Teaneck Community Charter School

Teaneck Community Charter School (T.C.C.S.) administration, teachers, students and their families packed into a crowded Atrium at the school on Tuesday, September 23rd for a “Community Literacy Night.” A focus of the night was to assist families in encouraging reading and to provide strategies for parents to discuss this reading with their children.

Lower school students (kindergarten through 4th grade), many dressed in their pajamas for the event, enjoyed three separate mini-sessions with their parents, where a teacher from the school demonstrated reading strategies. Families were provided with possible questions to ask during reading that they may do with their children.

The upper school students (5th grade through 8th graders) and their parents observed reading and interacted in games with teachers from the school, who modeled ways that they could engage in conversations about reading with their children. There were two upper school sessions, with one dedicated to fiction reading and the other to non-fiction reading.

T.C.C.S. is embarking in a community-wide “Reading Challenge.” Last year the students read 11,662 books, reaching the school goal of 10,000 books. This year the school is including the entire T.C.C.S. community of readers--students, staff, and families to read both independently and to their children. They are also raising the total goal to 16,000 books, 1,000 for every year the school has been in existence. The school focuses on an experiential learning philosophy.