"Reading is Our Super Power" at Bower Elementary in D200

On the evening of March 20th, Bower Elementary (CUSD 200) educators, parents, and staff came together for their annual Family Reading Night. This is the 8th year of Family Reading Night in the school’s history. Planning for this year’s theme, “Reading Is Our Super Power”, began in November with Wheaton Warrenville Education Association (WWEA) members Ms. Melissa Lamkin, Ms. Jen Keeler, Ms. Nicole Zace, Ms. Katina Kastrantas, Mr. Chaz Leckron, Ms. Liz Westergaard, and Bower Parent Teacher Association (PTA) parent representative, Ms. Ali Loli.

As in the previous years of Family Reading Night, this year was a combined effort of educators, parents, and members of the Wheaton Warrenville South Key Club. About a month before the event, students were allowed to pick one book per family from a choice of four superhero-themed books. The Bower PTA funded the book choice for each family who selected a book. Parents donated cookies and cookie decorating supplies for one of the stations that night. Several teachers and aides helped with supplies prior to the event including prepping capes and masks, creating trivia questions, decorating a bulletin board, and creating large building decorations for the gym. To help promote Family Reading Night, a storyline script was written by Ms. Melissa Lamkin and ten teachers plus Principal Mark Kohlmann were part of the video’s cast. The video was shown in classrooms and featured the plot of the Family Reading Night books had gone missing, taken by the sinister Mr. Freeze. The cast of teachers played various hero characters, including a local police officer and firefighter, two superheroes, and two army officers, who all tried to help the Library Learning Center (LLC) director and two teachers find the missing books. In the end, Principal Kohlmann saves the day by figuring out the clues that Mr. Freeze took the books and returns them to Mr. Leckron.

On the afternoon of the event, many WWEA members volunteered to help transform the school’s gym into “Bobcat City” and to set up the various activities. Over 100 families were greeted at 6:00pm and received a schedule of all the places they could visit. After each completed activity, families received a stamp on their card. Activities this year included: Bobcat City - families could read in cozy, fun areas in the gym and also included a photo booth; Trivia Time - had fun Kahoot! Superhero-themed trivia questions; Super Snack - included supplies for yummy cookie decorating; We Need a Hero! - families could create their own superhero comic strip and complete a superhero acrostic poem; Secret Identities - supplies for making capes and masks were provided; and Super Words - included superhero word searches and word building out of the words “Super Heroes Read”. Children were encouraged to come in their favorite superhero gear. Students created their own capes and masks at a station to wear that evening as well. The evening’s activities were facilitated by approximately 25 WWEA members.

“Reading Is Our Super Power” Family Reading Night was once again an event that was truly enjoyed by so many Bower Elementary students, younger siblings, parents, educators, and even the families of some Bower teachers. The staff at Bower is thankful to the PTA and our school community who support us in helping to encourage a love of reading in our students!