Jenna, Kristen and Kayla Griswold, from left, get ready to celebrate their love of learning during the school's annual event.North Hamilton County Elementary recently celebrated its second annual Love of Learning day for students and parents. Instead of a usual open house-type event, parents go to their child's classroom to learn strategies for helping them read and do math at home, while the students go to a different room to be read to aloud.
"We got such positive feedback on the first one," principal Jacquie Hauth said in regards to the event. "Parents enjoy learning from their children's teachers, and the kids get a kick out of it too."
At the end of the night, parents receive free books on par with their child's reading level as well as dice and math strategies for their child's grade level to help the child become more proficient with math facts.
One strategy the school recommended at this year's event for reading aloud to children is for parents to visualize scenes from the book in their head along with the students, said Hauth. Parents were also taught word attack strategies that help students identify and pronounce unfamiliar words, as well as how to guide students in asking good questions while they read.
The students' teachers also recommended ways to increase a child's fluency in math facts, such as letting the child count out change at a store or decide if they have enough allowance for a particular toy.
"It really helps with the communication between home and school," Hauth said, referencing the Love of Learning event. "The way we like to think about parents is they are the child's first teacher, and the only teacher that follows them through every day of school."
A grant from Unum made it possible for the school to give out the free books, dice and math workbooks, she said.