Literacy Games NightDecember 2007
From Alanna, Trudeau TL:
It was during the lunch hours that I noticed our students loved playing the library games, games like Scrabble, Arthur’s Library Game, Clue Junior, and so on. Even the students who were considered weak readers were able to play the games with much enthusiasm. Parents who often were in the library with their children did not interact with their children when they played these games. I realized that the parents didn’t know that many of the board games were strengthening their children’s skills in numeracy as well as reading!
I brought the idea of a Games Night to the staff, and they were all in agreement that this would be a good way of showing the parents another way they could help their children.
I met the Discovery Toys rep at the Vendor display at the Librarian’s Fall Conference in Surrey. I talked with her of my idea and asked to use some of her games. I wanted another store to also sponsor the Games Night as I didn’t want it to appear that we were endorsing any one store or product. My plan was to visit some of the smaller toy stores such as Kaboodles or Splash, but I just happened to be in Chapters when I noticed they also sold games. I talked to the manager of the Richport Chapters, and she said right away she too would love to come to the school.
Games we chose were: Scrabble Jr, Trouble, Wiz Kids, Boggle, Pictionary Jr, Brain Game, A to Z kids. and What’s Gnu.
The evening was very successful: 42 families came, 116 people, so we had to limit the families attending as we only had 7 teachers sponsors.
The school purchased all the games played that night and they were distributed to the teachers who helped and to the library, and we also started a rainy day games collection for the gym.
It was during the lunch hours that I noticed our students loved playing the library games, games like Scrabble, Arthur’s Library Game, Clue Junior, and so on. Even the students who were considered weak readers were able to play the games with much enthusiasm. Parents who often were in the library with their children did not interact with their children when they played these games. I realized that the parents didn’t know that many of the board games were strengthening their children’s skills in numeracy as well as reading!
I brought the idea of a Games Night to the staff, and they were all in agreement that this would be a good way of showing the parents another way they could help their children.
I met the Discovery Toys rep at the Vendor display at the Librarian’s Fall Conference in Surrey. I talked with her of my idea and asked to use some of her games. I wanted another store to also sponsor the Games Night as I didn’t want it to appear that we were endorsing any one store or product. My plan was to visit some of the smaller toy stores such as Kaboodles or Splash, but I just happened to be in Chapters when I noticed they also sold games. I talked to the manager of the Richport Chapters, and she said right away she too would love to come to the school.
Games we chose were: Scrabble Jr, Trouble, Wiz Kids, Boggle, Pictionary Jr, Brain Game, A to Z kids. and What’s Gnu.
The evening was very successful: 42 families came, 116 people, so we had to limit the families attending as we only had 7 teachers sponsors.
The school purchased all the games played that night and they were distributed to the teachers who helped and to the library, and we also started a rainy day games collection for the gym.
For more information on organizing an evening like this, check the TL Special Weekly Report on pbwiki:
Literacy Across the Curriculum, Section 5
