Love of Literacy Alive at Langley Meadows 

January 24, 2025

The halls of Langley Meadows Community School were a lot warmer and cozier than usual on Wednesday evening. Throughout the school, staff set up tables with activities, laid out carefully curated books, and created a reading nook complete with dim lighting and pillows for a calming and comfortable environment.  

It was all part of the school’s Family Literacy Night. Principal Rhonda Krisko said it was an opportunity to share strategies with families to help support student learning and promote a love of reading. 

“We’ve asked all families to join us, to come and learn about how they can support their children’s literacy skills at home, and just to connect and communicate with families, with each other, and with staff,” said Krisko. 

“We want to make them feel equipped to do that, feel comfortable, and to increase their comfort level in talking to staff,” she added. 

There were seventeen staff members dressed in bright blue “Langley Meadows Reads” T-shirts, happy to help students and their families. Krisko was grateful and proud to have everyone working together for a common objective in the school’s Action Plan for Learning, which is a living document that outlines goals and actions that when implemented, contribute to the success for all learners. 

She explained how this event “hits all the areas” of the school’s action plan goal, “to work with families in supporting students in their development, self-regulations skills, and their sense of belonging, so they can become life-long learners, and engage as life-long learners and meet their literacy goals.” 

The evening started with a brief introduction in the gym led by Krisko. Thereafter, students, with their parents and guardians by their side, were free to move from station to station.  

In the gym, there were stations set up for early primary aged students. Teachers demonstrated activities that helped with identifying letters and letter sounds.  

In the library, there were stations with activities to help boost reading skills and “how to decode” or breakdown words into sounds. Other stations were arts and craft based as well as some focused on the use of technology to enhance literacy.  

Krisko said they are all things that families can easily do at home with their child. 

“I want them to walk away feeling like they can support their child in their literacy development. That they can see some strategies, some skills, some activities that are specifically strategy building, some are just for fun, but that they can engage with their child in their literacy development,” she noted. 

As an education leader, she knows how important collaboration is to a student’s success. 

“A child’s educational development really does depend on the relationship between the families and the school. And the students, when they know that we are all working together and we are all on the same page, their capacity to learn increases significantly,” remarked Krisko. 

At the end of the night, families were invited to take some selfies at the photo booth as well as leave with a hot chocolate and cookie.