Inside different rooms at Sandy Hook School during the evening of Thursday, March 12, a number of “camps” were set up for the school’s Literacy Night.

Parents and students made their way through different camps throughout the evening, participating in prechosen camps from a list of options.

In Camp Word Games, students and parents played Scrabble, Boggle, Scrabble Slam, and various other games. By half-way through the evening Bananagrams, a word game that comes in a banana pouch, was noted as a clear favorite.

In the Camp Reader’s Theater students became a character and read through plays like The True Story of the Big Bad Wolf, according to a handout for the event.

In Camp Read Aloud students and parents sat around a “fire,” made using flameless candles, paper leaves, and paper towel rolls in place of logs, as fourth grade teacher Kathy Gramolini read books; in Camp Choral Readings various songs, poems, and stories were song by the groups; in Camp Story Writing students and parents created digital stories.

At Camp C.H. Booth Library, Children’s Librarian Lana Bennison and Young Adult Librarian Kim Weber, both visiting from Booth Library, oversaw a quiz and rounds of Literacy Pictionary, which had students attempting to draw images that would represent book titles for the gathered group to guess; and in the Book Swap Swamp room, students brought up to three books to swap for other books brought in by students.

Sandy Hook School language arts consultant Cynthia McArthur said more than 60 families signed up to participate in this year’s Literacy Night. She also said she wanted this year’s Literacy Night to be a bit different from previous Literacy Nights, and the theme of camps was used after Camp Read Aloud-like events were held at the school. Those were popular according to Ms McArthur.

All of the events during the Literacy Night, Ms McArthur said, were designed to help parents strengthen their child’s literacy skills at home.

Gently used books were also collected during the event and throughout the previous week at the school to be donated to the 4th Annual Gently Used Children’s Books Drive, sponsored by Connecticut Assistant Attorney General William Bumpus, according to a handout for the event.