GRAND CROSSING — Students made books with their parents on Family Literacy Night as a new "reading oasis" opened at Brownell Elementary.
The school, at 6741 S. Michigan Ave., offered interactive workshops Wednesday evening for parents and students to encourage literacy at home. They learned how to develop reading routines, which include playing games, talking about their day, and labeling items in the home.
Energizer partnered with Scholastic Book Fairs to build the area that is open for both parents and students.
“This is an exciting time and I appreciate what the school is doing,” said Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th), who attended the ceremony. “It’s important to reach them when they’re young.”
Christy LaVine, the field sales supervisor for Scholastic Book Fairs, said that 1,200 books were donated. The reading oasis also has a listening library. The room was painted in bright colors and decked out with cozy furniture to make it a comfortable place to kick back with a book.
“It’s exciting that Scholastic and Energizer coupled together to do this for us. Our reading oasis is something I feel is important for our parents so they can have that connection with the school and with their child,” said the school’s principal, Richard Morgan.
The books in the reading oasis are for prekindergarten through sixth-grade students. LaVine said there are poetry books, picture books, historical fiction books, Harry Potter, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," "Goosebumps" and more.
“There is a really good mix of everything, so hopefully, everyone can find something that they can enjoy and will help benefit them,” she said.
Carolyn Green, a Grand Crossing resident who reads with her 8-year-old daughter nightly, toured the room.
"It's really nice," she said.
Her daughter already plans to take advantage of the room.
“My daughter came with me and she’s like, ‘OK mom, after school I’ll be here to like 4:45 p.m.’ and I’m like, 'OK, you can do that,'” said Green, 30.
LaVine said that it’s important for parents to get in the habit of reading with their child when they’re young.
“If you’re not reading by third grade you generally don’t graduate, so we want to make sure we’re getting in at the ground level and making sure that those students have that opportunity,” she said.
In addition to attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony, parents also visited the school’s book fair. Brownell Elementary received $1,750 in gift certificates, which allowed each student to spend up to $7 on a book.
“We want to make sure that all the kids have the opportunity to choose a book of their choice to read,” LaVine said.
Akesha Eddins, 39, browsed through the books at the book fair with Jasmine, her third-grade daughter. Eddins said she strongly supported what the school was doing to promote literacy.
“I think they’re doing great,” she said, adding that the workshop offered good tips that she plans on incorporating at home.
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