Just like any family-oriented event at Eton Elementary School, Jennifer Jones, the school’s assistant principal, was looking forward to the school’s second annual Title I Fireside Literacy Night on Nov. 7. This year, however, one important ingredient — which gave the event its name — would be snuffed out due to a county-wide burn ban: a campfire.
“Last year we had it outside and we were able to use a small fire pit as part of the literacy event,” Jones said. “Unfortunately we were not able to bring that back this year because of the ban.”
That same day, the Murray County Fire Department issued an emergency burn ban throughout the county in response to extreme drought conditions plaguing much of Georgia. This meant, effective immediately, a ban was placed on burning brush piles, leaves, burn barrels, fire pits, bonfires, cooking fires and campfires.
Jones said that did not put a damper on the festivities.
“We ended up having the event indoors while keeping the fireside theming,” she said.
Reminiscent of a typical campfire gathering, the event featured all the standard necessities required for a proper fireside get-together, including s’mores, hot chocolate and, of course, storytime, where several guest readers read a variety of books to students and their family members.
Shirley Flood and her daughter McKenzie, a fourth-grader at Eton Elementary, said their first time attending the event was a blast.
“We love to camp, so we loved that it was a s’mores event even though we couldn’t do it outside,” Shirley Flood said. “But it was still super cute. We had s’mores and hot chocolate inside and they did little crafts where the kids got to make their own little “fire” with little plastic cups and shreds of paper.”
Flood said the best part of the night involved free books being handed out to students.
“They had a table set up that had books for all ages so that kids could pick however many they wanted to take home,” she said.
She said McKenzie gravitated toward a chapter book about dogs.
“That one was age-appropriate for her, but she also picked a few that were about elves and snowmen,” she recalled.
“The goal (of the event) is to strengthen the parent and school partnership, and promote literacy,” Jones said. “We provide families with quick activities and ideas on how to help their child with (literacy-based) activities at home. We provided free books from our Title I (funds) and we had several read-aloud stations set up around the school with special readers.”
Readers included Joe Davis, a member of the Murray County Board of Assessors, and Toby Westmoreland, a 2022 inductee of the Murray County High School Alumni Association Hall of Fame.
“We also had Irma Chavez, our Title I parent translator, for Spanish-speaking families,” said Jones. “She was the one that provided free books for the families (to take home).”
After hearing the book readings, Jones said students participated in extension activities “to activate their learning (in regards to) the books that they read,” while also sitting around their own makeshift “campfires” made out of construction paper and tissue paper.
Jones said the event had one of the largest turnouts she has seen in quite some time at the school.
“It was very well-attended; we had maybe 200 people (including students and family members),” she said. “I think post-COVID(-I9), this has been one of the most well-attended events we have provided.”
She said the Title I family night events at Eton Elementary are part of a wider effort to improve outside communication.
““The whole purpose is to strengthen the partnership between school and home, and all of our family nights are focused on our school improvement goal,” she said. “Eton was highlighted as being one of the highest-growth schools in the state and we want to make sure we provide our families with strategies for at-home learning.”
Eton was recognized as a Reward School by the Georgia Department of Education for the 2022-23 academic year, which means it was among “the greatest-improving 5% of Title I School-wide and Title I Targeted Assistance schools in the state, when comparing the content mastery scores from the most recent two years of statewide assessments,” an Oct. 3 release from Murray County Schools stated.
Throughout each school year, Eton holds several family night events, with the fireside event putting a focus specifically on literacy.
“In February, we’re doing a GLAM (night), which stands for gym, library, art and music, and it will be for our elective classes,” Jones said. “Our elective class teachers will provide activities and it will be a whole school event. We always have translators available for families as well so we can keep ongoing communication in a language that (any of our students) use at home.”
Flood said she and McKenzie “always try to catch each event.”
“(Eton Elementary) always has something for the kids to do and it keeps them entertained,” Flood said. “It’s great for the families to get together and enjoy their time with each other, and maybe see some people you haven’t seen in a while as your kids enjoy the learning process.”