MARCH 29, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
KeizerCommunity
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Family Literacy Night a hit at Keizer Elementary
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Coming into the school
year, it was a goal of Keizer
Elementary principal Chris-
tine Bowlby to increase fam-
ily involvement at the school.
The event that Keizer
hosted earlier this month
showed how that plan is
coming into action.
Back on March 4, more
that 100 families showed up
to participate in Family Lit-
eracy Night, which was ded-
icated to having parents and
kids participate in reading
and other fun literacy activ-
ities.
Along with getting fami-
lies to read together, Bowlby
also wanted parents to come
away with teaching tools that
they could use at home.
“Parents are the kids fi rst
teachers. Our goal was to
have parents walk away with
some strategies that they
could do at home to help
improve their kids’ reading,”
Bowlby said.
Teachers and staff had
been working on planning
this event since the begin-
ning of November.
“Of course we are hope-
ful to see all of our Keiz-
er families there, but to us,
even getting just a handful is
worth the planning,” Keizer
teacher Taylor Miller said.
“Not only did we see some
parents that we have not seen
much in the regular year, but
we also saw the excitement
in kids’ faces when they got
to show their families some
fun reading activities.”
Families were greeted
with free pizza and bever-
ages to start the evening.
Then, kids and parents got
the opportunity to engage
in multiple different literacy
stations.
“The best way to fully
help a child succeed is to
work hand-in-hand with
their parents and get them
as involved as possible. We
wanted to create a night
where families could come,
hang out together, gath-
er new ideas or games they
could use at home to help
their child, and most im-
portantly, build community
within the school,” Keizer
teacher Shawna Kirch said.
“This gave parents a night
to not only enjoy some piz-
za with their kiddos, but also
mingle with their teachers,
participate in some fun lit-
eracy stations and have some
tools to use at home to help
and encourage at home
reading.”
“Educating
kids is a
partnership
between the
parents and
the school.”
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
More than 100 familes showed up for Family Literacy Night on March 4 at Keizer Elementary.
Making sure that every
student had a book by the
end of the evening was a big
point-of-emphasis for Bowl-
by.
“We have some families
that don’t have a large library
for their kiddos for a variety
of different reasons, so we
wanted kids to be able to
walk away with a book at the
end of the evening,” Bowlby
said.
Having one family in-
volvement night per year is
earlier this month.
“It’s all about getting our
families comfortable with
coming into a school and
knowing that this is a part-
nership. Educating kids is a
partnership between the par-
ents and the school,” Bowlby
said.
Because of the success of
this event, Keizer is already
talking and planning on do-
ing Family Literacy Night
next year and making it even
better.
“As a teacher, I love to see
the parents hanging out and
learning with their kids. We
see their children every day,
but we don’t always get the
opportunity to build rela-
tionships with their parents,”
Kirch said. “Elementary kids
love to see their teachers
outside of school time and
love to share what goes on
at school with their parents.
Events like this build com-
munity and bring everyone
together..”
Keizer Police Department hosting
Coffee with a Cop at Starbucks
— Christine Bowlby
One of the fun activities
kids got to participate in was
a sight words card game —
which featured the top 100
most commonly used sight
words in the English lan-
guage. Each participant is
given a card face down and
whoever fl ips it over the fast-
est and reads the word fi rst
gets the point — games were
also available for Spanish
speaking students.
There were also fl ash cards
available with reading and
comprehension questions for
parents to quiz their children
— families were able to take
the questions home for prac-
tice.
common practice for Keiz-
er, and other schools in the
district — often dedicated to
a variety of different school
subjects like math and sci-
ence.
In January, Keizer even
held a Family Coding Night,
where kids and parents got
to learn about how to pro-
gram computers.
While these events are
mostly utilized for educa-
tional purposes, Keizer also
held a Family Movie Night
The Keizer Police Department will
partner with Starbucks at 4943 River
Road N on Saturday, March 30 to host
the Department’s sixth Coffee with a
Cop event from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
This event provides citizens and law
enforcement personnel the opportunity
to meet and engage in conversations in
a casual and positive environment. Offi -
cers will greet customers at the door, at
the coffee counter, and at the drive-thru
window.
There are no agendas or presentations,
and citizens are welcome to bring any
questions or concerns they have, or sim-
ply come in and say hello while grabbing
their morning coffee.
For more information call or email
Keizer Police Department Communi-
ty Outreach Specialist Dorothy Diehl at
(503)856-3472 or diehid@keizer.org.
Annual book sale
at Salem Library
Friends Of The Salem
Public Library will be having
their annual Spring Book
Sale on Friday, April 5, Sat-
urday, April 6, and Sunday,
April 7. The Friday and Sat-
urday sale will go from 10
a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday is
Bag Day when participants
can purchase a bag of books
for $4 from 1 p.m. to 4:30
p.m.
The sale will be located
at the Salem Public Library
585 Liberty Street SE.
More than 20,000 books
will be available for purchase
and deals include hardcovers
for $1.25, paperback for 75
cents, children’s and teens
books for 50 cents, and more.
For more information,
you can visit salemfriends.
org.
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