St. Philip the Apostle School encourages reading with 'Night in Seussville'

Area families enjoyed a fun night in "Seussville" when St. Philip the Apostle School in Addison hosted its first Family Literacy Night on April 11. More than 103 children and parents attended the free event, which enabled students to explore reading through a variety of games, crafts and other hands-on activities.

Preschoolers through fifth-graders visited nine different activity stations featuring Dr. Seuss books, including: "One Fish, Two Fish Sight Word Pond," "Horton Hears a Who Bingo," "Yertle the Turtle Syllable Stacking," "My Many Colored Days Metaphor Sand Writing," "Fox in Socks Puppets," "Green Eggs and Ham Tasting," "Hop on Pop Hopscotch," "McElligot's Pool Duck Pond" and "Cat in the Hat Masks." Even the snacks had a literacy theme, such as the "Consonant-Vowel-Consonant Popcorn Station."

There was also a parent information station where adults could pick up brochures and flyers about promoting literacy at home.

This fun and educational evening activity was spearheaded by Casey Depaepe, the school's assistant principal and academic interventionist. "I love to instill a love of literature and learning in my students. We offered stations that engaged visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners. It also gave parents to see how they can best help their child learn," she explained.

DePaepe worked with the school's junior high Enrichment Group, which planned and implemented the event. "It was a wonderful way to have our sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders involved in Project Based Learning for preschool and elementary students."

"The group organized it all. They developed the games, designed and sold T-shirts to raise funds for the event, created marketing materials and publicized it, decorated the school and manned the stations during the Literacy Night," DePaepe added.

The Enrichment Group includes sixth-grader Joe R., seventh-graders Alex A., Jack D., Lorelai F., Frankie G., and Caroline T., and eighth-graders Sofia A., Miabella D., Annie O., Philip S. and Amari T.

In addition, 25 junior high students helped in the stations throughout the evening.

"The event was so popular with community, school and parish families that we hope to make it an annual activity," said Principal Julie Noonan.

The Literacy Night was the second of two family-education evenings that St. Philip the Apostle School hosted this year. More than 70 children and families attended the school's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Exploratory Night in February.

St. Philip the Apostle School serves preschool through eighth-grade students from Addison and the surrounding communities. The school offers a family-friendly atmosphere that nurtures the Catholic faith, academic excellence and lifelong service. Its goal is to equip each of its students with the tools she or he needs to become leaders in faith and knowledge in the global community. For more information about St. Philip the Apostle School, visit school.st-phil.org.