Jingling and Mingling
Families and students showed up in multitudes for the 2025 Jingle and Mingle Family Reading Night held at the Owyhee Combined School. Everyone was met at the door by Earla Walker and Andrea Thomas where they were given an information sheet showing activities and locations of the events. The first stations were the hot cocoa and cookie decorating / tasting sponsored by the Leadership Class and advisor Leilani Thorpe. Students decorated cookies and then described their experience using their five senses.
The school has winter coats available for anyone and they were also out on display for families to look through. Contact Kyndra Thomas if your student needs a winter coat. Students had fun in the Cardinal Scavenger Hunt with Tamme Carsrud. This involves following directions, reading and answering questions. The Academic Team held a Book Battle in the library with students reading holiday books. Academic team members Jamie Lee Hernandez, Kaylee Huisman and Precious Sabori completed the readalouds.
Shana Thomas Jimhad a Marshmallow Challenge booth and participants enjoyed building words using letters on marshmallows. Barbara Pete had a “Gingerbread Fun Station”. Norma Thomas’s booth was “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" and Linda Grunwaldshowed everyone how to make and decorate an origami bookmark. Tierra Darling demonstrated how to build a pop-up book with the students decorations and writings.
Pamela King had students make snowflake poetry. Using green pipe cleaners and beads, Raquel Black showed how to make festive ornaments. Darcy Egan had a snowball toss where students threw a paper snowball at a tower of cups with letters. They then made words with the letters on the cups they knocked down. Ryan Mueller had a reading corner where listeners enjoyed stories like “The Polar Express.” Shoshone-Paiute Tribal Environmental Protection Program Director, Marissa Snapp and Aunna Woods volunteered in a booth called A Greener Holiday Readaloud.
It was a tremendously enjoyable experience. The coordinator, Andrea Thomas, Media Specialist for the school said, “Thank you to all the families, students, teachers, and volunteers who joined us for our Jingle & Mingle Family Reading Night! Because of you, the evening was filled with laughter, eating, learning, reading, and holiday cheer.
Your participation, whether decorating bookmarks, enjoying read-alouds, crafting together, or exploring the stations made the night truly special. We are so grateful for the time you took to celebrate reading as a family and for the enthusiasm you brought to every activity.
A special thank you to our volunteers and staff whose hard work and holiday spirit helped create a magical experience for our students. We couldn’t do it without you!
You all truly jingled and mingled your way into making Family Reading Night a success!”