Everett Enrichment: Family Reading Night promotes literacy, community engagement

March 14, 2025

Everett Elementary School student Helianys laughed with delight as she moved markers across a game board after spelling a word correctly for her mother.
 
Happy scenes like that were common in the school cafeteria during Everett’s second Family Reading Night of the year. More than 100 parents, children and teachers gathered to read books, play games and get to know their neighbors. The school began the new program this fall to promote literacy and help families meet Everett staff members in a fun atmosphere.
 
Helianys heard about the reading event in her classroom and encouraged her mother Stephany to come with her. Stephany, Helianys and fellow game player Azi said they were pleased with their decision to attend. They were impressed with the number of people who were enjoying the evening.
 
“It’s been really good to spend time here and meet a lot of people,” Stephany said. “I think it’s a great idea to have something like this for families here.”
 
Everett student Alaa sat at one of the tables in the middle of the cafeteria with two of her friends. They enjoyed popcorn and other snacks before the main book presentation began. Alaa said she was happy to be at the event.
 
“This is fun!” Alaa said.
 
Everett Principal Mike Long said family and community engagement was a top priority when he applied for the Parent Power grant through LPS Federal Programs last year. He and Shari Anderson, the school’s librarian, developed the idea for an evening full of literacy-based activities.
 
“This is a really good turnout,” Long said as he looked across the bustling room. “This is exactly what we were hoping for. I’m really happy with the number of people who are here.”
 
Anderson said their goal was to create a welcoming environment for everyone who walked in the door. A long line began forming outside the cafeteria before the 6:30 p.m. start time, and teachers and staff members greeted every person with a smile.
 
“As a librarian, I firmly believe in the power of reading with families, and anything we can do to encourage people to come together and ask questions and have conversations is a good thing,” Anderson said. “When Mike told me about the grant, I was really excited about it.”
 
Children learned about the importance of reading in several ways during the night. Anderson used a portion of the grant to purchase 100 copies of “A Bad Case of the Stripes” for families. Parents and students followed along as she read the story over a microphone and showed the illustrations on a projector screen.
 
Anderson also created custom-made board games for each family to bring home along with their free book. The packet included a board, dice, markers and multiple games incorporating lessons on word spelling, definitions and usage. For example, one activity encouraged students to match similar-sounding words together, and another gave them the chance to move markers on a game board after spelling or saying words correctly.
 
Each game contained words included in the Lincoln Public Schools reading curriculum. Anderson said this would allow elementary students of all ages to make strong literacy gains.
 
“The hope is that they’ll use these fun games to build their reading fluency, which will help further their reading and make them feel like they are successful readers,” Anderson said. “Sometimes kids don’t feel like they’re successful readers, so they get stuck when it’s time to read for fun. If we can increase their reading fluency now, the hope is that they’ll become lifelong readers and love looking at books.”
 
Many Everett staff members enjoyed talking with parents in an informal setting at their tables. Anderson and Long both said building those bridges made the event even more valuable.
 
“Families can see that their teachers are just humans who want to help them,” Anderson said. “Having those face-to-face conversations with parents is great, because we normally only see parents at conferences or open houses. Having another event where we can just be here with families is really exciting.”
 
“Making those connections with each other is really critical,” Long said. “A big goal of this is that we wanted it to be a place where staff and families could work together.”
 
Parents learned about important dates on the school calendar such as field trips and parent-teacher conferences. Anderson also highlighted educational strategies for children to use throughout March, April and May. These included reading every day and getting healthy amounts of sleep.
 
Everett plans to host its third reading night of the school year at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 9. Anderson said she believes the events have benefited everyone in attendance.
 
“We have the chance to connect with families in a real and authentic way,” Anderson said. “It makes all the difference.”
 
Visit home.lps.org/reading/ for more information about reading activities and lessons for LPS students and families. The webpage includes strategies for reading at home, elementary spelling lists and summer reading games and activities.
 
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