POMARIA — Take a trip through history by bringing your family to Pomaria-Garmany Elementary’s All-American Family Literacy Night on Feb. 13 from 5 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. at Pomaria-Garmany Elementary School.
This is the second year that the event has been held, and Assistant Administrator Paige Graham said that this year they wanted to incorporate a different theme for the kids and their families.
“We had more of a Valentine’s Day theme last year and this year we, which includes the Literacy Committee that’s made up of reading coaches and several teachers, decided that to just change up the theme this year. Of course with the presidential election and February being Black History Month and Women’s History Month, we decided to go with an All-American theme,” said Graham.
Staff members and families who plan on attending the event are encouraged to show their patriotism by dressing as their favorite American hero, either past or present, or wearing traditional red, white and blue.
During the Literacy Night, dinner will be served to guests by the cafeteria staff. They will be preparing traditional American foods such as hot dogs, along with chips and drinks and apple pie for dessert. Meals will be available throughout the whole event.
Throughout the evening, there will be various stations for the kids and parents to take part in. Families will receive a slip and can check off each station as they go. One of the stations, writing a letter to your “All-American” PGE student, will be for the parents where they go in and write a letter to their student.
“We have Tiger Mail here at Pomaria-Garmany, where we have fourth grade students who are our deliverers and they will deliver that mail within the school. Each classroom has an address and that will be available for parents that night,” said Graham.
Another station to look forward to is reading in the four corners of the U.S.A. In this area, all of the students who attend PGE will be given a free book.
“The room is going to decorated in the various regions of the United States, in terms of grasslands, mountains and oceans. They’ll have an opportunity to read and then take home their free book,” said Graham.
Other activities include bingo for books, a family photo booth, a writing walk, where kids can win fun prizes and the Book Fair will also be open in the library.
“The Literacy Committee handles the planning, but all of our teachers are just wonderful and if you had or have an opportunity to come in the front door, you’ll see the bulletin board. We encourage, as part of our decoration for that night that rather than buying a lot of things, our teachers have the students create artwork or writing pieces and we have the hallways just full of student work. That is also centered around that All-American theme,” said Graham.
With how accessible technology is to kids, it’s easy for anyone to pick up a tablet or a computer and start reading. At Pomaria-Garmany, teachers will report how many books their homeroom students have read and if their reading goal is met, they will have a celebration.
In January, PGE students exceeded their reading goal and as a result the students were able to meet with a partner class, where the upper grades were partnered with a lower grade class and had a reading celebration in the gym.
“In each class, students also have independent reading time and small group reading time. I think through that our students know the value that we place on being able to read and the overall enjoyment of reading as well. You have to combine both,” said Graham.
Following the event the PTO meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the multi-purpose room. The third grade will be celebrating the state of South Carolina in the South Carolina Alive Program, with a special performance by the third through fifth grade Dance Club.