Sitting on the steps in the multipurpose room was a first grader and her grandmother. They were among others who had gathered there to stop and read together during Sandy Elementary’s literacy night.

Kenzley Morrison likes adventure books. 

Grandma Donna Fralick liked the adventure in and of itself. 

“I appreciate that they get to explore books that they normally wouldn’t read,” she said.

Kenzley’s older sister, fifth-grader Kelsey Morrison, had just returned with her friend, Maeli Ferguson, from one of the dozen stations around the gym that promoted literacy.

“We’re trying to win free books at Books 4 Bingo,” she said. 

She was hoping for some from the Harry Potter, Dork Diaries or Percy Jackson series.

Maeli already won a free book and picked out a scary one.

Sandy Elementary Community Schools Facilitator Isa Connelly had researched the games.

“I looked for ones that would be fun and that kindergarteners could do, but also that fifth graders would find interesting,” she said, adding that the activities were designed to help students focus on their literacy depth of knowledge. “Basically, depth of knowledge or DOK 1 and 2 are basic skills of being able to retell a story and making sense of it. DOK 3 and 4 involve critical thinking and trying to solve problems. We want students to be able to identify the main thing in a story, but also go deeper and think what they would do in a situation or find a solution to a problem.”

It’s a strategy school staff is implementing to become an AVID school, which is a long-term goal to better help students, Connelly said. 

AVID teaches kids how to thrive in school, providing them with the tools they need to accomplish their academic goals. Those may include skills in critical thinking, writing, reading, and collaboration while also building practices to improve their organizational, time management, and problem-solving abilities.

Another goal was to get books in the hands of students to build libraries of their own at home. The books that were given out were donated through United Way. 

“Every year they give us about $2,000 to help us with whatever we need. We opted to buy $2,000 worth of brand-new books to give out books as prizes at the station games,” she said.

Students played games such as Roll and Tell, Bingo 4 Books, alphabet ping pong, word art, Boggle, and a literacy variation of HedBanz, where students wore headbands with a word on it and they would have to guess what it was after a friend described the word.

“We also had a huge number of books that we use for level reading in years past so we just gave them out,” Connelly said, adding that in the school’s lobby, there is a free library where “kids can take books anytime they want.”

In addition, students who need assistance in reading, get free books weekly. When parents sign that they’ve read those, they may get a candy or pencil and more books. It’s a program that has been in place at the school for three years.

“Our students are very motivated, and they love it. We’re all about helping them read more, improve their reading and building libraries at their homes,” she said. “We know that from grade K to third, students are learning to read. From four on, they’re reading to learn. So, if they don’t have the skill of reading, by third grade, they will fall behind. We’re wanting them to know that reading is fun, which is one of the reasons why we do this community reading night, but also to teach parents about opportunities, like at the Sandy Library they can get library cards and go to some really cool programs.”

Fifth-grader Jordan Lancaster said there were some “cool and fun games” at Sandy Elementary’s literacy night.

“It’s a way to have fun and do things with different words in different ways,” she said, adding that she likes mystery and fantasy books best. “Everything I’ve done has been fun.” λ