Belmont students, staff and faculty will continue to engage and transform Nashville on Saturday, April 6 with the 13th annual Family Literacy Day. The spring-time event allows students and employees to have the unique opportunity to partner with the local community for an afternoon to encourage reading and literacy.
Family Literacy Day will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. at E.S. Rose Park and Sports Complex on Edgehill Avenue. The event, aimed at children from pre-K through grade six and their families, is designed to celebrate the joys of reading with a free afternoon of interactive story times, crafts, games and refreshments. The primary focus of the event is Reading Circles, hosted by various campus groups such as the foreign language majors, fraternities and sororities, the Black Student Alliance and the Student Athlete Council. Each group picks a different theme and offers a variety of books for all ages. When children visit a circle and listen to or read a book, they receive a sticker. Participants can collect stickers to be traded for playing games, making crafts or selecting a new book from hundreds of children’s books donated by Book’em. In addition, throughout the afternoon, there will be drawings for a variety of door prizes, as well as balloons, face-painting and more.
In 2010, Belmont began partnering with Metro Nashville Public Schools to sponsor a poetry contest in conjunction with Family Literacy Day. First through fourth grade students are invited to submit original poems based on the current year’s theme, which is “Favorite Animal” for 2013. Five finalists are selected by members of Belmont’s English Club and are given the opportunity to work with area songwriters and/or Belmont songwriting majors to set their poems to music. The songs are recorded and placed on the Web site for the community to enjoy and vote for their favorite song. This year’s finalists will be recognized at Family Literacy Day.
Belmont’s Family Literacy Day is but one of many components of the Belmont Volunteers for Literacy program, that include ongoing tutoring programs at Carter-Lawrence School, Easley Community Center, and English tutoring with adults through the Nashville Adult Literacy Council. The annual event is made possible through the support of sponsors Dollar General and Fifth Third Bank.
