Cougar Camp Read-A-Lot Promotes Literacy

Named the “Cougar Camp Read-A-Lot,” Uniondale Union Free School District’s California Avenue Elementary School recently held a camp-style family literacy night for scholars in grades Pre-K-5. Developed to capture the imagination of young readers, families participated in various interactive activities and workshops to promote reading skills. There were raffles, a photo booth, food and free books for each scholar. Over 400 scholars attended the event.

Before beginning the hands-on workshops, families were required to sign up for their cabins—each to be held in designated classrooms. Families enrolled in four of the thirteen fifteen-minute-long workshops to instill and promote the importance of reading. Cabins included:

· Ask the Expert: learn to support your child’s reading and writing

· Bookmark Making: create a bookmark to use at home

· Camping Bingo: practice vocab words

· Freshwater Sight Word Fishing: identify sight words

· Happy Camper Writing: work together to create stories

· Camp STEAM: designing and engineering a tent

· Camp Games: practice grammar and language skills

· Going on a Bear Hunt: act out “I’m Going on a Bear Hunt”

· Happy Camper Bracelet Making: create bracelets and retell stories

· How to Make S’mores: sequence a recipe

· Read with Sr. Chequiar: Spanish lessons on reading comprehension

· Puppet Theater: Goldilocks and the Three Bears: act out the story using puppets

· Camp Charades: families team up to act out phrases

In addition to the cabin workshops, there was a read-aloud where scholars were encouraged to ask questions as they read and a book cave where scholars picked out a free book of their choice. Librarians from the Uniondale Public Library were also on sight to sign up families for library cards and speak about available services.

In line with the District’s strategic plan, family literacy night was grounded in goal 1: to build a strong foundation in the early years. Goal 1 includes increasing the percentage of scholars in grades Pre-K through 3 achieving early literacy and increasing the percentage of scholars who demonstrate resilience, engagement in purposeful play, creativity in problem-solving and prudent risk-taking and learning. Family literacy night encouraged scholars to think outside the box to complete each workshop, demonstrating literacy and creating lifelong readers.

For more information about the Uniondale Union Free School District, please visit the District's website at https://district.uniondaleschools.org, and 'like' our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/uniondalek12.