Chinook Elementary's Literacy Night

I was invited to be a Guest Reader at Chinook Elementary's Literacy Night. I shared one of my favorite picture books, The Kissing Hand, a story about a raccoon named Chester heading off to his first night of school and feeling sad about leaving his mom. She gives him a kiss in each hand which warms his heart as he carries them off to school with him. At the end of the story he gives his mom a kiss in her hand to carry with her. It's such a sweet, heart warming story for a mom. It's especially sentimental to me because as a young child, my mom did put kisses into my hands each morning as she headed off to work. To this day, she still finishes a phone call with "What's in your hands?" I was happy to share this book with the students and families of Chinook. Sycely helped serve as my page turner :)

Families gathered at Literacy Night dressed as their favorite story character and enjoyed art activities, a dress up and puppet area, guest readers, free food and most importantly, free books for every Chinook student! My favorite costume, by far was Chinook principal, Anita Stevens' Very Hungry Caterpillar outfit. It was a fabulous rendition of the famous Eric Carl character and it was no surprise what book she chose to read: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle!

Target helped sponsor this event, providing hundreds of free books for the students in attendance. It was so great to be a part of an event encouraging literacy and supporting families in imparting the importance of reading within their own homes.