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Lincoln Middle School
Gainesville, Florida
www.sbac.edu/~lms/

     Throughout the school year Lincoln Middle School hosts regular Family Literacy Nights. Creatively organized and emceed by reading coach, Cheryl Thorn, students and parent meet in the media center for refreshments, award presentations, student performances, and focus on a literacy skill or guest speaker.

     The final Family Literacy Night of the 2007-2008 year was held in mid May and I was honored to be the guest speaker. The thrust of this last event of the year was to encourage summer reading. Not only is reading fun, but research shows that students who do not read through the summer actually lose some of the gains they made during the school year. Students who read year ‘round, not only avoid such losses, but increase their skills more rapidly.

     The media center was nearly full of excited people. If I’d been able to capture the energy and creativity of the students who performed I’d have finished three more books by now! It was delightful to hear students sing, watch them dance, and see them receive awards for a recent poster contest.

     After reading a short passage from Solomon I answered questions about how the book was written, what I learned from the process, what was fact and what was fiction in the novel, and what my inspirations were.

     The Family Literacy Night is a unique and exciting way to draw together students, parents, and teachers to share their interests in literacy issues. I would recommend that other schools try it, too!

     Thanks to Cheryl Thorn, Dr. Don Lewis, principal, and all the Lincoln Middle School Terriers for a warm welcome and fun evening.

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