St. Edmond Catholic School will provide young students with an opportunity to enhance their reading skills.

On April 3, a special Literacy Night will be held for St. Edmond students from 3-year-old preschool through fifth grade in the elementary school gym beginning at 5:15 p.m.

The theme for the event this year will be “Camp Read-A-Lot” with creative camping related activities to engage those that attend.

There will also be a book fair held during the event, book basket raffles a freewill donation dinner and a book walk with an opportunity to earn free books.

“Encouraging a child’s love for reading is crucial for their social, emotional and cognitive growth,” St. Edmond elementary principal Tabitha Acree said. “By immersing in the written word, children can expand their imagination and explore passions, interests, and new ideas.

“Our literacy night helps families connect through shared literacy activities.”

Kaitlyn Julius, an elementary instructional coach at the school, said over 220 students attended last year with almost 300 signed up already for this one.

“Holding our Literacy Night event is so important because it is a chance for parents to engage in their childs’ learning, while finding how to foster their love for reading,” Julius said. “When our children are young, they are learning to read each day. Eventually, this changes to them reading to learn each day at school. But, many times parents wonder … ‘What can I do to help my child at home?’

“The purpose of this event is to support parents in working with their child. By attending literacy night, parents will be introduced to specific strategies that they can use to help their child strengthen their phonemic awareness, and/or reading and comprehension skills. These literacy night activities/information paired with support at home as well, allows children to learn to love reading. In the fun literacy activities that all participate in during this event, it can show everyone that reading is fun.”

Registration will take place in the elementary lobby and commons areas depending on first letter of last name.

Session one for last names A-through-J will take place from 5:30 p.m.-5:45 p.m. with session two going from 5:50 p.m.-6:05 p.m. with times being 6:10 p.m.-6:25 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.-6:45 p.m. for last names K-through-Z.

Students are encouraged to wear pajamas or comfy clothes as a way to be more relaxed while reading. For that who provided an early RSVP, a special book “goodie” bag will be handed out.