‘Good Night, Inskip’ promotes literacy, community

Josh FloryOur Town Youth

Inskip Elementary School is using technology to put a new twist on the traditional bedtime story.

Over the past two years, Inskip has launched a weekly gathering called “Good Night, Inskip,” in which teachers, principals and other school staff read a bedtime story while being videotaped.

The videos are shared online every Wednesday night, and many of them feature school employees reading in their homes.

Lalita Thompson has two daughters who attend the school. She said she learned about the program shortly after they enrolled.

Thompson said her girls look forward to the videos. Their favorite so far was “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” by Eric Carle. “We’ve been reading it to them since they were little,” she said.

Inskip principal Lynn Jacomen said the school is trying to promote a culture of reading and to reach families in unconventional ways.

As part of that effort, a teacher recently teamed up with a student to read a children’s book in two languages. “Now we’re really trying to reach out to our Spanish-speaking families more and see how can we also make sure that we’re reading the book in Spanish,” Jacomen said.

Besides sharing popular books with students, “Good Night, Inskip” has also made an impression by showing a different side of teachers and school staff.

Some teachers have worn pajamas in their videos, while others incorporate their pets as sidekicks. Kaelyn Martin, a second-grade student, said those videos are fun because “the pet’s cute and it makes the people happy.”

Kaelyn said her favorite bedtime story was “Pete the Cat,” adding that the videos help her fall asleep.

“Whenever they’re reading the stories, they’re not really going too fast,” she said. “And when they’re kind of going slow it makes me sleepy.”

Josh Flory is a multi-media specialist with Knox County Schools and writes this blog, Hall Pass, for the KCS website.

 

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