My school had parent-teacher conferences tonight.  Since I'm not in a classroom of my own this year, my role was somewhat different from past years.  I am an Academic Coach.  Our school's Reading Coach and Math Coach share a room with me.  We have been turning our room into a resource room for all of our teachers.  Tonight we had copies of lots of reading and math resources for parents to use to work with their children.  This is the first time we've tried this and it was very successful.  Traditionally, we have a poor turnout at our school.  Twenty-one families visited our new resource room, which made the three of us very happy.

We had several handouts -- higher order thinking questions for before, during, and after reading; tips to improve fluency; lists of Dolch words by grade level; lists and run-downs of websites for reading and math activities; as well as several games for reading and math.  We also handed out packs of index cards to use for flash cards, dice for a math game, and decks of playing cards for addition and multiplication games.  Parents were genuinely appreciative.  We played some of the games with the children so they understood what to do.  If parents didn't understand some of the reports from their conferences, we helped explain them.

Tonight was so fulfilling.  I wasn't sure how it would go and knew I would miss the interaction with students and parents.  What a pleasant surprise when so many of them came and sought out advice.  We're already planning for the next conference night.  I'm ordering books so that we can hand a book to every child who comes.  We'll get bookmarks and other giveaways.  Tonight was a success, but it was also a trial run.  We now have a better idea of ways we can help our parents help their students improve their reading skills.  Being out of the classroom doesn't mean I can't still help students.

Our Reading Coach is also planning a Family Literacy Day for this next month.  Family members are invited to come to the school during either of two different time periods and read with their students.  She has connected with a local bookstore to get books to give away at the event.  Each student with a family member attending will receive a goodie bag with books and other reading materials.  Our goal is for families to share a positive reading experience together and learn ways to help their children.

I would love to hear other ideas and suggestions from others so that I can help make further reading events meaningful and successful.