Elementary Wantagh Family Literacy Night returned this with over 80 families from throughout all three elementary school in attendance. Families gathered at Wantagh Elementary School to learn how to provide reading support at home for their little learners using a variety of fun and engaging techniques.

During registration, students from PreK to 2^nd grade were gifted a complimentary book bag with new, age-appropriate books courtesy of the Wantagh Foundation to promote at home reading. Just days before, high school volunteers from the Wantagh Jr. Foundation Committee gathered to stuff over 700 bags to be distributed to all students across the district. 

Special guest author and self-proclaimed silly poet Darren Sardelli opened the night with interactive readings from several of his books which were a hit with kids and families. He shared that poetry is a feeling about what we feel and how we put our feelings on paper. Sardelli told the audience that he was inspired by Dr. Seuss because he learned how to make reading fun.

After the opening session concluded, students and their parents participated in two workshops which taught them how to bring characters to life through reading aloud dramatically, illustrating characters, using photographs to enhance inferential thinking, decoding text, and enhancing comprehension through choice boards. During one workshop, students drew letters in rice or shaving cream to make it fun.

“It was truly wonderful to have so many families across the district participate in our Elementary Family Literacy Night,” says Alison Hazut, Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction K-5. “The workshops, facilitated by teachers and administrators, offered opportunities to learn more about our approaches to teaching reading and the role that families can play at home.