Elementary families attend the Reading Cafe

    HARLAN — As book characters like the Cat in the Hat and Harry Potter roamed the gym, Harlan Community Elementary School held its literacy night Thursday.
    Paula Kjergaard, K-5 Instructional Coach, said the elementary literacy night is an annual event that started as a project for her Master’s and Literacy Specialist degrees.
    “It coincides with Read Across America month which is March so we hold it the first week of March each year,” she said. “We always have a ‘theme’ and this year’s ‘A book tasting at the Reading Cafe’.”  
    Students learned more about a variety of text genres, including mysteries, fantasy, fairy tales and fables, biographies, graphic novels, and informational text.
    “The purpose of this event is to offer an opportunity to bring our families, community members, and our school together to focus on the importance of literacy in our lives,” Kjergaard said. “We want to encourage and support families so they can support their own children with reading and writing in their homes.”
    Participants had hot dogs for dinner, made bookmarks to take home, picked out free books and entered contests for prizes throughout the night.