things going on at school, like how to prepare for ISTEP, encourage reading at home," Hubbard said. "There's just lots of different topics we touch on."

Story Night, she said, really helps the Title I students.

"A lot of Title I students need the extra help in reading, so this is one way to encourage that," she said. "This has to be beyond what you get at school. It has to be more than what any other students get."

First-grader Chance Russell took part in Story Night with his mother, Robin Russell. "I liked the first story the best," he said, after hearing school librarian Amy Boger read "Knuffle Bunny" and "Knuffle Bunny Too."

A bonus was that he got to take the book home.

"I like the free books," he said.

Robin added, "We read a lot at home at night. Books aren't cheap, and (the school) has really good ones, and we read them over and over again. It's fun to listen to the teachers read stories."

Kindergarten teacher Ashley Zagaceta was among the teachers participating in Story Night. She read "Chocolatina" to the students.
"It's always good to listen to stories being read," she said, "and to hear how it's important to put a good voice into a story."

Joyce Fouts, who retired last year after teaching 25 years at Jackson, volunteered her time to read "The Grouchy Ladybug" to students. She dressed the part, too.

"I just love reading to kids," she said. "That's why I wear these funny outfits."

Plus, she said, everyone seems to enjoy it.

"It's just been fun every year," Fouts said. "The parents are enjoying it and they are saying, ‘It looks like something fun to do with my kids.'"

With Jackson, Smith said, "The teachers here do a really good job of being involved and active in their reading, and the children just really enjoy it. It's fun to be a part of that."

Smith said she looks forward to Story Night every year. This was the third year for the event.

"This is one of the most fun things that I do here at Jackson," she said. "I enjoy organizing it, and I enjoy walking around and seeing the expressions on not only children's faces but the parents' faces.

"Everybody loves hearing a story. I can remember as a kid, it's always fun to read a book that your teacher has read to you, and it's familiar and you know what's going to happen," Smith added. "It's just fun, and it makes it easier to read, too, when you know what the story is about."