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Students and parents at Twin Ridge Elementary School learned how to combine the thrill of the Olympics with the thrill of figuring out that big word or writing that first paper during the school's Literacy Night last week.

Ruth Allwardt, a reading specialist who organized the event, said the timing of the evening worked well with the Olympics. She noted the work that athletes put into the Olympics. "The same thing happens with writing," she said.

But the theme of the Feb. 24 event may have gone over some students' heads.

"One of the kids asked if they could actually snowboard," laughed Matt Verdin of Mount Airy, a father of two Twin Ridge Elementary students.

Chrissy Jongezoon of Mount Airy is president of the school's PTA, and has two children at Twin Ridge, a son in fifth grade and a daughter in kindergarten. "It shows that what they're learning is important to us," she said.

Jongezoon said the teaching insight and tips gained would be strategies she could take home and use for her daughter's reading and writing.

Colleen Cagle came with daughters Abigail and Elizabeth. She said the main reason she attended was because 6-year-old Abigail, a kindergarten student, wanted to. "She loves reading and I wanted to encourage them," she said.

They had stopped by the school's book fair before the literacy night, picking up some rainbow fairy books.

Verdin said he brought the kids because he thought it would be fun, but he's also focusing on his daughter's reading.

He said the second-grader isn't in love with reading, but is involved with an extracurricular activity of second-grade chorus.

"If she loves music, hopefully she'll associate the words with the music," he said.

Tying reading and writing to real life situations was a goal of the evening, Allwardt said, saying a focus was writing instruction, something stressed to students and parents.

Parents signed themselves and their children up for different "events," like figure skating, which dealt with writing traits, bobsled basics, which touched on reading comprehension, and winter sports, where new vocabulary was gained through winter sports games.

Kindergarten teacher Sara Gertler held one of the sessions involving strategies in reading.

Kids sat on a brightly colored mat in the classroom while parents sat in chairs behind. Gertler placed a magazine article on winter sports on a large screen, while sock puppets played the parts of the reading thought processes the students are encouraged towards: predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarizing.

Drum rolls were given for each of the sock puppets, which interacted with animated students.

"A lot of times if we reread things again, it will make sense," said Gertler through her puppet "Clara the Clarifier."

Puppet and students alike were puzzled over the words in the curling category. "Buff the ice? What does that mean?" asked the puppet to the parents, while one responded with the answer. "Thank goodness I have my parents here to clarify!" said Clara.

Tables, set up in back with small brown paper bags, markers, yarn and various art supplies, were soon filled by students ready to make similar puppets.

"Hopefully, the puppets will be a motivator for them," Gertler said. "... get them to talk about what they're reading."

In a room downstairs was a different session: a Skype conversation with children's book author Sara Lewis Holmes.

Homes, a Washington, D.C.-metro based author, appeared on a large screen through the online video, showing pictures of her life to the gathered students.

"Do your teachers let you keep a desk this messy?" she asked, showing a cluttered workspace.

Kids inched up behind media specialist Julia Younkins, who was running the session, staring at themselves projected in a small corner of the large screen set up in the art room.

Holmes shared some writing and organizing tips easy for students to grasp onto, such as using one notebook or dividing a story into three parts, before being peppered with questions from students who perched one by one on a stool in front of the Web camera.

E-mail Angie Cochrun at acochrun@gazette.net.