Name: The Magic of Reading: How to Run a School Reading Night that Builds Literacy, Community, and Student Motivation
Start: 2026-09-19T11:15:00+0200
End: 2026-09-19T12:15:00+0200

Working Together To Support Learning

The Magic of Reading: How to Run a School Reading Night that Builds Literacy, Community, and Student Motivation

Saturday September 19, 2026 11:15am - 12:15pm CEST

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Reading motivation remains one of the most significant predictors of long-term academic success, yet many students experience reading primarily as a school task rather than a meaningful, shared activity. At Dresden International School (PYP), we developed an annual Reading Night — a whole-grade literacy event embedded in Literacy Week — designed to create positive emotional connections to reading.
During the Reading Night, students gather after school for read-alouds, shared storytelling, literacy games, library visits, and independent flashlight reading before sleeping overnight at school with their classmates. The event intentionally combines literacy with belonging, excitement, and memory-making. Students who are typically reluctant readers often become highly engaged, and the days and weeks following the event show increased book borrowing, reading conversations, and voluntary reading.
This workshop shares our experiences from several years of running the Reading Night. Rather than presenting a perfect model, it will honestly explore how the event evolved, what worked well, and what did not. Practical aspects such as organisation, communication with parents, staffing, student wellbeing, and managing concerns about safety will be addressed. Participants will gain insight into how a literacy event can strengthen class community, support social-emotional development, and positively influence reading attitudes.T
he session is designed as a collaborative exchange. Participants will have opportunities to ask questions, share their own literacy traditions and challenges, and discuss how similar ideas could be adapted to their own school contexts — whether through a full Reading Night or smaller alternatives.
Participants will receive example materials (parent communication, schedules, activity ideas, and planning considerations) to support adaptation in their own settings.

Speakers