Hazelwood Elementary recently celebrated and highlighted the power and wonder of reading during Literacy Night. This event was provided for parents and students by the teachers and staff at Hazelwood. During this fun-filled and educational night, teachers and staff were able to talk with parents about how to help their child with reading at home. Parents were encouraged to take home many handouts that they could use with their child during nightly reading and writing. Families were able to learn about strategies and ways to read WITH and TO their child while making it an enjoyable experience. Synergizing between home and school is an important way to help each student reach his or her fullest potential.

In our lobby, parents could donate gently used books to our “Readbox.” These books will be given to students at the end of the school year to promote summer reading. Students were encourage to take home a favorite book this evening as well. Various books with a 7 Habits focus were on display so parents could see how the 7 Habitsare integrated into much of the literature we read. Lisa Hartzell, Haywood County Public Librarian, was on hand so parents and students could sign up for a Haywood County Public Library card.

In the Library, parents could sign up for a Hazelwood Elementary library card and learn about library hours and our Parent section consisting of many books to help in parenting. The highlight in the Library, however, was Story Time! Students and parents were treated to the reading aloud of several popular children’s books. Readers included several local authors: Anna Browning, Phil Cauley, and Angela Dove. This year, we also had two student Reader Leaders. These two students were chosen out of many applicants who applied for this leadership opportunity. Joe, a 4th grader, and Zadie, a 1st grader, were chosen by our Assistant Principal, Nicole Revis, to read to our audience that evening. They did an outstanding job alongside our local authors.

Before leaving parents and students were treated to hot chocolate and cookies and could share a story together as many classic books were on hand for them to read together. Students also had an opportunity to make a bookmark to take to remember their evening of reading. Student leaders from every grade helped make this night a huge success.

Submitted by Carol Clarke, Hazelwood Elementary