What’s Right With Our Schools: Montessori Elementary Family Literacy Night
CHATTANOOGA, TN (WDEF) -A love of reading really helps children excel in the classroom. Montessori Elementary at Highland Park worked to instill that love in their students at their recent family literacy night. Let’s turn a few pages in tonight’s what’s right with our schools.
Nova Holeva is the Assistant Principal at Montessori Elementary at Highland Park.
She says, “We have the literacy night and open house this evening here. We have the library here giving out free library passes and bus passes to get to the library. We also have a local author who’s coming tonight at 6 o’clock to read her book. Pap Pap goes to Paris.”
Amanda Parker is the Principal at Montessori Elementary.
She says, ” We had many parents waiting outside about 4:15, 4:45. Ready to get in the outdoors. So, and that’s pretty typical of them. Our Montessori parents is they’re always ready to participate and come in.”
Assistant Principal Holeva adds, “And students are going to show their parents all of their writings that they’ve accomplished this year and create some bookmarks in our cafeteria.”
Principal Parker continues, “We want to set a foundation that literacy is really at the core of what we do, especially in elementary education and with Montessori. So, we wanted to bring families in and engage them and really share with them what our students have already started on this early in the school year. Just to set us up for the entire school year in a strong finish in you know English and language arts.”
Christi Jackson has a child at the school.
She says, “We love how to chance to go to his classroom and talk to his teachers see what they do in the classroom. We get to do activities to focus on literacy and also see what he’s been reading so far this year. For instance, I got to get a copy of a reading log and make sure that I was keeping up with signing this every week to keep up with what he’s reading in classroom, and, also I’m making a copy so I can keep up at home.”
Assistant Principal Holeva chips in, “This has been going on since we started. But I did lead the troops and kind of creating some different things that we did. And we just kind of brainstorm some ideas and it went from there.”
Principal Parker adds, ” Well, we really want to bring our families in on all of the work that’s going on here at Montessori, especially around literacy. And really, you know, get students excited about literacy. So let them meet the author and make some bookmarks and really engage with their books and their reading in a different way. And then of course engage our families around showcasing all of the work that students are doing. So, it’s really a way for us to build community and investment through our families and our students.”
Assistant Principal Holeva says, “All of our parents are amazing about attending events. They love to support their children and to support the school.”
Principal Parker concludes, “I know that Montessori is a warm, welcoming place. We work to awaken curiosity and independence in our students and really give them the strongest standards-based foundation, public school education in Highland Park.”
