Family Literacy Event...A Draft

Planning a Family Literacy Event can be daunting, but I am feeling extra grateful that my local Panda Fellows all work “in” the same building as I. We are a mix of virtual and hybrid teachers with a passion for not only our students but the families we serve as a whole.

At November’s Panda meeting a couple of words caught my attention in the last 10 minutes of our session, “Time Capsule.” And that was the spark for what I hope to be an exciting and beneficial family event. Two years ago our building was able to open a time capsule that was buried in our courtyard 50 years prior. Families were invited to the opening, the local newspaper wrote articles, current students decorated our school to welcome back the former students that created this time capsule, it was a big deal. We had made plans to replace that capsule with a new one, but haven’t gotten a chance to get it going yet. Now next year we will be moving into a brand new building and it seems like the perfect time to make this happen! We are still working out the kinks for how we want this to go, but maybe we could have parents design the time capsule as a beginning activity, pulling from the funds of knowledge our families may have about building or design. Perhaps we could theme it along with COVID and students could interview family members about their experience during the pandemic and what they are looking forward to as a vaccine is becoming available. Families could create a mural or collage that represents their experiences during this time or maybe even a video. It could be beneficial to survey families to see what they would need or like to have included in this process to really create buy-in and excitement about this project.

Overall, there is more planning needed, but it feels exciting to get this event rolling!