Ha! I crack myself up. This year we hosted a Pirate Family Literacy Night! Every year we host our families for a fun night of reading and writing activities in a theme.
Pirates is a fun theme with tons of possibilities.
I mean, think about it. There are hook hands and peglegs and ships with huge sails.
There are treasure maps and jewels and deserted islands.
You can say Arrrrr! a lot, and wear scarves and hats. What’s not to like?
So how do you put together a family literacy night, a la pirate? Want some family literacy night ideas?? You can get them in this post, and grab my planning guide at the bottom of the post!
How to plan a family literacy night
About a month before Literacy Night, I start the planning. I figure out what stations I’m going to have, what materials I need to make and copy.
I also find out who will be able to help out at a station or at the front of the school.
I cut, stack, and laminate (or I have the lovely volunteers at our school help with it.)
About a week before Literacy Night, I start putting samples and materials together. I go shopping and buy everything we need. I put together the bags for the door (including a bookmark and a reading pledge). I talk to our librarian to make sure we’re ready with the free books we give away – one to each child. And I put together the snack station.
Family Literacy Night Snack Station Idea
This year’s snack was this adorable craft:
To make it, I stuffed plastic snack-sized bags with a popsicle stick (for spreading frosting), a mini chocolate doughnut, a pretzel stick, and a handful of goldfish. I also cut up little pieces of white paper for the sail and purchased the little paper plates and frosting.
I downloaded How I Became a Pirate to play in the background while the kids were working on their snack.
At the front door, our librarian handed out books to our kids!
Family Literacy Night Word Study Game
This was the Treasure Map station: a fun word family game. Kids made the pieces by cutting them out of yardstick and then put them in a paper bag. The kids and parents took turns drawing cards to fill up their treasure maps!
Family Literacy Night Partner Play Station
Kids and parents read these fun pirate partner plays with their hats and hooks on!
Family Literacy Night Idea: Reading in Pirate Cove
This was our reading station: Pirate Cove. We set up comfy chairs and spots to sit and read and provided baskets of books. Our super art teacher made this ship, too!
Family Literacy Night Idea: Dig for Buried Treasure
This station was a huge hit: Digging for Buried Treasure. I took two plastic wading pools and had some helpers fill them with balled-up butcher paper in yellow and brown (to represent sand).
Then I copied these gems and coins on cardstock and mixed them up in the paper balls.
Teachers read a card with a prefix (at the big kids station) or a rhyming word (at the little kids station) and kids dug through the pools to find the matching words!
Family Literacy Night Idea: How I Became a Pirate
At the last station, kids wrote adorable stories about how they became pirates and then they made a paper plate pirate!
Arrr you ready for family literacy night ideas?
Wow! You put a lot of work into this! I bet your families had a great time!
Great ideas! I am getting ready to begin planning our first Family Literacy Night. This gives me a wonderful starting place!