Westbury Holds First “Virtual Bedtime Stories” Series of 2023

Westbury Union Free School District recently invited children’s author Quaybella Rose and Executive Director of Child Care Council of Nassau Joy Connolly, for the newest edition of Westbury’s Family and Community Engagement (FACE) initiative’s Virtual Bedtime Stories series. Thirty-eight community members and scholars participated in the virtual event. Quaybella and Joy were joined by two scholars from Drexel Avenue and Park Avenue schools to help conduct this session.

“It’s no secret that the pandemic took a toll on reading proficiency skills in young scholars,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Tahira DuPree Chase. “Studies have shown that nearly one-in-three scholars who started school during the pandemic are behind the reading learning curve, reading at a lower grade level. As a District, we work closely with all our elementary educators to get our scholars back on track. The Virtual Bedtime Stories series is just one of the many ways our ELA Department does a great job of getting young learners to develop a passion for reading at an early age.”

For the first session of 2023, Quaybella introduced her children’s book, Chloe’s Big Self-Esteem. The main protagonist in the story, Chloe, is a young girl who is confident in her body, full of self-love and doesn’t let others put her down. Chloe teaches children to be more confident and that everyone is beautiful. Quaybella, Joy and the two elementary scholars read the book together. Following the reading, there was a brief discussion on the themes introduced in the story.

“The purpose of creating this program was to promote reading and encourage our scholars to understand that not only is reading important academically, but it can also be meaningful and fun,” said Vicki Sylvain, (FACE) Liaison. “We are intentional in ensuring we have diverse authors share their work with our scholars.”

FACE will hold six sessions through the end of the school year. The next Virtual Bedtime Story will be held on February 27th at 7:30 pm over Zoom for a reading of the children’s book Meet the Three Princesses by Judith Annique Francois. To join, use the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81660355609. If you are interested in being a volunteer reader, please contact FACE at vsylvain@westburyschools.org.

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